Installation

Install Cline CLI via npm or Homebrew, then authenticate with your AI provider.

This guide walks through installing Cline CLI, verifying the installation, and authenticating with an AI provider.

Prerequisites

Cline CLI requires Node.js 20 or higher. Node.js 22 is recommended.

Check your current version:

node --version

If you need to install or upgrade Node.js, download it from nodejs.org or use a version manager like nvm or fnm.

Install Cline CLI

npm (recommended)

Install globally via npm:

npm install -g cline

To install a specific version:

npm install -g cline@2.0.0

From source

Clone the repository and build from source:

git clone https://github.com/cline/cline.git
cd cline/cli
npm install
npm run build
npm link

Verify the installation

cline version

Expected output:

Cline CLI version: 2.11.0

Authenticate

Run the authentication wizard to configure your AI provider:

cline auth

The wizard presents several options. Choose the one that matches your setup.

Option 1: Sign in with Cline (recommended)

Select Sign in with Cline to authenticate via OAuth using your Cline account. Your browser opens automatically to complete the sign-in flow.

Option 2: Sign in with ChatGPT subscription

If you have a ChatGPT Plus or Pro subscription, select Sign in with ChatGPT Subscription. This uses OpenAI Codex OAuth to authenticate with your existing subscription — no separate API key needed.

Option 3: Import from an existing tool

Cline can import credentials from other AI CLI tools:

• Import from Codex CLI — reads from ~/.codex/auth.json
• Import from OpenCode — reads from ~/.local/share/opencode/auth.json

Option 4: Bring your own API key

Select Bring your own API key to configure any supported provider manually. You can also skip the wizard entirely and pass flags directly:

# Anthropic (Claude)
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 -m anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929

# Moonshot (Kimi)
cline auth -p moonshot -k sk-xxxxx -m kimi-k2.5

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

Auth flags:

Flag	Description
-p, --provider <id>	Provider ID (e.g., anthropic, openai-native, openrouter)
-k, --apikey <key>	Your API key
-m, --modelid <id>	Model ID (e.g., claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929, gpt-4o)
-b, --baseurl <url>	Base URL for OpenAI-compatible providers

The flag-based setup is ideal for CI/CD environments, automated machine provisioning, or configuring multiple machines with the same provider.

Supported providers

Provider	Provider ID	Notes
Anthropic	anthropic	Direct Claude API access
OpenAI	openai-native	GPT-4o, GPT-4, and others
OpenAI Codex	openai-codex	ChatGPT subscription via OAuth
OpenRouter	openrouter	Access multiple providers through one key
AWS Bedrock	bedrock	Claude via AWS; requires AWS credentials
Google Gemini	gemini	Gemini Pro and others
X AI (Grok)	xai	Grok models
Cerebras	cerebras	Fast inference
DeepSeek	deepseek	DeepSeek models
Moonshot	moonshot	Kimi models
Ollama	ollama	Local models
LM Studio	lmstudio	Local models
OpenAI-compatible	openai	Any OpenAI-compatible API

Verify your setup

Confirm everything is working end-to-end:

cline "What is 2 + 2?"

If Cline responds, your installation and authentication are complete. To inspect your current configuration:

cline config

Quick start

Choose how you want to work:

Interactive mode — open the TUI for hands-on development:

cline

Type your task and press Enter. Use Tab to toggle Plan/Act mode, Shift+Tab to enable auto-approve, and /help to see available slash commands.

Headless mode — run a task autonomously:

cline -y "Add error handling to utils.js"

Updating

Update to the latest version:

cline update

Or update via npm directly:

npm update -g cline

Troubleshooting

'cline' command not found after installation

The npm global binary directory may not be in your PATH.

1. Find the global bin path:
   npm bin -g
   
2. Add it to your shell configuration (.bashrc, .zshrc, etc.):
   export PATH="$PATH:$(npm bin -g)"
   
3. Reload your shell:
   source ~/.zshrc  # or ~/.bashrc
   

Using a version manager like nvm, fnm, or Volta avoids this issue entirely — they manage PATH automatically.

Permission errors during installation

If you see EACCES errors when running npm install -g cline, the recommended fix is to use a Node.js version manager (nvm, fnm, or Volta). These install Node into your home directory, eliminating permission problems.

Alternatively, follow the npm guide on fixing permission errors.

Browser doesn't open during OAuth

1. Copy the URL printed in the terminal.
2. Paste it into your browser manually.
3. Complete the sign-in flow.
4. Return to the terminal — it will detect the completed auth automatically.

API key rejected

1. Verify the key is correct and hasn’t been revoked.
2. Confirm you selected the right provider ID.
3. Check that your API account has the required permissions or credits.

Provider-specific notes:

• Anthropic: keys start with sk-ant-
• OpenAI: keys start with sk-
• AWS Bedrock: requires AWS credentials configured separately — see AWS Bedrock setup

Uninstalling

Remove the CLI binary:

npm uninstall -g cline

To also remove configuration and task history:

rm -rf ~/.cline

Next steps

Interactive mode

Learn keyboard shortcuts, slash commands, and file mentions.

Headless mode

Run Cline autonomously in scripts and CI/CD pipelines.

CLI reference

Complete documentation for all commands and flags.