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Coding agent

Cline

Human-in-the-loop agent across IDE, terminal, and teams.

Status
Active
License
Apache-2.0
Evidence
Documented + code-verifiable, 22 sources
Product record checked
2026-07-27
Compare harnessesInspect sources

At a glance

An open-source agent for IDEs and the CLI with broad provider and local-model support, MCP, browser use, checkpoints, read-only research subagents, persistent agent teams, lifecycle plugins, and configurable approval workflows.

Good choice if

  • IDE users who want to approve actions and inspect diffs
  • Teams mixing interactive, headless, and multi-agent workflows
  • Provider-flexible setups with checkpoints, browser use, and MCP

Check before choosing

  • The normal IDE and CLI runtimes execute on the host without a documented OS or container sandbox; Kanban worktrees isolate file trees, not processes, credentials, or network access
  • IDE use begins approval-oriented, but the CLI prompt path defaults to auto-approve=true and YOLO can remove all prompts, so unattended use needs an explicit command policy
  • Agent teams, the SDK, and Kanban are powerful but fast-moving; teams do not yet apply to the VS Code or JetBrains extensions and Kanban is a research preview
See 4 more considerations
  • Read-only subagents are experimental and intentionally cannot edit files or run arbitrary write workflows
  • Shadow-Git checkpoints restore files and conversation state but do not reverse external side effects; large repositories can incur storage and snapshot overhead
  • SDK, CLI, and Kanban plugins can install executable JavaScript or TypeScript plus npm or Git dependencies; they require source review and do not currently extend the VS Code or JetBrains products
  • OpenTelemetry exports logs and metrics rather than proving task correctness, and the checked-in evaluation framework has disabled or unfinished CI layers with no immutable result record

Why it qualifies as a coding harness

This confirms category fit, not product quality. Every required criterion links back to first-party evidence.

Qualifies4 of 4 required criteria evidenced

  • Adaptive agent loop

    Documented

    The system repeatedly observes results and chooses the next action instead of following a fixed one-pass graph.

    EvidenceCline overview

  • Repository tool execution

    Documented

    The system can use tools to inspect and change a repository or its execution environment.

    EvidenceCLI reference

  • Task-aware context management

    Documented

    The runtime assembles, updates, compacts, retrieves, or persists task-relevant context while work proceeds.

    EvidenceMemory Bank

  • Model-independent runtime control

    Documented

    Permissions, budgets, interruption, policy, or stop controls operate outside the model's own text generation.

    EvidencePermission handling

Membership establishes category fit only. It does not score quality, safety, autonomy, model capability, or benchmark performance. · Read the membership rule.

How it works under the hood

Seven mechanisms mapped from first-party records. These labels describe what the harness provides, not how intelligent its model is.

7/7layers documented
  • Execution & isolationWorkspace isolationDocumented mechanism, not a performance score.
  • Tooling & integrationsExtensible + browserDocumented mechanism, not a performance score.
  • Context & stateManaged contextDocumented mechanism, not a performance score.
  • Lifecycle & recoveryCheckpoint/rewindDocumented mechanism, not a performance score.
  • ObservabilityLogs/transcriptsDocumented mechanism, not a performance score.
  • VerificationTool-assistedDocumented mechanism, not a performance score.
  • Governance & permissionsPolicy controlsDocumented mechanism, not a performance score.

Public code audit

5/5public artifacts present
Security policy
Present at inspected commit
CI workflow
Present at inspected commit
Automated tests
Present at inspected commit
Evaluation assets
Present at inspected commit
Contributor documentation
Present at inspected commit

The v4.0.11 tree contains 669 test-like files, ten workflows, a security policy, contributor documentation, and 45 evaluation-like assets. Its own eval README says smoke CI is partly disabled and nightly Cline-bench E2E is not implemented; no immutable result set is present, so no product score is imported.

Inspect commit 34b2f60394e5b2db8450e66d0ac52fdfb5b81c78, checked 2026-07-27

Measured configurations

No benchmark run passes the full metadata admission policy for this harness yet. Missing data is not scored as zero.

