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Use tk with Cline to manage issues from an autonomous AI coding agent in VS Code.

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What is Cline?

Cline is an open-source autonomous AI coding agent for VS Code with Plan/Act modes. It can create and edit files, run terminal commands, and use MCP servers — making it a natural fit for tk-powered issue tracking. With 4M+ developers, Cline is one of the most popular AI extensions on the VS Code Marketplace.

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MCP Integration

Install the ticket-mcp MCP server to give Cline direct access to your issues.

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Quick Setup

  1. Open the Cline sidebar in VS Code
  2. Click the MCP Servers icon (plug icon)
  3. Click Configure MCP Servers
  4. Add the ticket-mcp configuration:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ticket-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["ticket-mcp"],
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}
The Cline MCP settings file is located at:
  • 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
uv installed via: curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | shPython version 3.10 or higher (installed automatically by uv)VS Code with Cline extension installed

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Verify Installation

After saving the configuration, check the MCP Servers panel in Cline. The ticket-mcp server should show a green status indicator. Cline will now have access to all tk tools.

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Project Context

Create a .clinerules file in your project root to give Cline context about tk: 
# Issue Tracking

This project uses **tk (ticket-rs)** for dependency-aware issue tracking.
Issues are stored as Markdown files in `.tickets/`.

## Quick Commands

- `tk triage` - AI-powered recommendations and project health
- `tk ready` - Find issues with no blockers
- `tk create "Title" -t task -p 2` - Create issue
- `tk show <id>` - View issue details
- `tk close <id>` - Complete work
- `tk dep add <blocked> <blocker>` - Add dependency

## Workflow

1. Run `tk triage` at the start of a session
2. Use `tk claim <id>` before starting work
3. Use `tk resolve <id>` when done

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Auto-Approve Tools

To let Cline use tk tools without prompting for approval each time, add tool names to alwaysAllow: 
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ticket-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["ticket-mcp"],
      "alwaysAllow": [
        "ready",
        "list_issues",
        "show",
        "search",
        "triage",
        "stats"
      ],
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}
Only auto-approve read-only tools. Keep write operations like create, update, and close behind approval prompts for safety.

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Workflow Tips

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Starting a Session

Ask Cline: “Run tk triage and tell me what I should work on” Cline will execute tk triage and present AI-powered recommendations.

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Plan Mode

Ask Cline: “Plan a fix for tk-abc123, then implement it” Cline’s Plan mode will analyze the issue, create a plan, then switch to Act mode to implement it.

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Creating Issues

Ask Cline: “Create a bug for the broken search indexing, priority 1” Cline will run: 
tk create "Fix broken search indexing" -t bug -p 1

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Closing Work

Ask Cline: “Resolve tk-abc123, the fix is in the latest commit”

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Cline-Specific Features

Use Cline’s Plan mode to analyze a tk issue, then switch to Act mode to implement. Cline can read the issue description from tk show, plan the fix, and execute it autonomously.
Cline’s MCP Marketplace provides one-click installation of MCP servers. Check if ticket-mcp is listed for even easier setup.
Cline can analyze code changes in your working directory and create appropriately scoped tk issues with correct types, priorities, and dependency links.
Combine Cline’s autonomous mode with tk to handle full workflows: triage issues, claim work, implement fixes, run tests, and resolve issues — all in a single session.

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Troubleshooting

Check that uvx is in your PATH. Open the Cline MCP Servers panel and verify the server shows a green status. Try clicking the restart button next to the server.
Ensure "disabled": false in your config. Restart VS Code after editing the MCP settings file. Check Cline’s output panel for error messages.
Add read-only tool names to the alwaysAllow array in your MCP config. See the Auto-Approve section above.
Enable caching with tk cache info to verify the analytics cache is working. Cached responses return in under 10ms.

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Next Steps

CLI Reference

Complete tk command documentation

MCP Server

Deep dive into MCP server capabilities

Graph Analytics

Learn about PageRank and dependency analysis

Cline Docs

Official Cline documentation

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Sources