Preview. These maps are our reading of public sources and haven't been checked with the projects' maintainers yet.
Cline
Open-source coding agent originally a VS Code extension, now also CLI, desktop app, JetBrains plugin and SDK; human-in-the-loop approvals, BYOK or Cline-billed models.
cline.bot/Active
VS Code v4.1.25 (2026-10-16), CLI v3.0.73 and desktop v0.0.48 (2026-10-17); repo pushed 2026-10-25. (checked 2026-10-25)
In Coding agents
Where it stands apart
- Where do you primarily use it? extension inside an existing IDE (19% of 21 others)
What it shares with most of the community
- Is it actively maintained? active (71% of 21 others)
- How is the main thing licensed? permissive open source (MIT/Apache/BSD) (52% of 21 others)
- How is it mainly sustained? company with a paid product, tier, or ads (71% of 21 others)
- Can it run entirely on your own device or infrastructure, without the maker's servers? yes (52% of 21 others)
- Who is it for? developers (95% of 21 others)
- How does finished work usually come back to you? edits in your local working tree while you watch (52% of 21 others)
- Whose models can you use? Pick the first that applies. any provider or endpoint you configure (your own key, custom URL, or local model) (67% of 21 others)
- Is pointing it at a model running on your own machine (e.g. Ollama, LM Studio) a documented setup? yes, documented (67% of 21 others)
- Where do the commands it runs execute by default? on your machine with your user's permissions (86% of 21 others)
- Can users add their own tools through MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers? yes (95% of 21 others)
- Does it read project instructions from AGENTS.md? yes, alongside its own file (52% of 21 others)
- When you first set it up, how do you pay for the models it uses by default? with your own API key or local model (the tool itself is free) (52% of 21 others)
Nearest neighbors
- Continue 88% of 17 shared answers match
- Roo Code 88% of 16 shared answers match
- Crush 82% of 17 shared answers match
Every answer
| Question | Answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Is it actively maintained? | active | source 2026-10-25 |
| How is the main thing licensed? | permissive open source (MIT/Apache/BSD) Apache-2.0 | source 2026-10-25 |
| How is it mainly sustained? | company with a paid product, tier, or ads Cline Bot Inc.: inference credits, ClinePass, Enterprise. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Can it run entirely on your own device or infrastructure, without the maker's servers? | yes | source 2026-10-25 |
| Do you need an account to use it? | optional account Cline account optional; BYOK or local models work. | source 2026-10-26 |
| Who is it for? | developers | source 2026-10-25 |
| Which shared standard or format does it mainly build on? | MCP (Model Context Protocol) MCP marketplace is central to its tool story; also AGENTS.md and an ACP mode. | source 2026-10-26 |
| Where do you primarily use it? | stands apart extension inside an existing IDE VS Code extension is the flagship; CLI, desktop and JetBrains also. | source 2026-10-25 |
| How does finished work usually come back to you? | edits in your local working tree while you watch Kanban board runs parallel agents but still locally. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Whose models can you use? Pick the first that applies. | any provider or endpoint you configure (your own key, custom URL, or local model) | source 2026-10-25 |
| Is pointing it at a model running on your own machine (e.g. Ollama, LM Studio) a documented setup? | yes, documented Ollama and LM Studio. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Out of the box, does it ask you before editing files or running shell commands? | asks before edits and before commands "Every action requires your explicit approval"; auto-approve is opt-in. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Where do the commands it runs execute by default? | on your machine with your user's permissions | source 2026-10-25 |
| Can users add their own tools through MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers? | yes | source 2026-10-25 |
| Does it read project instructions from AGENTS.md? | yes, alongside its own file Reads .clinerules plus AGENTS.md and ~/.agents/AGENTS.md. | source 2026-10-25 |
| Does it use the Agent Client Protocol (ACP) for agent-editor connections? | yes, as an agent that editors can drive cline --acp | source 2026-10-25 |
| When you first set it up, how do you pay for the models it uses by default? | with your own API key or local model (the tool itself is free) Extension free; BYOK or Cline pay-as-you-go credits or $9.99 ClinePass. Main mode is ambiguous. | source 2026-10-25 |
Sources
This page was derived from:
- GitHub · github.com/cline/cline · read 2026-10-25
- Web page · cline.bot/ · read 2026-10-25
- Web page · cline.bot/pricing · read 2026-10-25
- Web page · docs.cline.bot/ · read 2026-10-25
- Web page · docs.cline.bot/features/cline-rules/overview · read 2026-10-25
- Web page · docs.cline.bot/mcp/mcp-overview · read 2026-10-25
- Web page · docs.cline.bot/running-models-locally/overview · read 2026-10-25
- Web page · docs.cline.bot/usage/acp.md · read 2026-10-25
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