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Kendo CLI Options for Angular

Updated on Jun 3, 2026

This article covers setup tasks you can complete with the Kendo CLI for Kendo UI for Angular. It includes installation, the interactive wizard, setup, license management, MCP server configuration, Angular project generation, and assisted migration.

Install the Kendo CLI

Install the CLI globally:

npm i -g @progress/kendo-cli@latest

Interactive Wizard

Run kendo with no arguments to open the interactive wizard, a guided experience that walks you through each command with a visual step-by-step flow.

kendo

The wizard starts with a categorized command menu:

Group	Commands
Quick Start	Create a new project, Scaffold components
Environment	Set up your environment, Configure AI assistant (MCP), Manage license
Manage	Migrate to the latest version, Build custom Kendo UI for jQuery bundle
Utilities	Print machine ID

Guided Flows

Each command in the wizard prompts you through its options interactively:

Create — Select product, template, app name, theme, swatch, and styling
Scaffold — Detect and confirm project directory, then choose a component
Setup — Detect already configured products, then prompt only for the remaining ones
MCP — Detect already configured servers, then prompt for product and IDE
Migrate — Choose scope, target version, mode (full / install-only / codemods-only), optional codemods, and AI mode
License — Choose activate, refresh, or info

Wizard Features

Color-coded UI with selection indicators and completion confirmations
Automatic detection of already configured products (setup, mcp)
Project directory detection for scaffold commands
Progress spinner during command execution
Success summary box after each completed command
Run another command? loop to chain operations in one session without relaunching the CLI

Example Session

$ kendo

  ██████╗ ██████╗  ██████╗  ██████╗ ██████╗ ███████╗███████╗███████╗
  ██╔══██╗██╔══██╗██╔═══██╗██╔════╝ ██╔══██╗██╔════╝██╔════╝██╔════╝
  ██████╔╝██████╔╝██║   ██║██║  ███╗██████╔╝█████╗  ███████╗███████╗
  ██╔═══╝ ██╔══██╗██║   ██║██║   ██║██╔══██╗██╔══╝  ╚════██║╚════██║
  ██║     ██║  ██║╚██████╔╝╚██████╔╝██║  ██║███████╗███████║███████║
  ╚═╝     ╚═╝  ╚═╝ ╚═════╝  ╚═════╝ ╚═╝  ╚═╝╚══════╝╚══════╝╚══════╝

  ? What would you like to do?
  Quick Start
  › Create a new project          kendo create
    Scaffold components           kendo scaffold
    ...

  ? Which product?
    KendoReact
  › Kendo UI for Angular
    ...

  ╭───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
  │  ✓ Kendo UI for Angular app ready                             │
  │                                                               │
  │  Next steps:                                                  │
  │    cd MyBlankAngularApp                                       │
  │    npm install                                                │
  │    ng serve                                                   │
  │                                                               │
  │  Theme       Default                                          │
  │                                                               │
  │  Docs  https://www.telerik.com/kendo-angular-ui/components    │
  ╰───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

  ? What would you like to do next?
  ❯ Back to main menu
    Exit

All wizard operations are also available as direct CLI commands for scripting and CI. See the sections below for full syntax details.

Set Up Kendo UI for Angular

Run the setup wizard for Kendo UI for Angular:

kendo setup angular

The setup command walks you through license activation and MCP server configuration for your IDE.

License Setup for Kendo UI for Angular

A valid Telerik or Kendo UI license is required to use the Kendo UI for Angular components in your projects.

Activate Your License

Find your license key at Your Licenses, then run:

kendo license activate

The command searches for a license key in the following locations:

TELERIK_LICENSE environment variable
KENDO_UI_LICENSE environment variable
telerik-license.txt in the current directory, any parent directory, or ~/.telerik/
kendo-ui-license.txt in the current directory, any parent directory, or ~/.telerik/

license activate options:

Option	Description
`--ignore-no-license`	Exit with code `0` even when no license file is found. Useful in CI when a missing license should be treated as a warning.

Download or Refresh a License Key

To authenticate with telerik.com in a browser and save a fresh key to ~/.telerik/telerik-license.txt, run:

kendo license refresh

Inspect the Active License

To print the current license audience, issue date, and covered products, run:

kendo license info

Configure the Kendo UI Agent (MCP) for Angular

Use MCP commands to register Kendo UI for Angular MCP servers for your AI coding assistant.

