Cline Skills: How to Use SKILL.md After the Roo Code Shutdown (2026)

Quick Answer: Cline supports SKILL.md skills in the .cline/skills/ directory. After Roo Code shut down on May 15, 2026, Cline is the primary open-source VS Code coding agent. It supports GPT-5.5, enterprise-managed skills, Cerebras providers, and auto model routing. Migrate your existing Roo Code skills by moving them to the Cline directory. Browse ready-to-install skills at agensi.io/skills.

Roo Code, the most popular Cline fork, shut down on May 15, 2026. That pushed its user base back to Cline, the original open-source VS Code coding agent.

If you were using Roo Code with SKILL.md skills, the migration is straightforward. If you're new to Cline, skills are one of the reasons it's worth trying.

Where Cline stores skills

Project skills: .cline/skills/ in your repository root. Shared with your team through version control.

Personal skills: ~/.cline/skills/ in your home directory. Available across all your projects.

Each skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file. Cline reads the frontmatter at session start and loads matching skills when your request triggers them.

See SKILL.md in action

attack-tree-construction

by LocoLoboZ

$10

User Detection & Session Context Reviewer

by LB Creations

$14.99

ai-team-builder-kanban

by Roy Yuen

$5

Browse all skills

Migrating from Roo Code

If you had skills in Roo Code, move them to the Cline directory:

cp -r ~/.roo/skills/* ~/.cline/skills/

For project-level skills:

cp -r .roo/skills/* .cline/skills/

The SKILL.md format is identical. No file modifications needed. Your skills work the same way in Cline as they did in Roo Code.

If you were using Roo Code-specific features (custom providers, enterprise skill management), check Cline's latest release notes. Most of these features have been merged back into Cline since the shutdown.

What makes Cline different

Cline is free with any model provider. You bring your own API key (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Cerebras, local models) and Cline routes requests with zero markup. This makes it the cheapest option for developers who want full agent capabilities without a $20/month subscription.

The Plan and Act architecture separates thinking from doing. Cline plans what it's going to do, you approve the plan, then it executes. This step-by-step approval means no surprise file edits. Skills complement this by giving Cline better plans: instead of exploring multiple approaches, a skill tells Cline exactly which approach to take.

Recent updates added enterprise-managed skills, GPT-5.5 support, native subagents, headless CI/CD mode, and Cerebras as a provider with reasoning-capable models.

Best skills for Cline users

Code review: Cline's step-by-step approval is already cautious. A code review skill makes it more thorough by checking for security vulnerabilities, performance issues, and style violations that the approval step alone wouldn't catch.

Testing: Cline generates tests well, but a testing skill ensures the tests match your team's framework, naming conventions, and coverage requirements.

Frontend design: Cline builds UI through VS Code's native editor, which means you see changes in real time. A frontend design skill ensures those changes look professional instead of generic.

Browse the full catalog at agensi.io/skills. Every skill on Agensi is security-scanned and works across Cline, Claude Code, Cursor, and 20+ other agents.

Using Agensi MCP with Cline

Cline supports MCP servers. Add the Agensi MCP to your Cline configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "agensi": {
      "url": "https://mcp.agensi.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Your Cline session can now search the full Agensi catalog mid-conversation. Install paid skills with credits without leaving VS Code.