Cline (formerly Claude Dev) is a fully agentic VS Code extension that can read files, run terminal commands, and work through complex multi-step tasks autonomously. It's one of the most capable open-source agents available — and skills extend it with repeatable, version-controlled procedures.
What makes Cline different
Unlike Copilot (which is primarily inline suggestion-based) or Cursor (which blends IDE and agent modes), Cline is agent-first. It operates more like Claude Code — taking a task, reading your codebase, running commands, and working through it autonomously.
This makes it particularly well-suited to skills that define multi-step procedures: security audits that check multiple files, documentation generators that crawl an entire module, refactoring tasks that touch dozens of callsites.
Installing skills for Cline
npx mdskill add owner/repo/skill-name -a cline
To search first:
npx mdskill search "architecture review"
Cline reads installed skills from .cline/skills/ and activates the relevant one based on the task context.
Best skill types for Cline's agentic model
Architecture and design review
Because Cline can read multiple files in sequence, architecture review skills work especially well. A skill that checks for layering violations, circular dependencies, or inconsistent module boundaries can walk your entire codebase — not just the file you have open.
What a strong architecture review skill covers:
- Layer separation (UI → service → data — no skipping)
- Circular dependency detection
- Module size and cohesion signals
- Naming consistency across equivalent components
End-to-end feature implementation
Cline's autonomous mode handles multi-file tasks well. A feature implementation skill defines the procedure: read existing patterns, scaffold new files matching those patterns, wire the new code into routing/state/API layers, write tests.
This is useful for enforcing consistency — every new feature follows the same structure, not whoever happened to write it.
Codebase onboarding
An onboarding skill tells Cline how to produce a tour of your codebase for a new developer: which files to read, what to explain, what to highlight about the architecture. You run it once per major change; the output is a structured summary that stays in the repo.
| Onboarding section | What the skill should instruct |
|---|---|
| Entry points | Main files, startup sequence, environment variables |
| Data model | Key entities, relationships, where they're defined |
| API surface | Routes, authentication model, response format |
| Test setup | How to run, what's covered, where fixtures live |
Dependency audit
Cline can run npm audit or equivalent, read the output, and cross-reference it against your package.json — then produce a prioritised list of what to update and why, ranked by severity and update complexity. A skill formalises this procedure so it runs the same way every time.
Building a skill for your Cline workflow
Cline's agentic nature means skills can be more procedural than those written for inline assistants. You can instruct Cline to read multiple files, run specific commands, and produce output based on what it finds.
# dependency-health-check
## Purpose
Audit project dependencies for security vulnerabilities, outdated packages,
and license compliance issues.
## Instructions
1. Read package.json (or requirements.txt / Cargo.toml / go.mod)
2. Run the appropriate audit command (npm audit / pip-audit / cargo audit)
3. Read the output and categorise findings by severity
4. Cross-reference outdated packages with major-version changes
5. Flag any package with a non-permissive license
## Output format
severity: critical | high | medium | low
package: name@current-version → recommended-version
issue: CVE number or description
action: upgrade | replace | accept-risk
See how to build an agent skill for the full guide.
What's next?
- Browse skills by category for audit-focused skills
- Understand SKILL.md format before building your own
- Compare Cline, Cursor, and Claude Code to find the right tool for each task