Serena + Kilo Code + z.ai

[janosrusiczki]

This doesn't really work for me.

I'm explicitly writing the prompt like: "Using Serena MCP, refactor this and that". Nope, it starts to load complete files instead of searching for symbols. I stop it and say: "Rule: USE SERENA MCP!". Say 2 times out of 5 it works, but the rest of the times it just spits the Serena commands into the discussion like they're not recognized and then gives up.

This is in Kilo Code's "code mode", in "debug mode" I never got it to work.

Which piece of my combo is at fault? I'm guessing that somehow Kilo's system prompts are clashing with Serena's but I don't know how to start fixing it.

[opcode81]

I have personally never used Kilo Code, but one thing to check is whether the system prompt is at all being read. Some clients (including Claude Desktop, btw) do not actually pass the system prompt on to the LLM. To check this, ask the LLM whether it has read the 'Serena Instructions Manual'.

If the answer is no, then your model can read it via a tool (initial_instructions), provided that the tool is enabled.

I have not tested z.ai either, so it could also be a combination of things that lead to this suboptimal behaviour.

[janosrusiczki]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's not Serena. I managed to index my project and when it gets going it works pretty good (and fast). I also have a basic Claude subsciption, so I might try with that (through Kilo Code).