Cline CLI cheat sheet

Every command, flag and slash command for cline — The Cline agent in your terminal — the same plan/act core as the VS Code extension, MCP + checkpoints. 13+ commands, verified July 2026.

A real, official standalone cline CLI (npm cline, by Cline Bot Inc.) that shares its agent core with the Cline IDE extension — not the third-party @yaegaki/cline-cli.

Install

npm install -g cline            # official package (bin: cline); needs Node 22+ to install
npm install -g cline@nightly    # nightly builds

Start & run

cline                                  # interactive TUI
cline "Audit this package and fix it"  # one-shot, then exit
cline -i "Let's work on this"          # interactive with a starting prompt
cat file | cline "Summarize this"      # pipe stdin
cline -P anthropic -m … -k sk-… "…"    # provider / model / key
cline kanban                           # board at http://localhost:3484

Key flags

Flag	What it does
`-p, --plan`	Run in plan mode (default is act mode)
`-i, --tui`	Interactive multi-turn TUI
`-P, --provider <id>` / `-m, --model <id>`	Provider / model
`-k, --key <api-key>`	API key for this run (beats env vars)
`--json`	NDJSON output (non-interactive)
`-y, --yolo`	Skip approvals
`-z, --zen`	Dispatch to a background hub and exit
`--acp`	ACP mode for editor integration

In-session commands

Command / key	What it does
`/help` · `/model` · `/account`	Help · model · account
`/mcp` · `/settings`	Manage MCP servers · settings
`/compact` · `/undo`	Compact context · rewind (checkpoints)
`/clear` · `/history` · `/quit`	Clear · sessions · exit
`Tab` · `Shift+Tab` · `Ctrl+L`	Plan/Act · auto-approve all · clear view

Subcommands: cline auth <provider>, cline mcp …, cline history, cline schedule …, cline doctor, cline update.

Config

~/.cline/data/settings/providers.json   # API keys + provider config
~/.cline/data/settings/rules/           # global rules
.cline/mcp.json                         # project MCP servers

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=…   # or CLINE_API_KEY (with -P cline), OPENAI_API_KEY, OPENROUTER_API_KEY

Common one-liners

cline --yolo "Run tests and fix any failures"
git diff origin/main | cline "Review these changes for issues"
cline --json "List all TODO comments" | jq -r '.event.text // empty'
cline schedule create "Daily review" --cron "0 9 * * MON-FRI" --prompt "Review PRs opened yesterday"