.clinerules: Version-Controlled, Shareable, and AI-Editable Instructions

For some time, Cline offered two ways to provide persistent guidance: a simple "Custom Instructions" text box and the more robust, file-based .clinerules system. While the text box was a familiar starting point, it was always a stepping stone. Today, we're fully embracing the more powerful paradigm by deprecating the old Custom Instructions feature to focus entirely on .clinerules.

The reason is simple: treating instructions as code is fundamentally better. A single, static text box doesn’t scale. It lacks version control, can't be easily shared, and is disconnected from your actual workspace. .clinerules solves these problems by design.

Check out our .clinerules docs and our community-sourced .clinerules repo

Instructions as Code

The core idea behind .clinerules is to treat instructions as code. Instead of a hidden text box, your instructions live in simple Markdown (.md) files within your project or a global directory. This shift brings immediate, practical benefits.

• Version Control: Because .clinerules are just files in your project, you can commit them to your Git repository. Your instructions now have a history. You can see how they've evolved, revert to previous versions, and review changes in pull requests. This brings the same discipline to your AI guidance that you already apply to your source code.
• Team Consistency: New team members can clone a repository and instantly have the same project-specific guidelines for Cline that the rest of the team uses. There’s no need to copy-paste instructions or manually configure settings. This ensures everyone is working with the same context, reducing friction and improving the consistency of Cline's output.
• Modularity and Granularity: You are no longer limited to a single block of text. You can create a .clinerules/ directory and break your instructions into multiple, focused files like 01-coding-style.md, 02-documentation-rules.md, or react-patterns.md. This makes rules easier to manage, combine, and reuse. With the toggleable UI, you can switch contexts on the fly – activating and deactivating rules as your focus shifts from writing code to generating tests to drafting documentation, all within the same conversation.

Cline Can Edit Its Own Instructions

Here is where .clinerules moves beyond being just a replacement for custom instructions. Because rules are just files, Cline can read, write, and edit them. This unlocks a powerful new workflow where you can refine your instructions interactively.

If you find Cline isn't following a guideline perfectly, you don't have to open the file and edit it yourself. You can simply tell Cline: "Refine the api-style-guide.md rule to also include a section on pagination standards." Cline will edit the file for you.

This creates a feedback loop where your AI assistant becomes a partner in refining its own instructions, leading to a highly personalized and continuously improving system.

Join the Community: The cline/prompts Repository

The power of .clinerules truly shines when we share them. That's why we created the cline/prompts repository on GitHub. It’s a community-driven collection of .clinerules and workflows that anyone can use and contribute to.

This is more than just a library; it's a place to share and discover best practices for guiding AI. By contributing your own rules, you help the entire community build better software with Cline. We encourage you to browse the repository for useful rules you can drop into your own projects and to submit your own via a pull request.

Getting Started with .clinerules

If you haven't used .clinerules before, getting started is easy:

1. Create Your First Rule: In Cline, click the + button in the Rules popover (below the chat input) to create a new Global or Workspace rule. This will create a new .md file for you.
2. Write Your Instructions: Add the guidelines you want Cline to follow. Start simple. You can always refine them later.
3. Organize and Refactor: As you develop more rules, consider creating a .clinerules/ directory in your project to organize them into smaller, focused files.
4. Explore the Community Repo: Check out the cline/prompts repo for inspiration and reusable rules that you can add to your own projects.

We believe that treating instructions as code – version-controlled, shareable, and community-driven – is the right path forward. It provides the power, flexibility, and collaborative potential that a simple text box never could.

-Nick 🫡