Cline
★ 64.2k · GitHub →Open-source autonomous coding agent — IDE extension, CLI, and SDK.
What is Cline?
Cline began as the most popular open-source coding agent inside VS Code and has grown into a multi-surface product: a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, a terminal CLI (interactive or headless), a Node.js SDK for programmatic control, and a kanban-style board for coordinating multiple agent tasks. The core loop is the same everywhere — the agent reads your project, plans, edits files, runs commands, and monitors output.
Two design decisions define it. First, Plan/Act separation: in Plan mode the agent explores and proposes without touching anything; you switch to Act mode to let it execute — a cheap and effective guard against runaway edits. Second, radical provider-agnosticism: Cline charges nothing itself and connects to whatever you bring — Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, Bedrock, Vertex, or local models via Ollama — so your cost and privacy posture are entirely your choice.
It is Apache-2.0 licensed with checkpoints for undoing agent work, .clinerules files for project conventions, MCP support for external tools, and even messaging connectors (Slack, Telegram, Discord). The flip side of running frontier models by the token: costs are visible and can climb fast on long agentic sessions, and quality depends heavily on which model you plug in.
Key capabilities
- ▸ Plan/Act modes — explore and propose read-only, then flip a switch to execute
- ▸ Checkpoints: snapshot and roll back the agent’s file changes at any step
- ▸ Fully provider-agnostic: Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, OpenRouter, Bedrock, Vertex, Ollama/local
- ▸ One agent, many surfaces: VS Code, JetBrains, CLI (headless-capable), Node.js SDK
- ▸ MCP integration plus .clinerules for enforcing project-specific conventions
When to use it
Pick Cline when you want an agentic workflow inside your existing IDE with full control over which model runs and where your code goes — including fully local via Ollama. The Plan/Act split makes it a good first agent for teams nervous about autonomous edits. Don't pick it if you want a zero-config subscription experience (Claude Code with a Pro/Max plan is simpler), or if you need budget predictability: BYO-key token billing on frontier models adds up quickly on long sessions.
Alternatives
Frequently asked questions
Is Cline free, and what does it actually cost to run?
The tool itself is free and Apache-2.0 open source; Cline does not charge for the software. You pay your model provider directly per token. Real cost depends on the model and task length — frontier models on long agentic sessions can run into dollars per task, while local models via Ollama cost nothing but perform worse.
What are Plan and Act modes in Cline?
Plan mode lets the agent read the codebase, ask questions, and draft an approach without modifying anything. When you approve, you switch to Act mode and it executes: editing files, running commands, iterating on errors. The split gives you a review point before changes happen and reduces wasted tokens on wrong directions.
Can Cline use local models like Ollama?
Yes. Cline connects to Ollama, LM Studio, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, so it can run fully offline with no code leaving your machine. Expect a real capability gap though: agentic coding stresses long-context reasoning and reliable tool calling, where small local models still trail hosted frontier models significantly.
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