AI stackHarnesses

Cline

Harness · IDE agent

The jobOpen-source coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains and CLI with plan/act approvalsVisit cline.bot

Best forApproving each edit and command, on the provider or endpoint you choose

Skip ifYou'd rather not manage providers and keys, or want cloud agents

Verified Oct 5, 20263 sourcesLive

See all 8 alternatives to Cline

Cline also appears in Alternatives to GitHub Copilot, Alternatives to Cursor, Alternatives to Claude Code

Editor notes

An open-source agent for people who want control: plan first, then approve each step, on the provider you choose. No subscription for individuals; you pay only for inference, so cost tracks usage and model choice. Setup means picking a provider and managing keys.

Open-source coding agent for VS Code, JetBrains, CLI and desktop.

Summary

Cline is an open-source coding agent with a plan/act workflow and step-by-step approvals (or auto-approve). It runs in VS Code, JetBrains, a CLI, a desktop app and as an SDK. It works with most model providers via your own API keys or Cline's at-cost inference, and supports rules, skills and MCP servers.

Key details

Surface	IDE extension (VS Code, JetBrains)CLIdesktopSDK
Platforms	macoswindowslinux
BYOK (Bring Your Own Key)	✓ Yes
MCP Support	✓ Yes
Agent Skills Support	✓ Yes
Open Source	✓ Yes(Apache-2.0)

Installation

Terminal

npm i -g cline

Repository

Pricing

From the vendor's pricing pageVerified Oct 5, 2026

Plan	Price	Basis
Open Source	Free
Enterprise	Price pending

Sources

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