CLI reference

For quick help in your terminal:

cline --help          # Show all commands and global options
cline task --help     # Show options for the task command
cline auth --help     # Show options for the auth command

Synopsis

cline [prompt] [options]
cline <command> [options] [arguments]

Global options

These options are accepted by any command:

Option	Description
`--config <path>`	Use a custom configuration directory instead of `~/.cline/data/`
`-c, --cwd <path>`	Set the working directory for the task or command
`-v, --verbose`	Show detailed output including model reasoning
`--help`	Show help for the command

Default command

Running cline without a subcommand starts a task or opens interactive mode.

# Open interactive mode (no prompt)
cline

# Start a task with a prompt
cline "your prompt here"

# Resume the most recent task for the current directory
cline --continue

Options:

Option	Description
`-a, --act`	Start in Act mode. Cline executes actions immediately. (default)
`-p, --plan`	Start in Plan mode. Cline analyzes and plans before acting.
`-y, --yolo`	YOLO mode: auto-approve all actions, plain text output, exit on completion.
`--auto-approve-all`	Auto-approve all actions while keeping the interactive TUI.
`-m, --model <id>`	Override the model for this task (e.g., `claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929`, `gpt-4o`).
`-i, --images <paths...>`	Attach image files to the prompt.
`--thinking [tokens]`	Enable extended thinking. Default budget: 1024 tokens. Pass a number to customize.
`--reasoning-effort <level>`	Set reasoning effort: `none`, `low`, `medium`, `high`, or `xhigh`.
`--max-consecutive-mistakes <n>`	Maximum consecutive mistakes before halting (YOLO mode).
`--json`	Output messages as JSON (one object per line). Forces headless mode.
`--timeout <seconds>`	Maximum execution time before the task is stopped.
`--continue`	Resume the most recent task from the current working directory.
`--double-check-completion`	Reject the first completion attempt to force re-verification.
`--auto-condense`	Use AI-powered context compaction instead of mechanical truncation.
`--hooks-dir <path>`	Path to an additional hooks directory injected at runtime.
`--acp`	Run in ACP (Agent Client Protocol) mode for editor integration.
`-T, --taskId <id>`	Resume an existing task by ID.

Mode selection behavior:

Invocation	Output mode	Reason
`cline`	Interactive TUI	No arguments, TTY connected
`cline "prompt"`	Interactive TUI	TTY connected
`cline -y "prompt"`	Plain text	`--yolo` flag
`cline --json "prompt"`	JSON	`--json` flag
`cat file \| cline "prompt"`	Plain text	stdin piped
`cline "prompt" > out.txt`	Plain text	stdout redirected

`cline task` (alias: `t`)

Run a new task with a prompt. Equivalent to cline "prompt".

cline task "Create a REST API endpoint"
cline t "Fix the bug in utils.js"

Accepts the same options as the default command above, plus:

Option	Description
`-T, --taskId <id>`	Resume an existing task by ID, optionally sending an additional prompt.

`cline auth`

Configure authentication with an AI provider.

# Interactive wizard
cline auth

# Non-interactive: Anthropic
cline auth -p anthropic -k sk-ant-api-xxxxx -m claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929

# Non-interactive: OpenAI
cline auth -p openai-native -k sk-xxxxx -m gpt-4o

# Non-interactive: OpenRouter
cline auth -p openrouter -k sk-or-xxxxx -m anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929

# Non-interactive: OpenAI-compatible with custom base URL
cline auth -p openai -k your-key -b https://api.example.com/v1

Options:

Option	Description
`-p, --provider <id>`	Provider ID. See supported providers below.
`-k, --apikey <key>`	API key for the provider.
`-m, --modelid <id>`	Model ID to use (e.g., `claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929`, `gpt-4o`).
`-b, --baseurl <url>`	Base URL for OpenAI-compatible providers.

