Cline

The open source coding agent in your IDE, terminal, and desktop.

npm i -g cline

npm install @cline/sdk

Index

Edits Code Across Your Project

Cline reads your project structure, understands the relationships between files, and makes coordinated changes across your codebase. It monitors linter and compiler errors as it works, fixing issues like missing imports, type mismatches, and syntax errors before you even see them. In VS Code and JetBrains, every edit shows up as a diff you can review, modify, or revert. All changes are tracked with checkpoints, so you can easily undo the agent's work.

Runs Bash Commands

Cline executes commands directly in your terminal and watches the output in real time. Install packages, run build scripts, execute tests, deploy applications, manage databases. For long-running processes like dev servers, Cline continues working in the background and reacts to new output as it appears, catching compile errors, test failures, and server crashes as they happen.

Plan and Act

Toggle between Plan mode and Act mode. In Plan mode, Cline explores your codebase, asks clarifying questions, and lays out a strategy. Once you're aligned, switch to Act mode and Cline executes the plan. Every file edit and terminal command requires your approval, so you stay in control of what actually changes. Or toggle auto-approve and let Cline run autonomously.

Rules and Skills

Define project-specific rules in .clinerules files that guide how Cline works in your codebase: coding standards, architecture conventions, deployment procedures, testing requirements. Rules are picked up automatically by the CLI, VS Code extension, and JetBrains plugin. Use skills to let the model load specific rules when needed.

Works With Every Model

Cline is not locked to a single AI provider. Use whichever model fits your workflow:

Extend With Plugins or MCP Servers

Extend Cline's capabilities with plugins. Using the SDK, register tools and lifecycle hooks programmatically through the plugin system for logging, auditing, policy enforcement, or adding domain-specific capabilities. Simple plugin example below.

import { Agent, createTool } from "@cline/sdk"

const deployTool = createTool({
  name: "deploy",
  description: "Deploy the current branch to staging.",
  inputSchema: { type: "object", properties: { env: { type: "string" } }, required: ["env"] },
  execute: async (input) => {
    // your deployment logic
  },
})

const agent = new Agent({ tools: [deployTool], /* ... */ })

...or use MCP servers to connect to databases, query APIs, manage cloud infrastructure, and interact with external systems. Use community-built servers or ask Cline to create custom tools on the fly. In the CLI, manage servers with cline mcp.

Multi-Agent Teams

Coordinate multiple agents working together on complex tasks. A coordinator agent breaks the work into subtasks and delegates to specialist agents, each with their own tools and context. Team state persists across sessions so you can pick up where you left off.

cline --team-name auth-sprint "Plan and implement user authentication with tests"

Scheduled Agents

Run agents on cron schedules for recurring automations. Daily PR summaries, weekly dependency checks, codebase health reports. Schedules persist across restarts and run independently of any terminal session.

cline schedule create "PR summary" \
  --cron "0 9 * * MON-FRI" \
  --prompt "List all open PRs and their review status" \
  --workspace /path/to/repo

Connect to Slack, Telegram, Discord, and More

Chat with your agent from any messaging platform: Telegram, Slack, Discord, Google Chat, WhatsApp, and Linear. Each conversation thread maps to an agent session with full context. Set up access control to restrict who can interact with your agent.

# Connect to Telegram
cline connect telegram -k $BOT_TOKEN
# Connect to Slack through webhook
cline connect slack --bot-token $SLACK_TOKEN --signing-secret $SECRET --base-url $URL
# Connect to Slack using socket mode
cline connect slack --bot-token $SLACK_TOKEN --app-token $SLACK_APP_TOKEN

Headless CLI for CI/CD

Run Cline with zero interaction for scripting and automation. Pipe input, get JSON output, chain commands, integrate into CI/CD pipelines.

cline "Run tests and fix any failures"
git diff origin/main | cline "Review these changes for issues"
cline --json "List all TODO comments" | jq -r 'select(.type == "agent_event" and .event.text) | .event.text'

Contributing

Start with the [Contri