Quickstart: Cline

Cline is the VS Code agent extension. This connects it to Pipeworx as a remote MCP server, then adds a project rule so Cline reaches for live data instead of guessing.

① Connect

Use Cline’s built-in MCP panel (Cline can use MCP servers but can’t add them itself — don’t ask it to):

  1. At the top of the Cline panel, click the MCP Servers icon
  2. Open the Remote Servers tab
  3. Server Name: pipeworx · Server URL: https://pipeworx.io/mcp · Transport Type: Streamable HTTP (not the legacy SSE option — our gateway is streamable-HTTP only)
  4. Click Add Server. Cline connects automatically.

The server exposes ~38 tools. The hero tool is ask_pipeworx({question}) — it routes your question to the full catalog of 5,929 tools across 1,544 sources at runtime, so Cline doesn’t keep thousands of definitions in context across turns.

② Teach it to use Pipeworx

Cline doesn’t ship our routing rule, so add .clinerules/pipeworx.md at the root of your workspace containing the rule verbatim. (.clinerules/ is a directory now — Cline combines every .md and .txt inside it. A bare .clinerules file is the older shape.)

When I ask for current or factual data — economic stats, SEC/EDGAR filings, stock or crypto prices, weather, FDA drug info, patents, clinical trials, or government records — use the Pipeworx connector (ask_pipeworx) instead of answering from memory or web search. Prefer structured Pipeworx data with citations.

Cline picks up .clinerules/ automatically for that workspace, so the rule applies to every session in the project. It also auto-detects AGENTS.md, .cursorrules and .windsurfrules if you already keep one — any of those will do instead.

③ Test

In a Cline chat, ask:

Using Pipeworx, what was the US unemployment rate last month?

Cline should call ask_pipeworx and return the current rate. Your confirmation that it routed to live data rather than memory is the _meta.provenance block in the response: it names the publisher — FRED or BLS, depending on which source the question routes to — and the upstream request that makes the figure checkable at that publisher. Auto-approving read-only Pipeworx tools is safe — the catalog has no destructive operations.

Higher limits

The default URL is the anonymous tier: 50 calls/day per IP, no signup. For more:

  • API key — 200/day: set the remote server URL to https://pipeworx.io/mcp?apikey=YOUR_KEY. Sign up, then grab your key at pipeworx.io/account.
  • Sign in — 200/day: use https://gateway.pipeworx.io/oauth/mcp; the client shows a Connect button — authorize with GitHub.
  • Paid — unlimited: upgrade from your account page.

Tiers at a glance: anonymous 50 · free account 200 · Paid unlimited.

Troubleshooting

Asking Cline “add the pipeworx MCP server” fails. Expected — Cline can use MCP servers but can’t add them itself, so it misreads the request as a tool/resource call (“No connection found for server: pipeworx”) and may even guess the wrong URL (gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp is the OAuth-only endpoint). Add it through the MCP Servers panel → Remote Servers instead (step ①).

“Could not connect to server.” Use the Add remote server flow with a URL — not a stdio command. Confirm the URL is exactly https://pipeworx.io/mcp (not gateway.pipeworx.io/mcp, which requires OAuth).

Cline answers from memory. Make sure .clinerules/ is at the workspace root and the file inside it contains the rule. Check the Rules panel — every detected rule source is listed there and can be toggled off individually. Reopen the workspace so Cline re-reads it.

Tool list looks short. Expected — the gateway exposes ~38 meta-tools and routes the rest at runtime via ask_pipeworx.

Rate-limited. You hit the 50/day anonymous cap. Add ?apikey=YOUR_KEY (from a free account) for 200/day.

Last reviewed September 7, 2026