Cline: what it remembers, who owns it, and what it costs
thecontinuitylayer.com/coding-agents/clineAn open-source coding agent in your IDE, terminal and desktop, with rules and a documented Memory Bank pattern for carrying context between sessions.
- 1Yes
Does Cline remember across sessions?
Yes, by Cline Bot Inc.'s own page.
Cline Rules give persistent instructions across all conversations, set once and applied in new tasks; the Memory Bank is a documented rules pattern of Markdown files, because Cline's memory otherwise resets between sessions.
Yes means: Persistent instructions or stored memory carry into a new session without you pasting them again.
- 2Yes
Can you see what Cline remembered?
Yes, by Cline Bot Inc.'s own page.
The Rules panel lists project and global rules; Memory Bank files are ordinary Markdown in your project.
Yes means: A file or panel lists the stored memory.
- 3Yes
Can you edit Cline's memory?
Yes, by Cline Bot Inc.'s own page.
Rules are plain Markdown files you create and edit; Memory Bank files are editable the same way.
Yes means: The memory is editable by you.
- 4Yes
Can you delete or turn off Cline's memory?
Yes, by Cline Bot Inc.'s own page.
Individual rules can be toggled off without deleting them, files can be removed, and the Memory Bank is only active if you add its instructions.
Yes means: A documented way to delete it or switch it off.
- 5Yes
Does Cline keep memory in a file you own?
Yes, by Cline Bot Inc.'s own page.
Rules live in .clinerules/ or .cline/rules/ in the project and in a global rules folder; the Memory Bank is a folder in the project.
Yes means: The memory lives in a plain file on your machine or in your repository.
- 6Yes
Does Cline read a format other tools read?
Yes, by Cline Bot Inc.'s own page.
Reads AGENTS.md in the project and ~/.agents/AGENTS.md as a cross-tool standard; also detects .cursorrules and .windsurfrules, toggleable.
Yes means: It reads a shared convention such as AGENTS.md, so the same file works elsewhere.
- 7Not stated
Does Cline use your code for training by default?
Cline Bot Inc.'s pages do not say.
Telemetry is on by default with an opt-out and excludes code and prompts except for Cline's own providers; no page read states whether any data trains models.
Yes means: Here no is the good answer: the maker's page says your data is not used for training. Yes means it is unless you opt out; partly means it depends on the plan or the page does not give the default.
- 8Yes
What does Cline cost?
Yes, by Cline Bot Inc.'s own page.
Free for individuals as an open-source extension; you pay only for the model you use, at cost or with your own key. No paid personal tier.
Yes means: A free tier exists and the entry paid price is published.
What these grades say about continuity, and what they do not.
Every grade on this site is read from the maker's own pages. The Continuity Framework asks five things of any system that carries state: that it carry, govern, evolve, prove and forget. These tests reach carry, govern, prove and forget; they do not reach evolve, which no maker's page documents in a gradeable way. A high letter is a good coding agent, not a continuity layer.
- C1 RemembersCarry
- Remembering across sessions is question C1: state outlives the session that created it.
- C2 See itProve
- Being able to see the stored memory is the smallest form of question P1: the owner can inspect what is carried.
- C3 Edit itGovern
- An editable memory means the owner, not only the agent, has write authority (question G1, in part).
- C4 Delete itForget
- Deleting or switching off memory is rung 5 of the erasure ladder for the store the agent keeps; summaries and indexes it built are not covered unless documented. Rung 5 of the erasure ladder: delete the record.
- C5 Your fileCarry
- Memory in a file you own is portability by construction: question C3 answered without an export.
- C6 PortableCarry
- Reading a shared convention such as AGENTS.md is question C2: the same file works when the agent changes.
- C7 TrainingGovern
- Not training on your code by default is a scope boundary on the maker's side: what leaves the record and where it may go.
License as stated: Apache-2.0, per the repository.. Every grade above is read from Cline Bot Inc.'s own page on the day shown. If a page has changed, tell us.