Cline CLI speaks the Agent Client Protocol (ACP), an open standard that lets editors and other tools drive terminal-based coding agents. Any ACP-capable client can use Cline as its coding agent without a dedicated extension — the same agent you use in the terminal, embedded in the tool you’re already working in.
Prerequisites
- Cline CLI installed (install via
npm i -g cline)
- Credentials are optional up front — most clients let you sign in when the first session starts, and credentials saved by
cline auth are reused automatically
How it works
ACP mode is started with the --acp flag:
You don’t run this yourself — the client launches the command and talks to Cline over stdio. Configure the client to run it, then start a thread from its agent UI.
If a client can’t spawn the agent, it may not inherit your shell’s PATH. Use the absolute path from which cline as the command.
Clients
ACP is supported by a growing ecosystem of editors, IDEs, and other tools. Setup for the most popular clients is below; the ACP client directory maintains the full list.
Zed
Add Cline as a custom agent in Zed’s settings.json:
Open the Agent Panel, start a new thread, and select Cline.
JetBrains IDEs
AI Assistant in JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, and others) supports ACP agents. In the AI Chat tool window, select Add Custom Agent — this creates ~/.jetbrains/acp.json — then add Cline:
Cline then appears in the AI Chat agent selector.
Neovim
The CodeCompanion plugin ships a built-in cline_cli ACP adapter that runs cline --acp. Set it as your chat adapter:
Other Neovim ACP clients, such as avante.nvim and agentic.nvim, can also launch Cline via cline --acp.
Emacs
agent-shell drives ACP agents from a native Emacs buffer. Configure a custom agent that runs cline --acp per the agent-shell docs.
Other clients
Anything that speaks ACP can run Cline the same way — point it at cline --acp. The client directory includes note-taking apps like Obsidian, notebooks like marimo, mobile clients, and chat bridges for Slack, Discord, and Telegram.
What works over ACP
- Sign-in from the client — if no credentials are found, the client prompts you to sign in with Cline, ClinePass, or a ChatGPT subscription. Credentials saved by
cline auth are reused automatically.
- Plan/Act modes — switch between Plan and Act from the client’s mode selector.
- Model and provider selection — pick any model from the active provider’s catalog, or switch providers, from the client’s model picker.
- Permission prompts — file edits and commands are approved through the client’s permission UI; nothing is auto-approved.
- Session resume — conversations are persisted, so clients that support session loading can restore a thread after a restart.
- Images — prompts can include images for vision-capable models.
- Organization switching — Cline team accounts can switch between personal and organization billing.
Environment variables
Set these under env in the client’s agent server config to preconfigure the agent:
Next Steps
