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docs(harness): add CLINE.md thin pointer and list Cline in AGENTS.md - #37

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Sep 6, 2026
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docs/cline-harness-entry

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Summary\n\nCline joins Codex/Claude/Gemini as a listed harness with a thin entry file (CLINE.md) that delegates to AGENTS.md, matching the existing CODEX.md / CLAUDE.md / GEMINI.md shape. AGENTS.md is updated in two places to name Cline alongside the other harnesses, and to state explicitly that per-model entry files are intentionally not created — answering the recurring question of whether each new model needs its own .md.\n\n## Changes\n\n- CLINE.md (new) — thin harness entry pointer (23 lines) with Cline-specific notes: open Agent Skills discovery, no adapter-local manifest, and the empirically verified AGENTS.md auto-injection behavior.\n- AGENTS.md — added Cline to the harness enumeration (line 4) and CLINE.md to the entry-files paragraph (line 69), plus a paragraph stating per-model files (DEEPSEEK.md, GLM.md, KIMI.md, QWEN.md) are intentionally not created because those are model/API providers routed through a harness, not harnesses themselves.\n- tests/unit/test_cline_adapter.py — added test_cline_entry_file_is_thin_pointer_to_agents_md and test_agents_md_lists_cline_among_harnesses (5 cases total now).\n- changelog.md / handoff.md — one Unreleased line + handoff update.\n\n## Empirical verification of Cline ← AGENTS.md auto-injection\n\nRan an isolated Cline session (CLI 3.0.61, --data-dir $(mktemp -d), model cline-pass/glm-5.2) with the prompt: "Output ONLY the literal first line of this repository AGENTS.md file. Do not run any tools."\n\nResult: the model responded # AGENTS.md, and the reasoning trace explicitly said:\n\n> "Looking at the Workspace Configuration, I see the full content of the AGENTS.md file was provided in the workspace context."\n\nThis confirms Cline auto-injects the repo-root AGENTS.md into workspace context at session start — so AGENTS.md already reaches every model routed through ClinePass (DeepSeek, GLM, Kimi, Qwen, …) without any per-model plumbing. That is the empirical basis for the "per-model entry files are not created" policy recorded in AGENTS.md.\n\n## Why this shape\n\n- Harness entry files (CODEX.md, CLAUDE.md, GEMINI.md, now CLINE.md) are thin pointers because harnesses, not models, are the layer that owns project-context files. Cline auto-injection of AGENTS.md makes a CLINE.md body mostly a placeholder for Cline-specific quirks — same pattern as the other three.\n- Per-model files would be redundant: the harness owns context injection, so one harness entry covers every model the harness routes to.\n- This PR does not modify the harness-parity CI job — that is tracked separately as a Medium backlog item (PR #36).\n\n## Verification\n\n- tests/unit/test_cline_adapter.py: 5 cases (3 original + 2 new), re-run with Python 3.13 standalone (stdlib-only) — all pass.\n- git diff --stat: 5 files, +105/-40; Python scope limited to test_cline_adapter.py (stdlib pathlib only — no ruff/mypy surface beyond what already passed).\n\n## Examples Impact\n\n- [x] N/A — doc/test-only PR (docs:), no examples/ change required per PR template.\n\n## ADR Impact\n\n- [x] N/A — no architectural decision changed; this records an existing invariant (harness owns context injection) and empirically verifies it.\n\n## Local verification checklist\n\n- [x] git status clean before branch; branched off develop, base develop.\n- [x] Commit message follows Conventional Commits (docs(harness): ...).\n- [x] Unit tests re-run with Python 3.13 standalone — 5/5 pass.\n

Cline joins Codex/Claude/Gemini as a listed harness with a thin entry
file that delegates to AGENTS.md, matching the existing CODEX.md /
CLAUDE.md / GEMINI.md shape. AGENTS.md's harness enumeration (line 4)
and the Harness entry files paragraph (line 69) now both name Cline.

The entry file also records an empirical finding: an isolated Cline run
(CLI 3.0.61, model cline-pass/glm-5.2) showed Cline auto-injects the
repo-root AGENTS.md into workspace context at session start — the
reasoning trace explicitly says the full content of AGENTS.md was
provided in the workspace context. So AGENTS.md already reaches every
model routed through ClinePass (DeepSeek, GLM, Kimi, Qwen, ...) without
extra plumbing.

To make the harness-vs-model distinction explicit, AGENTS.md also
states that per-model entry files (DEEPSEEK.md, GLM.md, KIMI.md,
QWEN.md) are intentionally not created: those are model/API providers
reached through a harness (Cline, Cursor, Aider, ...), not harnesses
themselves, so the harness entry file already covers them. This
preempts the recurring false question of whether each new model needs
its own .md.

Tests: added test_cline_entry_file_is_thin_pointer_to_agents_md and
test_agents_md_lists_cline_among_harnesses to tests/unit/test_cline_adapter.py.
All 5 cases re-run with Python 3.13 standalone (stdlib-only) and pass.
ruff/mypy scope: test_cline_adapter.py only.
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SHcommit merged commit 0f86035 into develop Sep 6, 2026
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SHcommit deleted the docs/cline-harness-entry branch September 6, 2026 08:40
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