Skip to content

Cline Integration

Cline is an autonomous coding agent for VS Code (and a CLI). It speaks MCP over stdio and HTTP.

Quick Start

Cline reads MCP servers from mcpServers in its settings JSON:

  • IDE: open the Cline panel → MCP Servers → Configure (this edits cline_mcp_settings.json in the extension's storage), or add a project-scoped config under .cline/.
  • CLI: edit ~/.cline/mcp.json, or run cline config mcp.
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kicad": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["kicad-mcp-pro"],
      "env": {
        "KICAD_MCP_PROJECT_DIR": "/absolute/path/to/your/kicad-project",
        "KICAD_MCP_PROFILE": "pcb_only",
        "KICAD_MCP_OPERATING_MODE": "readonly"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

Ready-to-copy: docs/examples/clients/cline.mcp.json.

Keep autoApprove empty so Cline asks before each tool call; add specific read-only tool names there once you trust the workflow. Leave KICAD_MCP_OPERATING_MODE=readonly until you intend to let the agent modify files.

Verification

cline mcp list
kicad-mcp-pro doctor

In the Cline panel the kicad server should show a green status with its tools listed.

Skills and rules

Cline supports project rules and skills under .cline/. The shared KiCad review rule in integrations/common/ and the PCB-review skill shipped for Claude Code / Cursor can be reused verbatim — drop the rule into .cline/rules/ and the skill folder into .cline/skills/.

Example Prompt

Use the kicad MCP server. Inspect this KiCad project, run DRC and ERC, and summarize the results. Do not modify any files.