---
title: Cline CLI
---

Cline CLI is an autonomous coding agent for interactive terminal sessions.

<img
  src="/images/cline-cli.png"
  alt="Cline CLI launched with Ollama selected as the provider"
  style={{ borderRadius: "12px" }}
/>

## Install

Install the [Cline CLI](https://docs.cline.bot/usage/cli-overview). For the IDE extension, see [Cline](/integrations/cline).

```bash
npm install -g cline
```

<Note>If Cline CLI is not installed and `npm` is available, `ollama launch cline` will prompt to install `cline@latest`.</Note>

## Usage with Ollama

### Quick setup

```bash
ollama launch cline
```

When launched through `ollama launch cline`, Ollama sets Cline's provider to Ollama, points it at the local Ollama endpoint, and selects the model you choose.

To configure without launching:

```shell
ollama launch cline --config
```

### Run directly with a model

```shell
ollama launch cline --model qwen3.5
```

To use a cloud model:

```shell
ollama launch cline --model kimi-k2.6:cloud
```


### Pass a prompt to Cline

Arguments after `--` are passed directly to Cline:

```shell
ollama launch cline -- "summarize this repository"
```

To open Cline's Kanban board:

```shell
ollama launch cline -- kanban
```

<img
  src="/images/cline-kanban.png"
  alt="Cline Kanban board opened from the CLI"
  style={{ borderRadius: "12px" }}
/>

### Manual setup

To configure Cline CLI manually, first make sure Ollama is running and the model you want to use is available:

```shell
ollama pull qwen3.5
```

Then run Cline's interactive auth flow:

```shell
cline auth
```

Select Ollama as the provider, use `http://localhost:11434` as the base URL if prompted, and choose a model such as `qwen3.5` or `kimi-k2.6:cloud`.

To check the current Cline configuration:

```shell
cline config
```

To start an interactive session:

```shell
cline
```