Cline v3.13: Toggleable .clinerules, Slash Commands & Previous Message Editing
Tired of manually managing context instructions for different tasks? Wish you could quickly branch explorations or fix a flawed prompt without starting over?
Cline 3.13 tackles these workflow frustrations head-on. We're delivering precise control over your AI development process with three key updates:
- Toggleable
.clinerulesfor effortless context switching (docs) - Quick
/newtaskSlash Commands for session management (docs) - Message Editing with Checkpoint Restore for fearless exploration
On Demand & Toggleable .clinerules
You asked for more control over how Cline uses custom instructions, and v3.13 delivers. Forget manually editing prompts or managing complex configurations.
The new .clinerules popover, right below the chat input, lets you treat your instruction files like modular roles you can instantly switch between.
- Need Cline to remember project specifics? Toggle on your
memory-bank.md. - Working on the UI? Activate your
react-best-practices.md.
This popover shows active global and local rules and lets you enable or disable them with a click. Add new rules easily (Cline can write them!) and activate them only when relevant.
This means less friction and more precise AI guidance exactly when you need it, making Cline adapt seamlessly to your workflow.
Pro tip: if you use a .clinerule to perform a specific workflow, ask Cline to make it better based on your feedback. This is "self-improving Cline"
/Slash Commands for newtask
Simply type /newtask in the chat input, and Cline will initiate the process of creating a new task, preserving the context from your current session – perfect for branching explorations or starting fresh without losing your place.
This is just the beginning for Slash Commands; expect more quick actions in the future! Combined with the new "Jump to Cline Chat Input" command (accessible via the command palette and assignable to a keybinding), keyboard warriors can navigate and interact with Cline faster than ever.
Message Editing & Checkpoints
Ever wished you could tweak a previous prompt without retyping everything? Or explore a different coding path without starting a whole new chat? Now you can.
Cline 3.13 introduces the ability to edit your previous messages. Simply double-click a message. When you edit a message, Cline leverages its powerful checkpoint system, offering you the option to restore your workspace back to the state it was in before that message was sent. It's like having infinite undo for your entire development session.
Made a wrong turn? Realized a different approach would be better? Just edit the relevant message, restore the checkpoint, and proceed down the new path.
Additional Improvements
Beyond these headline features, Cline 3.13 includes several other valuable updates:
- Send Message with Option: You can now type a message while also selecting a suggested option from Cline.
- Jump to Chat Input: New command palette action (assignable to keybinding) to focus the Cline chat input from anywhere in VS Code.
- Model Support: Added OpenAI
o3&4o-mini(Thanks @PeterDaveHello, @arafatkatze!), Azure DeepSeek (Thanks @yt3trees!), and Google GeminibaseURLoption (Thanks @owengo, @olivierhub!). - MCP Image Responses: Models supporting image input can now receive images from MCP servers (Thanks @rikaaa0928!).
- Improved Search/Replace: More robust diff editing, less likely to fall back to full file writes (Thanks @chi-cat!).
- Terminal Improvements: Better detection of
Ctrl+Ctermination and chunking for large outputs to improve performance. - Other Fixes: Addressed issues with Vertex token tracking (Thanks @mzsima!) and xAI reasoning parsing (Thanks @mrubens!).
Take Control Today
Cline 3.13 puts more power and precision directly into your hands. From modular AI guidance with toggleable rules to rapid actions via Slash Commands and the freedom to reshape your session history with message editing – these features are designed to make your development workflow smoother, faster, and more adaptable.
Update to Cline 3.13 today and experience the difference. Let us know what you think!
