Cline
An IDE coding agent that edits files, runs commands, and browses the web with approval
Cline is an AI coding assistant for VS Code that can inspect your project, edit files, run terminal commands, and use a browser while asking for permission at each step. It is aimed at developers working on real codebases who want more than code completion.
Agenticness = how independently a tool can take action, scored across 9 dimensions. Scored independently by David Kooi, Skylark Creations — see full rubric → Last re-evaluated 8 November 2026.
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What it decides by itself, and when it asks you
Mapped from the code in cline/cline.
In an ordinary Cline session, plain code runs the work and sets its limits, and the AI model decides when the task is done. By default the model also writes the summary that replaces older history, and in interactive command-line plan mode it decides when to start acting on the plan.
Read the full map: the judgments it shows and who holds each oneOn the command line, do tool calls run without asking you?
Decided by: Plain codeBy default, yes. At startup code sets one policy for all tools from the --auto-approve or --yolo flag if given, else your saved setting, else on, so out of the box tool calls run without asking, in ordinary sessions as well as yolo mode.
In VS Code, may this shell command run?
Decided by: YouWhen a command reaches the approval step and neither its policy nor the auto-approve toggle for commands (off by default) approves it, code shows an Approve or Reject row and waits for the person. Only Approve lets that command run; a typed message leaves the question open.
In plan mode on the interactive command line, who decides you have approved the plan and the work can start?
Decided by: The AI modelThe model, by calling a switch-to-act tool; the tool does not look at what you wrote. When that turn completes, the command-line tool rebuilds the session in act mode and starts on the plan. The call itself follows the command line's approval setting.
How does it decide the task is finished?
Decided by: The AI modelIn an ordinary session, the model replies without asking to use a tool and code ends the run as completed; nothing checks that the work was done.
Three problems the map found
Shell commands are cut off at 30 seconds
Already trackedOn the command line, a shell command the agent runs gets 30 seconds by default; then code tries to kill it and the agent is told it timed out, so a long build, test run or install can be stopped partway. Cline's tracker has two open reports about this limit.
A file edit that timed out can still be written
Already trackedFile edits are given a time limit, but reaching it only tells the model the edit failed; the edit itself is not stopped. So the model can be told an edit timed out while the change still lands in the file. An open report in Cline's tracker describes the same outcome in VS Code: a timeout reported after the write had landed.
A cut-off summary is used as if it were complete
Fix proposedWhen the default strategy shortens the history, the model's summary replaces the older messages. If the summary was cut off before the model finished it, code still puts it in place; only an empty reply is skipped.
Not checked: This card was taken from the published map of Cline at one commit and covers only decisions shown there; it did not look at Cline's hosted services or at code outside the parts the map covers (its SDK, command line, hub and VS Code extension), and no Cline code was run to make it.
Mapped by agent-ops-patterns (open source) from cline/cline at commit d19f176. Mapped Nov 2, 2026. Last updated Nov 8, 2026.
What's happened with Cline lately
- Score changeAgenticness score 16 → 19 ↑16 → 19/36(+3)
- Score changeAgenticness score 14 → 16 ↑14 → 16/36(+2)
News mentions sourced from our news feed; score changes from periodic re-evaluations.
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About
Cline is an AI coding agent that runs inside your IDE, specifically as a VS Code extension. It is built for developers who need help with multi-step software tasks such as understanding an existing codebase, making edits, running tests, and checking web apps in a browser.
Cline is more agentic than a standard autocomplete tool, but it is not hands-off automation. The workflow is intentionally human-in-the-loop: you approve file changes and terminal commands step by step, which makes it safer but less suitable if you...
Handles domain-specific workflows independently with dynamic replanning.
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- Free / open source — full functionality available at no cost.
When Cline changes its pricing, we catch it the next morning
We recrawl every tool in this directory daily. AI Insider is the 3-minute brief on what actually changed — pricing, features, score moves on our 36-point rubric — often before any press coverage. Sent daily. Skipped when nothing happened.