Cline is an open-source autonomous coding agent capable of reading entire projects, planning changes, editing multiple files, running terminal commands, and validating work against linters and compilers with user review and approval.

It offers extensibility through an SDK for building custom tools, lifecycle hooks, MCP server support to connect databases and APIs, and the ability to write new tools on the fly.

Setup is streamlined: install the CLI globally via npm, add the VS Code extension or JetBrains plugin, and connect your preferred model provider API key.

Originating as a VS Code extension (formerly Claude Dev), the project now ships four main forms built on a common engine: a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, a CLI, and an SDK for custom tools and integrations.

Cline can execute terminal commands, manage tasks like installs, builds, tests, deployments, and database operations, and monitor long-running processes with robust background error handling.

Newer features enable multi-agent coordination with a coordinator agent, scheduling for recurring tasks, and integrations to chat and collaboration platforms (Slack, Telegram, Discord, Google Chat, WhatsApp, Linear) for task management.

A headless CI/CD mode supports zero-interaction automation with JSON input/output for scripting and pipelines.

Cline is model-agnostic, allowing connections to multiple AI providers (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, AWS Bedrock, Azure, GCP, Ollama locally) by supplying API keys and selecting models.

Custom project rules can be defined in .clinerules files and enforced across CLI, VS Code, and JetBrains plugins to uphold team conventions.

Cline is licensed under Apache 2.0 and has rapidly gained traction, boasting thousands of forks and tens of thousands of GitHub stars.

Key capabilities include coordinated multi-file edits, real-time linting and compilation monitoring, and the ability to fix issues with reviewable diffs and undo checkpoints.

Plan mode lets Cline map out a strategy after code inspection, while Act mode executes actions only after user approval (auto-approve can be enabled).