Kata

FAQ

Common questions

Answers to what people ask before installing — whether Community is enough for your case, whether Kata sends your code anywhere, how updates and licensing work, and how Kata fits next to your IDE's built-in refactorings.

What you'll be able to do

  • Whether Community covers your workflow, or when Pro pays off.
  • Where your code goes when Kata invokes your AI CLI, and where it does not.
  • How installation, updates, and license portability work day-to-day.
  • What platforms and languages Kata does — and does not — support today.

Licensing & editions

Is Community really free for commercial use?

Community is licensed under PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0, which is free for noncommercial use (personal projects, education, research, OSS). For commercial use, you need Kata Pro.

What does Kata Pro actually unlock?

  • Commercial-use rights — the license difference above.
  • Unlimited AI consultations — Community is capped at 10 per month.
  • AI Puppet Mode — Kata auto-replays the AI diff preview dialog end-to-end (apply, re-index, re-check, move on).
  • Early access to the upcoming Team Collab features, plus priority support.

Community and Pro share the same editor, diagram, all 30+ Fowler refactorings, and all 114 code smells. See the Pro page for pricing.

Can I move my Pro license between machines?

Yes. Open Preferences → Pro License → Deactivate license on the old machine, then activate on the new one. Deactivation releases the seat on the Lemon Squeezy side.

AI cost & data privacy

Do I pay Kata anything for AI requests?

No. Kata routes AI work through your own local AI CLI (Claude Code or Codex CLI) or an MCP-compatible client (Cursor and friends) that connects to Kata's MCP server. Your existing AI subscription covers all requests. Pro doesn't add a per-request charge and Kata itself never proxies AI traffic through our servers.

Where does my code go?

  • Local by default: the diagram, the smell index, and the refactoring engine all run in-process on your machine. Nothing leaves.
  • When you invoke an AI diff apply: Kata builds a scoped prompt (the class or member the 💩 sits on, plus just enough surrounding context) and hands it to your AI CLI. Whatever privacy terms your AI vendor offers apply — Kata is not in the middle.
  • Kata never phones home with your source. It talks to GitHub only for update checks, and to your license server only during activation.

Can I use Kata fully offline?

The editor and all 30+ Fowler refactorings run offline. The AI diff apply flow requires whatever connectivity your chosen AI CLI needs. License activation is online; once activated, Pro will keep running offline for the grace window configured on the license.

Installation & updates

Which Windows versions are supported?

Windows 10 (build 19041 / 20H1 or later) and Windows 11. The .NET 8 runtime is bundled with the installer — you don't need to install anything else.

How do updates work?

  • Setup installer: updates are delivered via Velopack. On startup Kata checks for a newer release and offers to update in place.
  • Portable ZIP: you re-download the newer ZIP and extract it over the old folder.

Is there a macOS or Linux build?

Not today. Kata's editor is WPF-based, which is Windows-only.

Compatibility & scope

Which languages does Kata read?

Six as of v2.0.0 — C#, C++/CLI, Java, Kotlin, TypeScript, and Go. Each has its own project loader, symbol resolver, and smell detectors, and you can mix them in one solution (for example, a C# host with a C++/CLI native layer).

How large a solution can Kata open?

Benchmarked against a 21,464-type TypeScript solution — the engine held up. When the whole graph is too big to lay out at once, Kata's scale gate picks the largest namespace that fits under the layout budget and lets you swap views from the namespace ComboBox. Every type is still indexed and Ctrl+Clickable.

Does Kata replace my IDE's refactoring?

No — it complements it. IDE refactorings shine when you already know the change you want. Kata shines when you want to see a codebase you've never touched, spot smells across many files at once, and hand a scoped intent to an AI agent that generates the change for you.

Where do I report a bug or request a feature?

Open an issue on github.com/dhq-boiler/Kata/issues. Community bug reports are welcome regardless of edition.

Still stuck?