Cline CLI

Delegate coding tasks to Cline CLI — an open-source, model-agnostic coding agent that runs directly in the terminal.

Installation

Install Cline CLI globally:

npm install -g cline
# or
npx cline auth  # Follow prompts to configure your provider

This installs the cline command globally. No PATH configuration needed for standard npm installs.

Default model: Configure during cline auth — recommended: anthropic/claude-haiku-4-5 (cheap, fast) or xiaomi/mimo-v2-pro (good for large tasks when credits are tight).

Config stored in ~/.cline/data/.

Authentication

Run cline auth interactively (needs a TTY/PTY), or use flags:

cline auth -p <provider> -k <api_key> -m <model_id>

v2.8.0 quirk: Even with flags, auth launches a TUI. Run in the background with a long timeout (20-25s) — it writes config before exiting on SIGTERM. Config is saved to ~/.cline/data/globalState.json and ~/.cline/data/secrets.json.

One-Shot Tasks (Headless)

cd /path/to/project
cline -y "Add error handling to all API calls in src/"

-y / --yolo = auto-approve all file changes, forces headless mode.

With Timeout (CI/CD)

cline -y --timeout 300 "Run tests and fix any failures"

Piped Input

git diff origin/main | cline -y "Review these changes for bugs and security issues"
npm test 2>&1 | cline -y "Fix failing tests"

JSON Output (for scripting)

cline --json "List all TODO comments" | jq '.text'

Custom Model

cline -y -m anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5 "Refactor auth module to use JWT"

Parallel Workstreams

(cd /tmp/branch-a && cline -y "Fix login bug") &
(cd /tmp/branch-b && cline -y "Add unit tests for auth") &
wait

Planning Subagent + Cline Pattern

For complex multi-task implementations, don't send vague instructions to Cline. Use a two-step pattern:

1. Plan first — dispatch a delegate_task subagent with full codebase context to read the relevant files, understand the structure, and write a detailed plan doc (exact file paths, line numbers, complete code snippets) to e.g. docs/plans/YYYY-MM-DD-feature.md.

2. Implement with Cline — hand the plan file to Cline:

   cline -y --timeout 600 -m anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5 \
     "Implement the plan in docs/plans/2026-04-03-feature.md exactly as written. Read the plan first, then read each source file before editing it."
   

   Optionally add --double-check-completion to force Cline to re-verify its work before marking done. Adds time, reduces the need for a first-pass audit.

This pattern works because:

• The subagent reads the actual code and generates grounded, correct code snippets
• Cline gets precise instructions and doesn't have to infer structure
• The plan doc is a reviewable artefact before a line of code is written