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.

Browser State Isolation¶

Since 0.9.0

The web UI scopes all browser state per profile. Advisor chat history, unread badges, clock filters, board view toggles, and knowledge base bookmarks are stored under a profile-specific key in localStorage. Switching profiles gives a clean UI state without leaking data from a previous session.