Cline

// Overview

Cline is an open-source coding agent that ships in four shapes on top of one shared engine: a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, a terminal CLI, and an embeddable Node SDK. It reads your project structure, works out how files relate to each other, and makes coordinated edits across the codebase, watching linter and compiler output as it goes so it can fix missing imports, type mismatches and syntax errors before you see them.

The agent is built around human-in-the-loop control. Plan mode lets it explore the repository, ask clarifying questions and lay out a strategy; Act mode executes that plan, with every file edit and terminal command surfaced for approval — or auto-approved if you would rather let it run. In the editors, each change appears as a reviewable diff, and checkpoints let you undo the agent's work.

Cline is not tied to one model vendor. It talks to Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, AWS Bedrock, Azure and Vertex, OpenRouter, the Vercel AI Gateway, Cerebras and Groq, local runtimes such as Ollama and LM Studio, and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. It can be extended with SDK plugins that register tools and lifecycle hooks, or with MCP servers that connect it to databases, APIs and cloud infrastructure.

// What it does

• Four clients, one engine: VS Code extension, JetBrains plugin, terminal CLI, and the @cline/sdk Node package
• Plan and Act modes with per-edit and per-command approval, reviewable diffs, and checkpoints to undo the agent's work
• Runs shell commands and watches their output in real time, reacting to compile errors, failing tests and crashed dev servers
• Model-agnostic: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Bedrock, Azure/Vertex, OpenRouter, Cerebras, Groq, Ollama, LM Studio, or any OpenAI-compatible API
• Extensible through SDK plugins (custom tools and lifecycle hooks) and MCP servers, managed from the CLI with cline mcp
• Project rules in .clinerules files, multi-agent teams, cron-scheduled agents, chat bridges for Slack/Telegram/Discord, and a headless JSON mode for CI/CD

// Getting started

Pick the client that matches where you work. The CLI is the quickest way to try the agent; the editor extensions add inline diffs and checkpoints.

npm i -g cline

cline "Run tests and fix any failures"
git diff origin/main | cline "Review these changes for issues"
cline --json "List all TODO comments"

npm install @cline/sdk

import { Agent, createTool } from "@cline/sdk"

const deployTool = createTool({
  name: "deploy",
  description: "Deploy the current branch to staging.",
  inputSchema: { type: "object", properties: { env: { type: "string" } }, required: ["env"] },
  execute: async (input) => {
    // your deployment logic
  },
})

const agent = new Agent({ tools: [deployTool] })

Commands and code are distilled from the project's own documentation — always check the official repo for the latest.

// When to use it

• Hand a multi-file refactor to an agent inside VS Code or a JetBrains IDE and review each edit as a diff before it lands
• Run the agent headless in CI to triage failing tests or review a pull request diff, with JSON output you can pipe into other tools
• Keep one agent setup across an editor, a terminal and a server by sharing .clinerules and switching only the client
• Embed the agent in your own product with the Node SDK and give it domain-specific tools through the plugin system

// How Cline compares

Cline alongside other open-source autonomous coding agents tools AI/TLDR tracks, ranked by GitHub stars.