cline-delegate

---
name: cline-delegate
description: >-
license: MIT
---

# Cline Delegate

You are the **orchestrator**. Delegate a bounded coding task to a separate **implementer** - the Cline
coding agent CLI - then review what it produced and land it yourself. You write the brief and own
the judgment; the implementer makes changes in its own session in a clean working tree; you verify
and commit.

The loop needs only a shell command and file access, so any comparable orchestrator can drive it.

## When NOT to use this

- The task is small enough to do inline; delegation overhead is not worth it.
- The `cline` CLI is not installed or authenticated.
- You require the relay to configure a sandbox. Cline exposes sandbox controls, but this relay
  leaves them to the CLI environment; use `--plan` when the run must be read-only.

## Prerequisites (check once)

1. Install `cline` (npm or bundled binary; the relay probes `cline --version`).
2. Authenticate: run `cline auth` (interactive sign-in), or configure
   `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` / an OpenAI-compatible base URL.
3. Confirm `cline --version` succeeds.
4. Work in, or point `--cd` at, the target git repository.

## Choose the model (optional)

Cline picks a default model. To choose another, pass the separate `--model <id>` or `--provider <name>`
(e.g. `anthropic`, `openai-native`, `openrouter`). The relay accepts letters, digits,
and `. _ : / -` only (the value reaches a shell on Windows).

## The loop

Run these five steps per task. Steps 1, 4, and 5 require judgment; 2 and 3 are mechanical.

### 1. Write a brief

Cline sees only the text you send. It cannot read your conversation: the brief must stand alone
with the goal, current state, what to change, what to leave untouched, the project's **real**
gates, and a report contract. Keep each brief to a single task. Write it to a file and pass it as
the relay's `--brief`. See [references/writing-the-brief.md](references/writing-the-brief.md).

### 2. Dispatch

Use the bundled relay. It runs `cline --json -v`, streams the brief on stdin behind a fixed
positional instruction, captures the JSON event stream, and writes `result.json`.

```bash
node "<skill-dir>/scripts/relay.mjs" --brief brief.txt --cd /path/to/repo
# choose a model / provider:        add --model <id>  --provider <name>
# read-only planning pass:          add --plan   (forces --auto-approve false)
# deny approval-required tools:     add --auto-approve false
# hard time limit (watchdog):        add --timeout 2h   (the 30m default suits brief runs; most implementation briefs should be 1-2h)
# see all options:                   node .../relay.mjs --help
```

The child's cwd pins the workspace. The relay writes artifacts under the system temp dir by
default and never commits. See [references/dispatch-and-poll.md](references/dispatch-and-poll.md).

### 3. Wait for completion

The relay blocks until cline finishes. Run it with the orchestrator's background-command
facility, or background it in the shell and poll for `result.json`. A pre-run usage error exits 2
and writes no result; a missing `cline` exits 127 and writes `status: "cline_unavailable"`.

Completion means the process exited and `result.json` exists - trust process state and the
working tree, not the progress display. Cline's final message is the `finalMessage` field of
`result.json`.

### 4. Review - do not trust the self-report

- Re-run the project's gates yourself.
- Read the diff against the brief, starting with `touchedFiles`.
- Run relevant guard skills if installed.

See [references/review-and-land.md](references/review-and-land.md).

### 5. Land it

If the work is good, commit it. The relay never commits - the diff and `result.json` are the
record; run `git status` and `git diff` first to confirm exactly what changed. If the group has a
PR flow, make the commit and push a branch; let human review happen. If the diff is wrong or
incomplete, re-dispatch a corrected brief in a fresh run and review again.

## Autonomy and permissions

The relay explicitly passes Cline's `--auto-approve`, defaulting to `true` in act mode. Cline
plan mode can request a switch to act mode, so `--plan` forces `--auto-approve false`; the relay
rejects `--plan --auto-approve true`. That pair is the read-only gate. Cline also exposes sandbox
through `--data-dir` / `CLINE_SANDBOX`, but the relay does not configure or override it. Plan-first
for anything risky, then review the plan before a separate act-mode dispatch. Malformed or malicious
briefs remain dangerous in act mode because commands run as the current user.

## Authorization model

Delegation is something the human opts into. Once briefed, cline works as a tool you approved use
of. The boundary is: **do not accept conclusions from the self-report**; verify everything on
disk. For anything touching credentials, production data, or irreversible operations, stop and ask
the human first instead of encoding it in a brief.

## References

- [references/writing-the-brief.md](references/writing-the-brief.md) - structure, scope, gates,
  brief delivery.
- [references/dispatch-and-poll.md](references/dispatch-and-poll.md) - flags, artifacts,
  `result.json`, and failure recovery.
- [references/review-and-land.md](references/review-and-land.md) - what to verify before calling
  the diff done, at the end of a run.
- [references/multi-task-queues.md](references/multi-task-queues.md) - sequential queues,
  constraint carry-forward, progress tracking, and the final coherence pass.