Cline

Cline is an agentic VS Code extension (formerly Claude Dev). It treats MCP servers as first-class and enforces approval-gated execution by default - every tool call asks for your OK before running.

See MCP Client Setup for the cross-client overview.

Config file

Cline stores MCP servers in its extension storage. The file lives at:

OS	Path
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
Linux	~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
Windows	%APPDATA%\Code\User\globalStorage\saoudrizwan.claude-dev\settings\cline_mcp_settings.json

You rarely need to edit this by hand - use the MCP Servers panel inside Cline (gear icon -> MCP Servers -> Configure MCP Servers).

Configuration

Copy the canonical Cline block from MCP Client Setup. Save it at cline_mcp_settings.json (path varies by OS — see the table above), or just paste it into the MCP Servers panel in the Cline UI.

autoApprove is a Cline-specific field - list tool names here to skip the approval prompt. Start with [] and add tools as you build trust:

"autoApprove": [
  "search_symbols",
  "get_ranked_context",
  "get_blast_radius",
  "get_why_context"
]

Read-only tools are safe to auto-approve

All 14 Ctxo tools are read-only (they declare readOnlyHint: true). You can safely add any of them to autoApprove without risking destructive actions.

Verify

1. Click MCP Servers in the Cline sidebar.
2. ctxo appears with a green dot and its 14 tools underneath.
3. If it is red, click the server name to see the spawn log.

Smoke test:

Read the ctxo://status resource and tell me when the index was last built.

Using Ctxo tools

Cline's loop is "propose -> approve -> execute -> observe". An example turn:

I need to understand how get_logic_slice works before I extend it.

Cline proposes calling get_context_for_task with taskType: "understand". You approve. Cline reads the returned JSON, summarizes the symbol, and only then offers to open files.

Because every step is gated, you always see which Ctxo tool fired and with what arguments - useful for debugging prompts.

Tips

• Approval gates are a feature, not a bug. They make Cline's Ctxo usage auditable. Use autoApprove only for the read-only tools you trust.
• No env block? Set it globally. If Cline's JSON schema refuses env, export DEBUG=ctxo:* in the shell Cline inherits from.
• Per-workspace is not supported. cline_mcp_settings.json is user-global. Use disabled: true to temporarily turn Ctxo off for a workspace where you do not have an index.
• HTTP transport. Same pattern as other clients: add "env": { "CTXO_HTTP_PORT": "7337" } and Ctxo serves over HTTP on that port.

Next steps

• MCP Client Setup
• MCP Tools Overview
• Quick Start