Configure for a Specific IDE

Use angular as the product when you configure Kendo UI for Angular.

sh
kendo mcp config angular --ide=cursor
sh
kendo mcp config angular --ide=vscode
sh
kendo mcp config angular --ide=all

Supported IDEs: cursor, vscode, visualstudio, all

Configure All Products for All IDEs

kendo mcp all

Force Overwrite Existing Entries

By default, mcp config and mcp all skip entries that already exist in the config file. Use --force to overwrite existing entries:

sh
kendo mcp config angular --ide=cursor --force
sh
kendo mcp all --force

JSON Output for Scripts and CI

Use --json to return machine-readable output:

kendo mcp config angular --ide=cursor --json

Example output:

json

{
  "exitCode": 0,
  "message": "MCP servers registered successfully.",
  "data": {
    "registered": [
      { "ide": "Cursor", "configPath": "/Users/you/.cursor/mcp.json" }
    ]
  },
  "success": true
}

MCP config files written per IDE:

IDE	Config file
Cursor	`~/.cursor/mcp.json`
Visual Studio Code	`~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json` (macOS)
Visual Studio	`~/.mcp.json`

MCP Command Synopsis

kendo mcp config <product>

Options:

Option	Applies to	Description
`--ide=<ide>`	`mcp config`	IDE to configure: `cursor`, `vscode`, `visualstudio`, `all` (default: `all`).
`--json`	`mcp config`, `mcp all`	Print machine-readable JSON output.
`--force`	`mcp config`, `mcp all`	Overwrite existing MCP server entries.

kendo mcp all

Configures all MCP servers for all IDEs and products.

Generate a Kendo UI for Angular Project

Use the Kendo CLI Angular generator to create a new Angular project.

kendo create angular aba MyAngularBlankApp

The generator creates a blank Angular project template with Kendo UI for Angular styles and scripts.

Angular Generator Options

Theme options:

--theme=default
--theme=bootstrap
--theme=material
--theme=fluent

Swatch options:

--swatch=default-main
--swatch=default-main-dark
--swatch=default-nordic
--swatch=default-purple
--swatch=default-turquoise
--swatch=default-ocean-blue
--swatch=default-ocean-blue-a11y
--swatch=fluent-main
--swatch=fluent-main-dark
--swatch=bootstrap-main
--swatch=bootstrap-main-dark
--swatch=bootstrap-nordic
--swatch=bootstrap-urban
--swatch=bootstrap-vintage
--swatch=material-main
--swatch=material-main-dark
--swatch=material-arctic
--swatch=material-lime-dark
--swatch=material-nova

Angular Generator Synopsis

Create a new Kendo UI for Angular app.

Commands:

kendo create angular aba [name] - Create Angular blank app.

Options:

Option	Description
`--help`	Show help.
`--version`	Show version number.
`--verbose`	Set verbosity level.
`--quiet`	Minimize output (equivalent to verbosity level `0`).
`--theme`	Kendo theme to apply: `default`, `bootstrap`, `material`, `fluent`.
`--swatch`	Kendo theme swatch to apply from the supported swatch list.

Build and Run

After generation, install dependencies, build, and run the development server:

cd MyAngularBlankApp
npm install
ng build
ng serve

Assisted Migration for Kendo UI for Angular

Use CLI-assisted migration to update Kendo UI for Angular packages and apply available codemods.

For full migration guidance, see Assisted Migration Tooling. To let AI handle the migration end-to-end, see AI-Assisted Migration.

Install the CLI globally (if needed):

npm i -g @progress/kendo-cli

Run migration from your project root:

kendo migrate

The guided flow can:

Check for available package updates and peer dependencies.
Prompt you to install updates.
Prompt you to apply codemods.
Apply transformations version by version.

After migration, review added code comments and run your app and tests.

Best Practices

Migrate between consecutive major versions (for example, v10 to v11).
Migrate one package at a time for better control.
Validate behavior with a full test run after migration.

Quick Migration Commands

sh
kendo migrate
sh
kendo migrate @progress/kendo-angular-grid
sh
kendo migrate @progress/kendo-angular-grid --from=22 --to=23
sh
kendo migrate --force
sh
kendo migrate --no-codemods
sh
kendo migrate @progress/kendo-angular-grid --no-install
sh
kendo migrate @progress/kendo-angular-grid --no-install --ignore-pattern="dist/**"

Migration Arguments Reference

Argument	Description
`[packages..]`	Package(s) to migrate. If omitted, runs for all available Kendo packages.
`--help`	Print command help.
`--version`	Print Kendo CLI version.
`--verbose`	Set output verbosity level (`0` to `5`).
`--quiet`	Minimal output (equivalent to `--verbose=0`).
`--force`	Run without confirmations.
`--to`	Target version to migrate to.
`--from`	Source version to migrate from.
`--no-install`	Skip package installation and run codemods only.
`--no-codemods`	Skip codemods and install updates only.
`--no-peer-deps`	Skip peer dependency installation.
`--no-optional`	Skip optional codemods.
`--ignore-pattern`	Ignore files/directories by glob pattern.
`--ai-mode`	Show post-codemod instructions for changes that require manual follow-up.