AI Mode (Bring-Your-Own-Key)

Pattern scanning works with zero configuration. To add AI-powered contextual findings, provide your own API key — KafkaCode calls an OpenAI-compatible chat API directly, defaulting to Groq (free tier).

export KAFKACODE_API_KEY=your_key_here
kafkacode scan ./src

Configuration

Variable	Default	Purpose
KAFKACODE_API_KEY	(unset)	Provider API key — enables AI mode
KAFKACODE_API_URL	https://api.groq.com/openai/v1	OpenAI-compatible base URL
KAFKACODE_MODEL	llama-3.1-8b-instant	Model name
KAFKACODE_BACKEND_ENDPOINT	(unset)	Optional self-hosted backend (takes precedence)

Point KAFKACODE_API_URL at OpenAI, OpenRouter, Together, or a local OpenAI-compatible server (e.g. Ollama) to use a different provider or model.

Your code is sent to the provider

With a key set, snippets of your code are sent to the configured provider for analysis. Leave the key unset, or pass --no-ai, to keep scans fully local.

Disabling AI

# Force pattern-only, even when a key is configured
kafkacode scan ./src --no-ai