What it is
Cline is an Apache 2.0 open-source agent that runs as a VS Code extension, a CLI and a new desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux. It edits files across your project with diffs and checkpoints, runs terminal commands, and has a Plan mode for agreeing on an approach before the Act mode changes code. It connects to Claude, GPT, Gemini, local models through Ollama or LM Studio, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, and it can use MCP servers.
Cline itself is free: you bring your own API key and pay the provider. ClinePass, at $9.99 a month, bundles open-weight models from labs such as Z.ai, Moonshot AI, DeepSeek and Qwen without separate keys. Costs depend on the model you pick, so heavy use of frontier models can get expensive.
Best for
- Developers who want to choose and pay for their own models
- Planning a change before letting an agent carry it out
- Running an agent in scripts and CI pipelines