Benchmark policy and all runs

Capability support

Documented first-class product support, checked against the sources below.

External tools (MCP)
DocumentedProduct-supported MCP integrationSource · checked 2026-07-27The source establishes the mechanism, not its quality or availability in every mode.
Local models
DocumentedLocal or self-hosted model pathSource · checked 2026-07-27The source establishes the mechanism, not its quality or availability in every mode.
Agent parallelism
DocumentedDelegated or parallel agent workflowSource · checked 2026-07-27The source establishes the mechanism, not its quality or availability in every mode.
Runs without an open UI
DocumentedNon-interactive or automation surfaceSource · checked 2026-07-27The source establishes the mechanism, not its quality or availability in every mode.
Browser control
DocumentedBuilt-in or product-supported browser controlSource · checked 2026-07-27The source establishes the mechanism, not its quality or availability in every mode.
Isolated execution
Not documentedNo first-class support established by the current recordAbsence of current documentation is not proof that the capability is impossible.
Undo file changes
DocumentedProduct-supported file or session rollbackSource · checked 2026-07-27The source establishes the mechanism, not its quality or availability in every mode.

Primary evidence

Each capability claim is tied to a first-party record and a verification date.

Product record checked 2026-07-27
Cline overviewIDE, CLI, SDK, API, browser use, Kanban, enterprise, provider, and automation surfacesOfficial docsProvider catalogFirst-party catalog of supported hosted providers and their shared configuration flowOfficial docsLocal modelsOllama, LM Studio, and local inference configuration with hardware and model guidanceOfficial docsCLI overviewInteractive terminal, JSON output, headless runs, and automationOfficial docsCLI referenceDefault auto-approve behavior, session resume, command policies, scheduling, MCP, and runtime flagsOfficial docsAuto Approve and YOLOGranular IDE approvals, risk controls, YOLO mode, command allowlists, and unattended execution warningsOfficial docsCheckpointsFile snapshots, comparison, and rollbackOfficial docsKanbanResearch-preview parallel agents, per-task Git worktrees, review, dependency chains, and shipping workflowOfficial docs
View 14 additional sources
Automation and extensions2 sources
Plugin and hook modelLifecycle hook stages, blocking and asynchronous policies, fail-open or fail-closed behavior, tool-call gates, observability, and plugin executionOfficial docsPlugin installationExecutable plugin sources, npm and Git dependency installation, global and project scopes, extension points, and current surface limitationsOfficial docs
Enterprise and operations2 sources
Enterprise MCP controlsOrganization MCP blocking, local allowlists, managed remote servers, personal-server restrictions, and policy precedenceOfficial docsEnterprise YOLO controlOrganization-wide disablement of unattended YOLO mode, policy precedence, monitoring expectations, and security tradeoffsOfficial docs
Additional first-party evidence10 sources
SubagentsParallel read-only research agents and their limitsOfficial docsAgent TeamsPersistent team state, coordinator delegation, shared task board, and inter-agent mailboxOfficial docsMCPLocal and remote MCP server configuration, tools, resources, transport, and trust considerationsOfficial docsSchedulingCron schedules, background hub execution, task management, logs, and unattended agent behaviorOfficial docsCline SDKEmbeddable TypeScript runtime, core packages, tools, sessions, plugins, and production integrationsOfficial docsPermission handlingSDK permission decisions, automatic and explicit approval paths, callbacks, and policy implementationOfficial docsMemory BankUser-maintained project documentation for cross-session continuity and its manual workflowOfficial docsOpenTelemetry integrationOptional OTLP log and metric export, configuration, backends, and data-governance controlsOfficial docsCline v4.0.11 sourcePinned source, tests, workflows, security policy, contributor guide, and evaluation framework stateOfficial repositoryCline evaluation frameworkProject-owned smoke and E2E tasks, trials and metrics, disabled CI layers, and unfinished nightly evaluationOfficial repository