Using Downsizing with Cline

Prerequisites

Install the Downsizing CLI — see the CLI guide if you haven't already.

Link Cline (Recommended)

Cline is a VS Code extension — it stores its settings inside VS Code's internal extension state (a versioned globalState database) and the OS keychain, not in a plain config file. There is no supported, stable way for an external CLI to write to either of those safely, so ds link clinedoesn't edit any files. Instead it prints the exact values to paste into Cline's settings:

ds link cline

Copy the printed API Key and Base URLinto Cline's settings panel (gear icon in the Cline sidebar → API Provider):

• API Provider: Anthropic
• Check "Use custom base URL" and paste the printed base URL
• Paste the printed API key
• Model: claude-opus-4-8 (or your preferred Claude model)

Manual Setup

You can configure Cline manually without running the CLI. Open Cline's settings (gear icon) and choose one of the following:

Anthropic (recommended) — set API Provider to Anthropic, enable "Use custom base URL", and set it to:

https://api.downsizing.dev/YOUR_ROUTER_ID/anthropic

Enter your Downsizing API key (starts with dws_) as the API key.

OpenAI Compatible (fallback)— if you'd rather not use the Anthropic provider, set API Provider to OpenAI Compatible and use the Downsizing OpenAI Responses API endpoint (never Chat Completions):

https://api.downsizing.dev/YOUR_ROUTER_ID/openai/v1

Find your Router ID and API key on the Inference API page.

Verify

Open Cline in VS Code and send a message in the chat panel to confirm traffic is routing through Downsizing. If Cline responds, Downsizing is set up correctly. You can also check your savings dashboard to see the request appear in your usage metrics.

Unlinking

Because ds link clinenever wrote a config file, there's nothing on disk to remove. Run the unlink command to update ds's own record of linked tools, then clear the API key/base URL fields directly in Cline's settings:

ds unlink cline