Alternate protocols

Protocol	Port	Best for
REST	`3333`	Web UI, curl, CI scripts
MCP	stdio or `8181`	Claude, Cursor, custom agents
NFS	`2049`	Docker / Kubernetes mounts
S3	`3334`	Backup tools, ETL, S3-compatible clients
WebDAV	`3335`	Desktop sync, mapped drives
FUSE	—	Developer workstation remote mount

Protocol

Port

Best for

REST

3333

Web UI, curl, CI scripts

MCP

stdio or 8181

Claude, Cursor, custom agents

NFS

2049

Docker / Kubernetes mounts

3334

Backup tools, ETL, S3-compatible clients

WebDAV

3335

Desktop sync, mapped drives

FUSE

—

Developer workstation remote mount

Enable on serve

kiwifs serve --root ./knowledge \
  --nfs --nfs-allow 10.0.0.0/8 \
  --s3 \
  --webdav

NFS

Mount from Linux or Kubernetes:

sudo mount -t nfs -o vers=3 localhost:/ /mnt/kiwi

Agents use normal shell tools:

cat /mnt/kiwi/pages/auth.md
grep -r "timeout" /mnt/kiwi/
echo "# Note" >> /mnt/kiwi/episodes/session.md

NFS supports symlinks, open-then-delete semantics, and advisory locks. Internal dirs (.git, .kiwi) are hidden from listings.

Restrict access with --nfs-allow <CIDR> in production.

S3-compatible API

Point any S3 client at http://localhost:3334:

aws s3 sync s3://knowledge/ /backup/ --endpoint-url http://localhost:3334

Useful for aws s3 sync backups or S3-compatible ETL pipelines.

WebDAV

Connect from macOS Finder → Connect to Server or Windows mapped drive:

http://localhost:3335/

WebDAV uses buffered writes with spill-to-disk for large uploads.

FUSE remote mount

Mount a remote KiwiFS as a local folder:

kiwifs mount --remote http://host:3333 --mountpoint ~/kiwi-mount

Optional auth:

export KIWIFS_API_KEY=my-secret
kiwifs mount --remote http://host:3333 --mountpoint ~/kiwi-mount

FUSE reports sub-second mtime and supports symlinks. mmap is not available (HTTP-backed I/O).

POSIX semantics

Access path	POSIX level
Local knowledge root	Full
NFS mount	Near-full
FUSE mount	Near-full (no mmap)
WebDAV	Partial
REST / S3 / MCP	HTTP or tool semantics

See POSIX guide for the full matrix.

Run alternate protocol ports behind a firewall in production. NFS, S3, and WebDAV endpoints are sensitive network surfaces.

Agent interface

Protocol overview.

CLI serve flags

Full kiwifs serve reference.

POSIX

Compliance details.

Real-time events

SSE broadcast.

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Data Import

Data Export

Deployment

Quick comparison

Enable on serve

POSIX semantics

Agent interface

CLI serve flags

POSIX

Real-time events

​Quick comparison

​Enable on serve

​POSIX semantics

​Related documentation

Agent interface

CLI serve flags

POSIX

Real-time events

Quick comparison

Enable on serve

POSIX semantics

Related documentation