Supported providers:

Provider ID	Description
`anthropic`	Anthropic Claude (direct API)
`openai-native`	OpenAI GPT models
`openai-codex`	ChatGPT subscription via OAuth
`openrouter`	OpenRouter (multiple providers via one key)
`bedrock`	AWS Bedrock
`gemini`	Google Gemini
`xai`	X AI (Grok)
`cerebras`	Cerebras (fast inference)
`deepseek`	DeepSeek
`moonshot`	Moonshot AI (Kimi models)
`ollama`	Ollama (local models)
`lmstudio`	LM Studio (local models)
`openai`	Any OpenAI-compatible API

`cline history` (alias: `h`)

Browse task history with pagination.

# Show 10 most recent tasks (default)
cline history

# Show 20 tasks
cline history -n 20

# Show page 2
cline history -n 10 -p 2

Options:

Option	Description
`-n, --limit <number>`	Number of tasks to show. Default: `10`.
`-p, --page <number>`	Page number (1-based). Default: `1`.

`cline config`

Open the interactive configuration view.

cline config

Navigate tabs with arrow keys:

Tab	Contents
Settings	Global and workspace-specific settings
Rules	`.clinerules` files and imported rules (Cursor, Windsurf format)
Workflows	Available workflows (shown as slash commands in interactive mode)
Hooks	Configured hook scripts
Skills	Enabled skills

`cline mcp add`

Add an MCP server to ~/.cline/data/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json.

# STDIO server
cline mcp add my-server -- node /path/to/server.js

# Remote HTTP server
cline mcp add linear https://mcp.linear.app/mcp --type http

# SSE server
cline mcp add my-sse-server https://example.com/sse --type sse

Arguments:

Argument	Description
`<name>`	Name for the MCP server entry
`[targetOrCommand...]`	For stdio: use `-- <command> [args]`. For http/sse: provide the URL.

Options:

Option	Description
`--type <type>`	Transport type: `stdio` (default), `http`, or `sse`.

`cline update`

Check for updates and install the latest version.

cline update

`cline version`

Print the installed CLI version.

cline version
# Cline CLI version: 2.11.0

`cline dev log`

Open the debug log file in your default editor.

cline dev log

Useful for diagnosing unexpected behavior or reporting bugs.

Environment variables

`CLINE_DIR`

Override the default configuration directory:

export CLINE_DIR=/path/to/custom/config
cline "your task"

When set, all Cline data — settings, secrets, and task history — is stored in this directory instead of ~/.cline/data/. Use cases:

Running isolated Cline instances (e.g., parallel CI jobs)
Keeping separate configurations for different projects
Testing configuration changes without touching your main setup

`CLINE_COMMAND_PERMISSIONS`

Restrict which shell commands Cline is allowed to execute:

export CLINE_COMMAND_PERMISSIONS='{"allow": ["npm *", "git *"], "deny": ["rm -rf *"]}'

Format:

{
  "allow": ["pattern1", "pattern2"],
  "deny": ["pattern3"],
  "allowRedirects": false
}

Field	Type	Description
`allow`	`string[]`	Glob patterns for permitted commands. If set, only matching commands are allowed.
`deny`	`string[]`	Glob patterns for denied commands. Deny rules always take precedence over allow rules.
`allowRedirects`	`boolean`	Whether shell redirects (`>`, `>>`, `<`) are permitted. Default: `false`.

Command evaluation order:

Check for dangerous characters (backticks outside single quotes, unquoted newlines)
Parse command segments split by operators (&&, ||, |, ;)
If redirects are detected and allowRedirects is not true, deny the command
Validate each segment: deny rules are checked first, then allow rules
Recursively validate subshell contents ($(...) and (...))
All segments must pass for the command to be allowed

When allow is set, any command not matching the allow patterns is denied. Use this in security-sensitive environments like shared CI runners.

