Cline .clinerules alternatives

Markdown rule files in a workspace .clinerules/ (or .cline/rules/) directory plus global rules in ~/Documents/Cline/Rules; workspace wins on conflict. Full Cline .clinerules record →

  1. 1 AGENTS.md File-backed / editor paradigms

    also in File-backed / editor paradigms · same storage (file) · same retrieval (injection) · same conflict handling (manual) · same memory unit (document)

    OSS ✓ Self-host ✓ Managed ? MCP ? ★ 25k MIT Compare with Cline .clinerules →

  2. 2 Replit replit.md File-backed / editor paradigms

    also in File-backed / editor paradigms · same storage (file) · same retrieval (injection) · same conflict handling (manual) · same memory unit (document) · also has MCP

    OSS ? Self-host ? Managed ? MCP ✓ Compare with Cline .clinerules →

  3. 3 Zed .rules File-backed / editor paradigms

    also in File-backed / editor paradigms · same storage (file) · same retrieval (injection) · same conflict handling (manual) · same memory unit (document) · also has MCP

    OSS ? Self-host ? Managed ? MCP ✓ Compare with Cline .clinerules →

  4. 4 CLAUDE.md File-backed / editor paradigms

    also in File-backed / editor paradigms · same storage (file) · same retrieval (injection) · same conflict handling (manual) · same memory unit (document)

    OSS ? Self-host ? Managed ? MCP ? Compare with Cline .clinerules →

  5. 5 GitHub Copilot custom instructions File-backed / editor paradigms

    also in File-backed / editor paradigms · same storage (file) · same retrieval (injection) · same conflict handling (manual) · same memory unit (document)

    OSS ? Self-host — Managed ✓ MCP ? Compare with Cline .clinerules →

  6. 6 Aider CONVENTIONS.md / .aider.conf.yml File-backed / editor paradigms

    also in File-backed / editor paradigms · same storage (file) · same retrieval (injection) · same conflict handling (manual) · same memory unit (document)

    OSS ? Self-host ? Managed ? MCP ? Compare with Cline .clinerules →

  7. 7 Cursor Rules File-backed / editor paradigms

    also in File-backed / editor paradigms · same storage (file) · same retrieval (injection) · same memory unit (document) · also has MCP

    OSS ? Self-host ? Managed ? MCP ✓ Compare with Cline .clinerules →

  8. 8 Basic Memory File-backed / editor paradigms

    also in File-backed / editor paradigms · same storage (file) · same conflict handling (manual) · same memory unit (document) · also has MCP

    OSS ✓ Self-host ✓ Managed ? MCP ✓ ★ 4.3k released 2026-10-22 AGPL-3.0 Compare with Cline .clinerules →

Ranked by shared memory design (storage, retrieval, conflict handling, memory unit), same section and shared must-haves (open source, self-hosting, MCP), with adoption as a tie-breaker. ✓ confirmed · — no · ? not in the catalog yet. Want picks for your own requirements? Use the chooser. Checking a whole project? Check your stack.