Cline: Autonomous Coding Agent for VS Code

Overview

Cline is an open-source autonomous coding agent that runs as a VS Code extension. It has 5 million installs and 58,000 GitHub stars as of May 2026. Like Claude Code, it can read files, run terminal commands, write code, and iterate autonomously -- but it does this from inside VS Code rather than a standalone terminal.

Pricing

Cline itself is free and open source (Apache 2.0). Costs depend entirely on the model you connect:

Plan	Price	Notes
Free	$0	Full extension, bring your own API key
Teams	$20/user/mo	First 10 seats free; centralized billing, shared context, usage analytics

Cline supports any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, which means you can route through OpenRouter to access Claude, GPT-5, Gemini, or Llama from a single Cline configuration.

Plan + Act architecture

Cline uses a two-phase approach for complex tasks: a planning phase where it outlines the steps and asks for confirmation, followed by an act phase where it executes. This separation reduces runaway edits on ambiguous prompts. Users can review the plan and abort before a single file is touched.

For simpler tasks, Cline can skip the planning phase entirely and act directly.

v3.80.0: Foreground terminal removed

In April 2026 (v3.80.0), Cline removed the foreground terminal execution model. Commands now run in background processes and stream output to the Cline panel instead of spawning a visible terminal. This resolved conflicts with terminal sessions that required TTY input, but teams that relied on watching the terminal directly needed to adjust their mental model.

Where it fits

Cline is for developers who want autonomous agentic coding without leaving VS Code and without a paid IDE subscription. The comparison to Cursor: Cursor is a full IDE fork with deeper editor integration and parallel cloud agents; Cline is a VS Code extension with full autonomy over your existing setup. Against Continue: Cline is agent-first (it takes action), Continue is assistant-first (it suggests and you apply).

Teams using the Anthropic API directly find Cline integrates cleanly via the official Claude models dropdown. Teams on a budget who want to mix models route Cline through OpenRouter.

Field notes

AwesomeAgents.ai review (May 2026) documented the Plan+Act mode in a live session: 12-step plan generated for a Next.js auth refactor, reviewed and approved in 90 seconds, all 12 steps executed correctly on first run. No hallucinated file paths. [community-thread, 2026-05-02]
v3.80.0 release notes (April 2026) confirmed removal of foreground terminal execution; background streaming is now the only model. Teams using TTY-dependent commands (e.g., interactive DB migrations) must wrap them in non-interactive flags. [changelog, 2026-04-18]