Cline Open-Source Coding Agent

Cline is an open-source AI coding agent provided by Cline Bot Inc., whose terms are governed by Delaware law. The homepage claims 11M+ developers and offers the agent in the editor, terminal, a desktop app and an SDK.

The agent makes coordinated multi-file edits with diffs, checkpoints and one-click undo, runs shell commands and reacts to their output, and uses a Plan mode and an Act mode with optional step approval. Teams can encode coding standards in .clinerules files, connect MCP servers, run multi-agent teams and cron-scheduled tasks, and bring their own models including Claude, GPT, Gemini and local Ollama.

• Multi-file editing: coordinated edits with diffs, checkpoints and undo.
• Plan and Act modes: agree a strategy first, then execute with optional approvals.
• Terminal use: runs bash commands and reacts to dev server, test and deploy output.
• .clinerules: encodes team coding standards and conventions.
• Multi-agent teams: coordinator agents delegate to specialists and run on cron.
• Extensibility: SDK, lifecycle hooks and MCP servers.

A Vietnamese outsourcing team can use local models to work on confidential client code. A startup can speed up feature work with plan-then-act workflows. An internal tools team can schedule recurring maintenance tasks.

• Open source agent with bring-your-own-model support avoids vendor lock-in.
• Checkpoints, diffs and step approval keep developers in control.
• Local models are supported for teams that cannot send code to external APIs.
• .clinerules files let teams enforce coding standards.

Open-source, model-agnostic coding agents appeal to teams that want control over models and data. Vietnamese developers and outsourcers already use editor-based agents, and local-model support suits clients with strict data rules.

Provider Cline Bot Inc.; terms governed by Delaware law. Blog posts dated September and October 2026 describe the Cline Desktop launch and a harness upgrade for roughly 11 million users.