JSON output format

When using --json, each message is written as a JSON object on its own line:

{"type":"say","text":"I'll create the file now.","ts":1760501486669,"say":"text"}

Required fields:

Field	Type	Description
`type`	`"ask"` or `"say"`	Message category
`text`	`string`	Human-readable message content
`ts`	`number`	Unix timestamp in milliseconds

Optional fields:

Field	Type	Description
`say`	`string`	Subtype when `type` is `"say"` (e.g., `"text"`, `"tool"`)
`ask`	`string`	Subtype when `type` is `"ask"` (e.g., `"tool"`, `"followup"`)
`reasoning`	`string`	Model reasoning output (omitted when empty)
`partial`	`boolean`	`true` while the message is still streaming; omitted when complete
`images`	`string[]`	Image data URIs (omitted when empty)
`files`	`string[]`	File paths referenced (omitted when empty)

Configuration files

Cline stores all data under ~/.cline/ by default:

~/.cline/
├── data/
│   ├── globalState.json          # Global settings
│   ├── secrets.json              # API keys (encrypted at rest)
│   ├── settings/
│   │   └── cline_mcp_settings.json  # MCP server configuration
│   ├── workspace/                # Per-workspace state
│   └── tasks/                    # Task history and conversation logs
└── log/                          # Debug logs (open with cline dev log)

The CLINE_DIR environment variable or --config flag changes the root from ~/.cline/data/ to your specified path.

Examples

Interactive development

# Open interactive mode
cline

# Start with an initial task
cline "Help me refactor this module to use async/await"

# Start in Plan mode to review strategy first
cline -p "Design a caching layer for the API"

Headless and automation

# Auto-approve everything (YOLO)
cline -y "Run the test suite and fix any failures"

# JSON output piped to jq
cline --json "List all TODO comments" | jq -r 'select(.type == "say") | .text'

# Task with a timeout
cline -y --timeout 600 "Run the full test suite"

# Chain commands
git diff | cline -y "explain" | cline -y "write a commit message"

Piped input

# Summarize a file
cat README.md | cline "Summarize this document"

# Review git changes
git diff | cline "Review these changes for potential issues"

# Analyze test output
npm test 2>&1 | cline -y "Fix any failing tests"

# Review a GitHub PR
gh pr diff 123 | cline -y "Review this PR"

Authentication

# Interactive wizard
cline auth

# Anthropic
cline auth -p anthropic -k sk-ant-api-xxxxx -m claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929

# OpenAI
cline auth -p openai-native -k sk-xxxxx -m gpt-4o

# OpenRouter
cline auth -p openrouter -k sk-or-xxxxx

# OpenAI-compatible with custom base URL
cline auth -p openai -k your-key -b https://api.example.com/v1

Isolated configurations

# Work configuration
cline --config ~/.cline-work "Review this PR"

# Personal configuration with a different model
cline --config ~/.cline-personal -m gpt-4o "Help with this side project"

Installation

Install Cline CLI and configure authentication.

Interactive mode

Keyboard shortcuts, slash commands, and file mentions.

Headless mode

Run Cline autonomously in scripts and CI/CD pipelines.

​Synopsis

​Global options

​Default command

​cline task (alias: t)

​cline auth

​cline history (alias: h)

​cline config

​cline mcp add

​cline update

​cline version

​cline dev log

​Environment variables

​CLINE_DIR

​CLINE_COMMAND_PERMISSIONS

​JSON output format

​Configuration files

​Examples

​Interactive development

​Headless and automation

​Piped input

​Authentication

​Isolated configurations

​See also

Installation

Interactive mode

Headless mode

Synopsis

Global options

Default command

`cline task` (alias: `t`)

`cline auth`

`cline history` (alias: `h`)

`cline config`

`cline mcp add`

`cline update`

`cline version`

`cline dev log`

Environment variables

`CLINE_DIR`

`CLINE_COMMAND_PERMISSIONS`

JSON output format

Configuration files

Examples

Interactive development

Headless and automation

Piped input

Authentication

Isolated configurations

See also