Cline is an open-source AI coding agent that operates across your editor, terminal, and custom integrations via its SDK. Built with a Plan-and-Act architecture, it lets developers align on a strategy before executing changes, supporting every major AI model without vendor lock-in. Trusted by over 8 million developers and used at companies including Samsung, Salesforce, Oracle, Amazon, Microsoft, and Visa, Cline provides a single agent runtime that handles multi-file editing, terminal command execution, and extensible tooling through MCP servers and plugins.
Key Features
- Multi-File Editing: Cline makes coordinated changes across your entire project with linter-aware fixes, visual diffs, checkpoints, and one-click undo on every step.
- Terminal Command Execution: Runs bash commands directly in your terminal and reacts to output in real time, handling long-running dev servers, tests, and deploys live.
- Plan and Act Mode: Toggle Plan mode to align on a strategy before switching to Act mode for execution. Approve every step manually, or enable auto-approve for autonomous operation.
- Every Major Model: Works with Claude, GPT, Gemini, Ollama, LM Studio, DeepSeek, xAI, Mistral, Cerebras, OpenRouter, and any OpenAI-compatible API endpoint. Bring your own key or your own weights.
- Rules and Skills: Ship .clinerules files with your repository to teach the agent your coding standards, architecture patterns, and deployment conventions.
- MCP and Plugin Extensions: Register custom tools and lifecycle hooks via the SDK. Plug in MCP servers for databases, APIs, and infrastructure access.
- Multi-Agent Teams: Coordinator agents delegate tasks to specialist agents, each with their own tools and context. Run scheduled agents on cron for recurring automations.
- IDE, CLI, and SDK Interfaces: Use Cline as a VS Code or JetBrains extension, a global CLI tool installed via npm, or embed it in your own products using the TypeScript SDK.
Integrations
Cline connects with team tools including Slack, Discord, Telegram, and Linear for chat-based interaction. It runs headlessly inside GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, and any CI/CD pipeline for automated workflows. The SDK exposes a programmatic API for embedding Cline agents into custom applications and scheduled tasks.
Open Source and Licensing
Cline is licensed under Apache 2.0 with 63,000+ stars on GitHub and contributions from over 250 developers. The codebase is fully auditable, and the project maintains active community channels on Discord, Reddit, and GitHub Discussions. Enterprise plans are available with additional features for organization management, compliance, and dedicated support.
