DATASHEET // CLINE

Cline

Agentic coding in VS Code — reads, writes, runs, browses.

OPEN SOURCECLOUD · NO GPUCloud API

Actually FreeNo SignupOpen SourceWatermark-FreeHobbyist-OKAPI

Visit ClineUPDATED 2026-05-20 · DIRECT LINK

cline.bot/

[ EDITORIAL PICK ]

Why we recommend Cline

DERIVED FROM METADATA — NOT SPONSORED

Open source
Source is public — you can audit it, fork it, and you'll never lose access to your workflows if Cline the company changes direction.
No GPU needed
Runs in the cloud — works the same on a Chromebook as on a workstation.
Top-tier pick
Power-user score 87/100 — consistently rated highly by people who use this every day, not just benchmark chasers.
Beginner-friendly
You don't need to read a paper before getting your first result — sensible defaults and a quick install.

[ EVIDENCE NOTE ]

Documentation-led datasheet

This page summarizes upstream documentation, release information, and editorially reviewed catalogue fields. It is not presented as a hands-on benchmark. Verify changing requirements at the official project; report stale data through our corrections channel.

Memory guide →

AT-A-GLANCE SIGNALS //

DERIVED FROM THIS PAGE'S DATA

Install difficulty
Click & use
Runs in the cloud — no local install needed.
Hardware comfort
N/A — cloud
Runs on the provider’s hardware — your GPU is irrelevant.
Ecosystem
Strong devkit
Open-source AND ships an API — easy to integrate, possible to host yourself.
Verification
Recent
Catalogue entry last updated 57 days ago — re-verification due soon.

[ COMMUNITY GUIDES & WORKFLOWS ]

Tutorials & deep-dives for Cline

Hand-picked from YouTube, Reddit, GitHub, and the wider web. Each link goes straight to the source — we don't intercept or rewrite anything.

[ MORE IN THIS NICHE ]

Other local llm runners tools we rate

Three picks across different tradeoffs — so you don't end up with three near-clones of Cline.

LIGHTEST HARDWARE //

Transformers

The library every LLM ships against first.

OPEN SOURCE2–24 GB VRAM

BEST FREE OPTION //

llama.cpp

The C++ inference engine powering most local LLMs.

OPEN SOURCECPU-CAPABLE

TOP QUALITY //

Ollama

One-command local LLM runtime.

OPEN SOURCECPU-CAPABLE

What is Cline?

Cline (formerly Claude Dev) is an autonomous coding agent that lives in VS Code. Reads your codebase, makes multi-file edits, executes terminal commands with your approval, browses docs, and uses the Model Context Protocol for tool integration. BYO API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, local).

Pros & cons

✓ PROS

Best-in-class agentic workflow in an editor
MCP support — extends to any tool with an MCP server
Human-in-the-loop approvals on file writes & shell commands

– CONS

Token cost adds up fast with capable models (Claude Opus / GPT-4)
Local-model performance noticeably worse — needs strong frontier model

What's actually free?

Apache 2.0; user pays their own model costs.

✓ Actually FreeNo SignupOpen SourceWatermark-Free