Profiles¶

Profiles let you keep separate data sets. A freelancer might have one profile per client engagement, or split work and personal tracking.

How Profiles Work¶

Each profile is a directory under ~/.kaisho/profiles/:

~/.kaisho/
  .active_profile       # Name of the current profile
  profiles/
    work/
      settings.yaml
      jobs.yaml
      org/
        todos.org
        clocks.org
        ...
    personal/
      settings.yaml
      org/
        ...

One profile is active at a time. All API calls, CLI commands, and UI actions operate on the active profile.

Managing Profiles¶

Web UICLI

Go to Settings > Profiles. You can create, rename, copy, and delete profiles. Switching is instant.

# List profiles (* marks the active one)
kai profiles

# Use a specific profile for one command
kai -p personal clock list

# Delete a profile
kai profiles delete old-project

Profile Contents¶

A fresh profile is created from a template that includes:

File	Purpose
`settings.yaml`	Task states, tags, AI config, paths
`jobs.yaml`	Default cron jobs (daily briefing, weekly summary)
`user.yaml`	Name, email, avatar
`SOUL.md`	AI advisor personality instructions
`USER.md`	Context about you for the AI advisor
`SKILLS/`	Reusable prompt templates

Profile-Specific Settings¶

Each profile has its own:

Storage backend (org-mode, Markdown, JSON, or SQL)
Task states and columns (TODO, IN-PROGRESS, DONE, etc.)
Tags with colors
AI provider configuration
Cron job schedule
Knowledge base sources

This means you can use org-mode for one project and Markdown for another, or configure different AI providers per profile.

The PROFILE Environment Variable¶

Set PROFILE to override the active profile:

PROFILE=work kai clock start "Acme Corp" "Bug fix"

This is useful for scripts and automation that should always target a specific profile regardless of what's active in the UI.