Common Bugs in Cline-Generated Code

Cline's power is its autonomy — it can edit multiple files, run terminal commands, and install packages. This same power means changes have a wider blast radius than expected

Cline's autonomous multi-file editing introduces bugs in files that weren't the focus of the change. A modification to fix one component may break an unrelated component that shared a utility. Installed packages may conflict with existing dependencies. Terminal commands during development may have altered configuration files

Start by running your app through its complete user flow — sign up, use every feature, try edge cases like empty inputs and invalid data. Most Cline bugs surface when you go off the happy path. Use your browser's developer tools to watch for console errors, failed network requests, and unhandled promise rejections. TypeScript's strict mode will catch many issues at compile time if it's not already enabled.

For async errors, wrap every server-side operation in try/catch blocks and return meaningful error messages. For state bugs, consider whether the state belongs in the URL, in a server component, or in client state — Cline often defaults to client state when server state would be more appropriate. For data fetching issues, implement proper loading and error states for every data-dependent component.

The best way to prevent Cline bugs from reaching production: enable TypeScript strict mode, add ESLint rules for common mistakes (no-floating-promises, exhaustive-deps), and write tests for critical user flows. Even basic smoke tests catch the majority of issues.