engineering / agent

Cline

A coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, the terminal and a desktop app, plus an SDK for building your own agents.

Repository owner cline

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Published 11 Oct 2026Listing updated 12 Oct 2026

At a glance

Purpose: A coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains IDEs, the terminal and a desktop app, plus an SDK for building your own agents.
Runs in: Local agent with shell
Operating systems: macOS, Windows
Needs: Runtime: Not stated; Needs internet: Yes; Needs accounts or API keys beyond your agent: Not stated
Files and data: Reads files: Yes; Writes files: Yes; Sends data to other services: Yes
Tool type: Agent
Delivery: From GitHub
Version: Latest on the main branch
Access: Code on GitHub
Compatibility: According to the README, Cline is offered as a VS Code extension through the VS Code Marketplace, a JetBrains plugin for IDEs including IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm and GoLand, a desktop app for macOS and Windows, and a CLI. It lists the model providers Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Vercel AI Gateway, AWS Bedrock, Azure, GCP Vertex, Cerebras, Groq, Ollama, LM Studio and any OpenAI-compatible API. It lists Telegram, Slack, Discord, Google Chat, WhatsApp and Linear for chat connections, and says MCP servers can be used.
External costs: The README lists these providers: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Vercel AI Gateway, AWS Bedrock, Azure, GCP Vertex, Cerebras and Groq. It says local models run through Ollama or LM Studio on your machine. The README states no prices. The providers you connect may charge for usage. The chat app connect commands use a bot token, and for Slack a signing secret or an app token.
Permissions: The README shows a global npm installation for the CLI and an npm dependency installation for the SDK. The README also offers a desktop app, VS Code extension and JetBrains plugin. The README describes file creation and editing, terminal commands, web browsing, package installation, builds, application deployment and database management. The README says file edits and terminal commands require approval unless auto-approve is enabled. The README describes background handling of long-running processes such as development servers, diffs in VS Code and JetBrains, and checkpoints for undoing work. The README describes cron-scheduled agents that persist across restarts and run independently of terminal sessions. The README describes Telegram, Slack and other chat connections, with bot tokens and Slack signing-secret or app-token examples, and access controls for who can interact with an agent. The README says MCP servers can connect Cline to databases, APIs and cloud infrastructure.
Usage terms: Apache License 2.0, as stated in the repository. See its LICENSE file for the exact terms. The README says JetBrains plugins are not open-sourced.
Interface: extension

Code on GitHub

cline/cline

Apache-2.0

TypeScript70,238 stars7,646 forksLast pushed 13 Oct 2026 UTC

Autonomous coding agent as an SDK, IDE extension, or CLI assistant.

Public GitHub data fetched 13 Oct 2026 UTC · 0 days old

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What it does

The README describes Cline as a coding agent for an IDE, terminal or desktop. The README lists a CLI, a desktop app for macOS and Windows, a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin and an SDK. The README says the SDK uses the engine shared by those products.

The README says Cline reads project structure, changes code and runs terminal commands. The README describes Plan and Act modes, approval for file edits and terminal commands, and an auto-approve setting. The README says VS Code and JetBrains edits appear as diffs that users can modify or revert, with checkpoints for undoing changes. The README describes .clinerules files and skills for loading rules when needed.

The README lists Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Vercel AI Gateway, AWS Bedrock, Azure, GCP Vertex, Cerebras, Groq, Ollama, LM Studio and OpenAI-compatible APIs. The README also describes MCP servers, SDK plugins, multi-agent teams, scheduled agents, chat-app connections and a headless CLI for CI/CD.

Who it is for

Developers who want a coding agent in their editor, terminal or desktop, or who want to build their own agents with the SDK.

Example tasks

Ask Cline from the terminal to run tests and fix any failures.
Pipe a git diff into the CLI with a prompt asking for a review of the changes.
Switch between Plan mode and Act mode to agree a strategy before Cline edits files.
Create a scheduled agent that runs a weekday PR summary.
Connect an agent to Telegram or Slack so you can chat with it.

Getting started

According to the README, install the CLI with npm i -g cline. Download the desktop app for macOS and Windows from the Cline site. Install the VS Code extension from the VS Code Marketplace, or the JetBrains plugin from the JetBrains Marketplace. Install the SDK with npm install @cline/sdk. The README has the exact commands.

Limitations

According to the README, the CLI installs with npm and the SDK is a Node.js programmatic agent API. The README lists the model providers Cline works with but does not show how to select one. It says the VS Code extension code at the repository root is work in progress being migrated, and that JetBrains plugins are not open-sourced. The README describes diff review for VS Code and JetBrains. The README says rules are picked up automatically by the CLI, the VS Code extension and the JetBrains plugin. The README lists the desktop app for macOS and Windows. The README's connect commands for chat apps use bot or app tokens. The repository can change at any time; check its README before you install.

Data practices

The README lists hosted model providers, OpenAI-compatible endpoints and local models through Ollama or LM Studio. The README does not enumerate prompt or file payloads sent to those endpoints or their retention policies. The README says each connected chat conversation thread maps to an agent session with full context. The README does not mention telemetry.