--- title: Cline slug: cline url: "https://toolweight.com/options/cline" homepage: "https://cline.bot" categories: coding-agents last_verified: 2026-01-15 license: CC-BY-4.0 --- # Cline > Open-source VS Code and JetBrains agent built around an explicit plan/act split. Cline is the original open-source IDE agent, it predates most of this roster, and its signature is the Plan/Act split, where a read-only planning phase produces something you approve before any edit lands. It is fully BYOK across providers, has a large MCP server marketplace, and keeps per-message checkpoints of the working tree. There is no OS sandbox: the boundary is an auto-approve allowlist you configure. ## Identity | | | | --- | --- | | Name | Cline | | Company | Cline | | One-liner | Open-source VS Code and JetBrains agent built around an explicit plan/act split. | | Site | https://cline.bot | | Docs | https://docs.cline.bot | | Repo | https://github.com/cline/cline | | Founded | 2024 | | Open source | Yes | | Licence | Apache-2.0 | | Compared in | 1 | ## Where it is compared ### [Coding agents](https://toolweight.com/compare/coding-agents) Ranked **#11 of 17** on default weights. | Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Surface | IDE extension, CLI | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.cline.bot | VS Code and JetBrains; a CLI arrived in late 2025. | | Default model | None, you pick a provider at setup | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Model breadth | any provider / router | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://docs.cline.bot/provider-config/ | - | | Repo indexing | agentic grep | Community-reported | - | - | Reads files on demand with a tree-sitter-assisted overview; no persistent vector index. | | Plan mode | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | The Plan/Act split is the product's defining feature. | | Checkpoint & undo | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Per-message workspace snapshots you can restore. | | Headless / CI | ◐ | Community-reported | - | - | The CLI enables scripted use; CI ergonomics are less proven than Claude Code's or Codex's. | | Local models | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Where it stops | 3 | Inferred | - | - | Edits files and runs terminal commands with approval; no first-class PR path. | | MCP | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Includes a marketplace, and can build a server for you on request. | | Subagents | ○ | Community-reported | - | - | - | | Hooks | ○ | Community-reported | - | - | - | | Skills / commands | ● | Community-reported | - | - | Workflows and rules files checked into the repo. | | Background agents | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | | Opens PRs | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | | Permissions | granular allowlist | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Per-action auto-approve with a configurable ceiling; no OS sandbox. | | BYOK | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Licence | Apache-2.0 | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://github.com/cline/cline | - | | Pricing model | BYOK tokens only | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Entry price | $0 /seat/mo | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Token markup | ○ | Community-reported | - | - | BYOK at provider list is the default path. The optional Cline account is publicly positioned as pass-through pricing; we have not audited it, and the grade does not depend on that audit, an optional first-party gateway does not move this cell for Cline, opencode, Zed or Kilo Code. | | GitHub stars | 50,000 | Community-reported | - | - | Rounded. | | Terminal-Bench | - | Unknown | - | - | - | | Bench model | - | Unknown | - | - | - | | Positioning | Autonomous coding agent in your IDE, with your API key. | Vendor-claimed | - | https://cline.bot | - | | First release | 2024-07-01 | Community-reported | - | - | Approximate; originally released as Claude Dev. | **Verdict.** The plan/act split remains the clearest interaction model in the category, you approve an approach, not a diff. It is the safest default for VS Code teams who want BYOK, but it stays inside the editor: no subagents, no hooks, no PR path. ## Alternatives - [Aider](https://toolweight.com/options/aider), Minimal terminal pair-programmer with a tree-sitter repo map and automatic git commits. - [Amp](https://toolweight.com/options/amp), Sourcegraph's opinionated agent with no model picker and an ad-supported free tier. - [Claude Code](https://toolweight.com/options/claude-code), Anthropic's terminal-first agent, with IDE, web and GitHub Action surfaces. - [Codex CLI](https://toolweight.com/options/codex-cli), OpenAI's open-source Rust agent, with the strongest local sandboxing on this page. - [Cursor](https://toolweight.com/options/cursor), VS Code fork with a real codebase index, background cloud agents and a CLI. - [Devin](https://toolweight.com/options/devin), Fully delegated cloud engineer: file a task in Slack or the web app, get a PR back. - [DIY harness](https://toolweight.com/options/diy-harness), Your own loop over a model API with an agent SDK, the build-it-yourself reference point. - [Gemini CLI](https://toolweight.com/options/gemini-cli), Apache-2.0 terminal agent from Google with an unusually generous free tier. - [GitHub Copilot (Agent HQ)](https://toolweight.com/options/github-copilot), Copilot's coding agent plus a control plane for running third-party agents on your repos. - [Goose](https://toolweight.com/options/goose), Block's Apache-2.0 agent, MCP-native from the start, as both a CLI and a desktop app. - [Grok Build](https://toolweight.com/options/grok-build), xAI's coding harness, launched July 2026, on this page but not yet verified. - [Kilo Code](https://toolweight.com/options/kilo-code), Open-source VS Code agent in the Cline/Roo lineage, with an orchestrator mode and a CLI. ## Licence and attribution Data from toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0. - Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) - Canonical HTML: https://toolweight.com/options/cline - Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/options/cline.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp - toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements. 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