.clineignore
.clineignore tells the Cline VS Code agent which files to exclude from its context and actions.
This week: 0% of 499 scanned repos had .clineignore.See Radar #4 →
What it is
.clineignore is a gitignore-style file that the Cline autonomous coding agent reads to skip matching files when exploring or editing your project.
Why use it
Because Cline can read and modify files autonomously, excluding secrets keeps them out of its context and protects them from accidental edits.
How to set it up
Create .clineignore in your project root and add one glob pattern per line for files Cline should not touch.
.env
.env.*
*.pem
*.key
secrets/What to exclude
Common sensitive categories worth adding to .clineignore:
FAQ
- Why does an autonomous agent need an ignore file?
- Autonomous agents act on the codebase directly, so an ignore file is an important guardrail for sensitive files.
Check your own project
158 of 499 repos this week exposed sensitive paths to AI tools. Check yours in seconds:
Run the same local check with Offsend CLI:
brew install --cask offsend/tap/offsend-cli
offsend show
offsend prepare --dry-runEverything runs locally. No file contents are uploaded.