An open-source autonomous AI coding assistant for VS Code with Plan/Act modes, terminal execution, file editing, and Model Context Protocol for custom tools.
Cline is a Developer Tools AI coding agent that gives developers an autonomous pair programmer capable of creating files, editing code, running terminal commands, and browsing the web—all with human-in-the-loop approval—with pricing starting at free for individual use (bring your own API key) and enterprise plans available for teams.
Originally launched as 'Claude Dev,' Cline has grown to over 60,200 GitHub stars, 700+ open-source contributors, and millions of installs across VS Code, JetBrains, and its dedicated CLI. Licensed under Apache 2.0, Cline is one of the most actively maintained open-source AI coding tools available, averaging over 1,000 commits per quarter and receiving community contributions from developers at major technology companies.
Cline's core innovation is its Plan/Act two-phase workflow. In Plan mode, the AI analyzes your codebase, reads relevant files, and presents a structured approach—without modifying anything. Once approved, Act mode executes each step with diff previews and explicit confirmation prompts, ensuring developers maintain full control. This design philosophy makes Cline particularly well-suited for complex, multi-file operations where autonomous changes carry real risk.
Model Context Protocol (MCP) support is a key differentiator. MCP is an open standard that lets Cline connect to external tool servers—databases, internal APIs, CI/CD pipelines, documentation indexes—during a coding session. This extensibility allows teams to create custom MCP servers that make Cline aware of their specific infrastructure, turning a general-purpose assistant into a context-aware agent tailored to their stack.
Cline is fully model-agnostic, supporting providers including Anthropic (Claude Sonnet, Claude Opus, Claude Haiku), OpenAI (GPT-4o), Google (Gemini 2.5 Pro), DeepSeek, Mistral, and local models via Ollama or LM Studio. This flexibility lets teams optimize for cost, quality, latency, or data privacy—including fully offline operation with local models. Based on community benchmarks and user reports, Claude Sonnet and Claude Opus consistently deliver the strongest results for complex multi-file tasks.
The Kanban task orchestration sidebar, introduced in early 2026, enables developers to manage multiple parallel autonomous coding tasks with linked dependency chains. Combined with the checkpoint and rollback system—which automatically snapshots workspace state during task execution—Cline provides a safety net for ambitious multi-step operations that would be risky with less controlled tools.
Cline is available across three platforms: VS Code (the most mature integration), JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm), and the Cline CLI for terminal-first workflows. The extension is free to install, and developers pay only for the API usage of their chosen model provider, making it one of the most cost-flexible AI coding tools on the market.
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Cline's signature Plan/Act mode separates strategy from execution. In Plan mode, the AI analyzes your task, reads relevant files, and presents a step-by-step approach without touching any code. Once you approve, Act mode executes each step with a diff preview and confirmation prompt before every file change or terminal command. This two-phase design gives developers the productivity of an autonomous agent with the safety of manual review, making it particularly well-suited for complex multi-file operations where unchecked changes could introduce regressions.
MCP lets developers attach custom tool servers—databases, internal APIs, documentation indexes, CI/CD pipelines—that Cline can invoke mid-session. This extensibility transforms Cline from a generic assistant into a context-aware agent that understands your team's infrastructure. For example, an MCP server can expose your database schema so Cline generates accurate queries, or connect to your deployment pipeline so Cline can trigger and monitor builds. Setting up an MCP server requires implementing the open MCP standard, which involves moderate technical effort but provides unmatched customization.
Cline supports Claude (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku), GPT-4o, Gemini 2.5 Pro, DeepSeek V3, Mistral Large, and local models via Ollama or LM Studio. Users connect any provider via API key, enabling teams to optimize for cost, quality, or data privacy—including fully offline operation with local models. This flexibility means developers are never locked into a single provider and can switch models per task: a frontier model for complex refactors, a budget model for simple edits, and a local model for sensitive codebases.
The Kanban sidebar lets developers create multiple autonomous coding tasks with linked dependency chains that execute in parallel. This enables breaking down large features into subtasks that multiple AI agents work on simultaneously, with the sidebar providing a visual overview of task status, dependencies, and progress. Developers can manage, pause, or reprioritize tasks in real time, making it a unique workflow feature among open-source AI coding tools for handling complex, multi-workstream projects.
Cline automatically creates checkpoints during task execution, allowing developers to revert the entire workspace to any previous point in a session. This safety net is particularly valuable during complex multi-file refactors where a single misstep could propagate errors across the codebase. Unlike simple undo, checkpoints capture the full workspace state—including file creations, deletions, and terminal side effects—so developers can confidently explore ambitious changes knowing they can always roll back to a known-good state.
$0
Pay-as-you-go via Cline-managed credits
Custom (contact sales)
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Through early 2026, Cline has crossed 5 million installs across the VS Code Marketplace and Open VSX Registry and surpassed 61,000 GitHub stars, cementing its position as the leading open-source agentic coding tool. The project has expanded beyond its VS Code roots with a fully supported JetBrains plugin family (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand, Rider) and a standalone Cline CLI for terminal-first workflows, giving teams the same agent across all major developer surfaces. The Enterprise offering has matured with a Kanban-style task management interface, SSO, audit logging, and centralized billing for organizations standardizing on Cline. MCP support continues to be a major investment area, with an expanded marketplace of community servers and tighter integration of MCP tools into the Plan/Act flow.
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