Cline SDK Skill

Cline SDK reference docs for AI coding assistants. Covers the Agent runtime, ClineCore sessions, custom tools, plugins, events, LLM providers, scheduling, multi-agent teams, and production deployment.

For full documentation, visit docs.cline.bot/sdk.

Install

Add the skill to your AI coding assistant for richer context:

npx skills add cline/sdk-skill

This works with Cline CLI, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, Goose, OpenCode, and Windsurf.

Structure

skill/cline-sdk/
+-- SKILL.md                  # Main manifest + decision trees
+-- references/               # API and concept subdirectories
    +-- agent/                # Agent runtime (4-file pattern)
    +-- clinecore/            # ClineCore full runtime (4-file pattern)
    +-- tools/                # Built-in and custom tools
    +-- plugins/              # Extension system
    +-- events/               # Streaming events
    +-- providers/            # LLM provider configuration
    +-- production/           # Deployment and security
    +-- scheduling/           # Cron and automation
    +-- multi-agent/          # Teams and sub-agents

Decision Trees

The main SKILL.md contains decision trees for:

• Choosing an API surface (Agent vs ClineCore)
• Creating and configuring tools
• Setting up plugins and hooks
• Configuring LLM providers
• Streaming events
• Multi-agent coordination
• Scheduling and automation
• Production deployment
• Troubleshooting

Topics Covered

API Surfaces: Agent (lightweight stateless loop), ClineCore (full runtime with persistence)

Tools: Custom tool creation with Zod/JSON Schema, built-in tools (bash, editor, read_files, search, apply_patch, fetch_web), tool policies

Plugins: Extension system, hooks, lifecycle stages, distribution

Cross-cutting: Events, LLM providers, scheduling, multi-agent teams, production deployment

License

Apache 2.0 © 2026 Cline Bot Inc.