Packages

How SDK packages fit together, what each package exports, and where boundaries are enforced.

The SDK is split into layered packages. Dependencies flow downward: core depends on agents, llms, and shared; agents depends on llms and shared; llms depends on shared.

Package Stack

Your application / CLI / VS Code / JetBrains
          │
          ▼
@cline/core
Sessions, storage, built-in tools, hub, automation, telemetry
          │
          ├── @cline/agents
          │   Browser-compatible AgentRuntime / Agent loop
          │
          ├── @cline/llms
          │   Provider handlers, gateway, model catalogs
          │
          └── @cline/shared
              Types, schemas, tools, hooks, extension contracts

Packages

@cline/core

Node runtime/orchestration layer.

Key exports include:

Export	Description
ClineCore	Main runtime entry point
ClineCoreOptions	Constructor options
ClineCoreStartInput	Session start input
CoreSessionConfig	Session configuration
SessionRecord	Persisted session metadata
AgentPlugin	Public plugin type
createTool	Re-export from shared

Capabilities include:

• local/hub/remote runtime backends
• session manifests and message artifacts
• built-in tools
• tool approvals
• automation/scheduling services
• telemetry hooks
• plugin/extension loading
• team/sub-agent tools

Depends on: @cline/shared, @cline/llms, @cline/agents.

@cline/agents

Browser-compatible agent execution loop.

Key exports include:

Export	Description
AgentRuntime	Core runtime class
Agent	Alias for AgentRuntime
createAgentRuntime, createAgent	Factory functions
AgentRuntimeConfig	Constructor config union
AgentRunInput, AgentEventListener	Runtime helper types
createTool	Re-export from @cline/shared

Methods on AgentRuntime include run, continue, abort, subscribe, restore, and snapshot.

Depends on: @cline/shared, @cline/llms.

@cline/llms

Provider and model layer.

Key exports include:

Export	Description
DefaultGateway, createGateway	Gateway for creating provider-backed agent models
createHandler, createHandlerAsync	Provider handler factories
getAllProviders, getProviderIds, getModelsForProvider	Catalog helpers
registerProvider, registerModel	Runtime registry extension
ModelInfo, ProviderInfo	Provider/model metadata

Depends on: @cline/shared.

@cline/shared

Foundation package for shared contracts and utilities.

Key exports include:

Export	Description
createTool	Helper for creating typed tools
AgentTool, AgentToolContext, ToolPolicy	Tool interfaces
AgentEvent, AgentResult, AgentConfig	Host-facing agent types
AgentRuntimeEvent, AgentRunResult	Runtime-facing agent types
HookEngine, HookStage, HookPolicies	Hook contracts and engine
ContributionRegistry, AgentExtensionApi	Extension registration contracts
ModelInfo, Message, ContentBlock	Model/message types
BasicLogger, noopBasicLogger	Logging contracts

No higher-layer dependencies.

Install

npm install @cline/sdk

@cline/sdk re-exports everything from @cline/core. Install @cline/agents or @cline/llms directly only if you need lower-level control.

Design Principles

Strict dependency direction

Dependencies flow downward only. Lower layers stay embeddable without pulling in the full runtime.

Browser-compatible agent loop

@cline/agents exposes a browser-compatible runtime. It does not own session storage, built-in file/shell tools, hub transports, or Node-specific orchestration.

Core as orchestration layer

@cline/core owns Node runtime integration: session persistence, built-in tools, automation, hub/remote transports, telemetry, and extension loading.