diff --git a/packages/kilo-vscode/package.json b/packages/kilo-vscode/package.json
index ceecdd9dcf1..b59f3a24f14 100644
--- a/packages/kilo-vscode/package.json
+++ b/packages/kilo-vscode/package.json
@@ -99,11 +99,12 @@
   },
   "scripts": {
     "vscode:prepublish": "pnpm run package",
-    "compile": "pnpm run check-types && pnpm run lint && node esbuild.js",
+    "prepare:cli-binary": "node scripts/prepare-cli-binary.mjs",
+    "compile": "pnpm run prepare:cli-binary && pnpm run check-types && pnpm run lint && node esbuild.js",
     "watch": "npm-run-all -p watch:*",
-    "watch:esbuild": "node esbuild.js --watch",
+    "watch:esbuild": "pnpm run prepare:cli-binary && node esbuild.js --watch",
     "watch:tsc": "tsc --noEmit --watch --project tsconfig.json",
-    "package": "pnpm run check-types && pnpm run lint && node esbuild.js --production",
+    "package": "pnpm run prepare:cli-binary && pnpm run check-types && pnpm run lint && node esbuild.js --production",
     "compile-tests": "tsc -p . --outDir out",
     "watch-tests": "tsc -p . -w --outDir out",
     "pretest": "pnpm run compile-tests && pnpm run compile && pnpm run lint",
diff --git a/packages/kilo-vscode/scripts/prepare-cli-binary.mjs b/packages/kilo-vscode/scripts/prepare-cli-binary.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..adff96a08a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kilo-vscode/scripts/prepare-cli-binary.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+import { existsSync, mkdirSync, readdirSync, statSync, copyFileSync, chmodSync } from "node:fs";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import { execSync } from "node:child_process";
+
+/**
+ * Ensures the VS Code extension has a CLI binary at `packages/kilo-vscode/bin/kilo`.
+ *
+ * Strategy:
+ * 1) If `bin/kilo` already exists -> ok.
+ * 2) Else try to locate a prebuilt binary produced by `packages/opencode` build.
+ * 3) Else try to build it via `bun run build --single` in `packages/opencode`.
+ * 4) Copy the resulting binary into `packages/kilo-vscode/bin/kilo` and chmod +x.
+ *
+ * This script is intended to be run from `packages/kilo-vscode` as part of build/package.
+ */
+
+const __filename = fileURLToPath(import.meta.url);
+const __dirname = path.dirname(__filename);
+
+const kiloVscodeDir = path.resolve(__dirname, "..");
+const repoRootDir = path.resolve(kiloVscodeDir, "..");
+const opencodeDir = path.resolve(repoRootDir, "opencode");
+
+const targetBinDir = path.resolve(kiloVscodeDir, "bin");
+const targetBinPath = path.resolve(targetBinDir, "kilo");
+
+function log(msg) {
+  // Keep logs machine-grep friendly in CI
+  console.log(`[prepare-cli-binary] ${msg}`);
+}
+
+function findKiloBinaryInOpencodeDist() {
+  const distDir = path.resolve(opencodeDir, "dist");
+  if (!existsSync(distDir)) return null;
+
+  // Expected: packages/opencode/dist/@kilocode/cli-<platform>/bin/kilo
+  // But keep it flexible: find any dist/**/bin/kilo
+  /** @type {string[]} */
+  const queue = [distDir];
+  while (queue.length) {
+    const dir = queue.pop();
+    if (!dir) continue;
+    let entries;
+    try {
+      entries = readdirSync(dir, { withFileTypes: true });
+    } catch {
+      continue;
+    }
+    for (const e of entries) {
+      const p = path.join(dir, e.name);
+      if (e.isDirectory()) {
+        queue.push(p);
+        continue;
+      }
+      if (e.isFile() && e.name === "kilo" && path.basename(path.dirname(p)) === "bin") {
+        return p;
+      }
+    }
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
+function ensureBuiltBinary() {
+  const found = findKiloBinaryInOpencodeDist();
+  if (found) return found;
+
+  log(`No prebuilt binary found under ${path.relative(kiloVscodeDir, path.resolve(opencodeDir, "dist"))} - attempting build via bun.`);
+
+  try {
+    execSync("bun --version", { stdio: "ignore" });
+  } catch {
+    throw new Error(
+      `Bun is required to build the CLI binary, but was not found on PATH. ` +
+        `Install bun, or build the CLI separately in ${opencodeDir} and re-run.`
+    );
+  }
+
+  // Build using the opencode package script.
+  execSync("bun run build --single", {
+    cwd: opencodeDir,
+    stdio: "inherit",
+    env: process.env,
+  });
+
+  const built = findKiloBinaryInOpencodeDist();
+  if (!built) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `CLI build completed but no binary was found in ${path.resolve(opencodeDir, "dist")} (expected dist/**/bin/kilo).`
+    );
+  }
+  return built;
+}
+
+function main() {
+  if (existsSync(targetBinPath)) {
+    const st = statSync(targetBinPath);
+    log(`CLI binary already present at ${path.relative(kiloVscodeDir, targetBinPath)} (${Math.round(st.size / 1024 / 1024)}MB).`);
+    return;
+  }
+
+  if (!existsSync(opencodeDir)) {
+    throw new Error(`Expected opencode package at ${opencodeDir}, but it does not exist.`);
+  }
+
+  const sourceBinPath = ensureBuiltBinary();
+  mkdirSync(targetBinDir, { recursive: true });
+  copyFileSync(sourceBinPath, targetBinPath);
+  chmodSync(targetBinPath, 0o755);
+
+  log(`Copied CLI binary from ${path.relative(repoRootDir, sourceBinPath)} -> ${path.relative(kiloVscodeDir, targetBinPath)}`);
+}
+
+try {
+  main();
+} catch (err) {
+  console.error(`[prepare-cli-binary] ERROR: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}`);
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+