Kilo Code: a mode that can only edit the files you let it

The Stack

Tested Against

Prerequisites

• Kilo Code extension installed
• A provider/API key to actually run the mode

Steps

1. 1

   Write a fileRegex-scoped docs mode and validate

   In .kilocodemodes, give the docs-writer mode the read group plus an edit group restricted to .md/.mdx via fileRegex. Create it through 'Edit Project Modes' so the nested structure is written correctly. CI parses the file and asserts the edit group carries a fileRegex.

   cat > .kilocodemodes <<'YAML'
   customModes:
     - slug: docs-writer
       name: Docs Writer
       roleDefinition: You are a technical writer who keeps project docs accurate and clear.
       groups:
         - read
         - - edit
           - fileRegex: \.(md|mdx)$
             description: Markdown and MDX files only
   YAML
   ruby -ryaml -e '
   c = YAML.load_file(".kilocodemodes")
   m = (c["customModes"] || []).find { |x| x["slug"] == "docs-writer" }
   abort "BAD: no docs-writer mode" unless m
   edit = (m["groups"] || []).find { |g| g.is_a?(Array) && g[0] == "edit" }
   abort "BAD: edit group is not fileRegex-scoped" unless edit && edit[1].is_a?(Hash) && !edit[1]["fileRegex"].to_s.empty?
   puts "config OK: docs-writer edit group is fileRegex-scoped (" + edit[1]["fileRegex"] + ")"
   '

2. 2

   Use the docs mode (the model step, not checked by CI)

   Switch to the docs-writer mode and ask it to update the docs. It can read the whole repo but the editor tool can only write to files matching the pattern. Quality and what it writes are fenced.