Cline

by Cline Bot Inc.

The open-source coding agent in VS Code (and as a CLI) that asks permission before every action.

70.2 k stars GitHub Apache-2.0 FreeFree when localOpen source

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What it does

Bring your own API key or a local model (Ollama, LM Studio)
Plan / Act modes to think before touching the code
Manages MCP servers and can build new ones for you

Install it

Requirements: VS Code (or Node.js for the CLI) and an API key or a local model.

VS Code extension

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=saoudrizwan.claude-dev

Or the CLI

npm i -g cline

The prompt for your agent

Paste it into your coding agent: it checks the requirements and installs it for you.

Claude CodeCodexCursorGemini CLIopencode

Prompt

Install Cline (https://cline.bot) on my machine.
1. Check the requirements: VS Code (or Node.js for the CLI) and an API key or a local model. If anything is missing, tell me before installing anything.
2. Follow the official method:
- see https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=saoudrizwan.claude-dev
- Or the CLI: npm i -g cline
3. Check that it works, then explain how to launch it and where to start.

Always review what your agent is about to run, especially install commands.