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Kapi CLI or Kapi Desktop?

Both run the same engine on the same kapi projects, flows, and tools: a project you set up in one opens in the other, and you can switch any time. The only question is how you like to work.

Kapi CLI, the command-line tool​

A single binary that operates directly on your files. Reach for it when you want to:

  • automate: scripts, make targets, CI gates that fail a PR on a bad check;
  • stay in the terminal: flags, pipes, --json output you can feed to other tools;
  • work offline or at scale: batch a whole directory, no server, no GUI;
  • drive it from your AI assistant: over MCP or the Agent Skills, Claude calls kapi to read, check, and fix your content.

Start with the Kapi CLI guides.

Kapi Desktop, the visual app​

A native app where a person reads and edits the context a project goes by, with no YAML and no flags. Reach for it when you want to:

  • read and edit the context: the voice profile in force at a point, the terms, the content memory, and what applies at a given file;
  • see where the project stands: content and governance on two axes, and a point map of what sits where;
  • work the Checks and Review surfaces: a finding leads to the rule that fired, and the review queue puts source and target side by side;
  • run tools and flows from the Toolbox, and manage plugins and AI models through a UI rather than config files.

Start with the Kapi Desktop overview.

Which should I pick?​

If you…Reach for
live in a terminal and want to script or gate thingsKapi CLI
write with Claude and want it to check and translate for youKapi CLI over MCP; Claude drives it
prefer clicking to typing, and want to see what governs a fileKapi Desktop
are setting up a repo's governance and gates once, to commit and shareKapi CLI (your first project)
are editing the voice and terms, or reviewing translations, day to dayKapi Desktop

You don't have to choose permanently. The kapi.yaml recipe a teammate authors in the CLI opens in Desktop, and vice versa: same project, same results.

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