Cline
Free tierThe open-source AI coding agent for your IDE, terminal, and SDK
Free tier available·All audiences·Powered by Bring Your Own (Claude, GPT, Gemini, Ollama, LM Studio, OpenAI-compatible)·API available·Open source
Key strengths
Model-agnostic: supports Claude, GPT, Gemini, Ollama, and any OpenAI-compatible endpointOpen source (Apache 2.0) with 63k+ GitHub stars and 8M+ installsRuns across IDE (VS Code), terminal CLI, and embeddable SDKPlan-and-Act mode with per-step approval and one-click undoExtensible via MCP servers, custom tools, and multi-agent orchestration
Free tier + paid plans
Self-hostable
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Technical Setup & API Usage
CLI Installation
npm i -g cline
cline --help
VS Code Extension
Install via the VS Code Marketplace or Open VSX Registry. The extension communicates with the Cline agent runtime locally.
SDK Embedding
The Cline SDK allows you to embed the agent runtime into your own products:
import { ClineAgent } from 'cline-sdk';
const agent = new ClineAgent({
model: 'claude-3-7-sonnet',
apiKey: process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY,
});
await agent.run('Refactor all API routes to use async/await');
Key Configuration Parameters
- Model provider: Set to any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, Anthropic, Google Gemini, or local Ollama/LM Studio instance.
.clinerules: Commit a.clinerulesfile to your repo to encode coding standards, architecture conventions, and deployment rules that the agent will follow.- MCP Servers: Register custom tool servers via the MCP protocol to give the agent access to databases, APIs, and internal infrastructure.
- Multi-agent: Configure coordinator/specialist agent topologies and schedule them via cron or CI triggers.
CI/CD Integration
Run Cline headlessly in GitHub Actions or GitLab pipelines for automated code reviews, recurring refactors, or spec-driven generation tasks.