Cline Review 2026: Open-Source VS Code Agent With Zero Vendor Lock-In

What Is Cline?

Cline is a free, open-source AI coding agent that runs inside VS Code. It operates as an autonomous agent — reading your codebase, planning changes, editing files, running terminal commands, and interacting with a browser — all from within the editor. It supports any LLM backend via bring-your-own-key, including 50+ providers through OpenRouter and local models via Ollama or LM Studio.

What Sets It Apart

Cline’s defining advantage is the combination of open-source transparency and complete model freedom. Licensed under Apache 2.0, you can audit every line of code, verify what data is sent to APIs, fork it, and self-host it. You can use Claude today, switch to GPT tomorrow, and run a local model on Friday — all without changing your workflow. No other VS Code agent offers this level of backend flexibility with full source transparency.

Browser automation is a distinctive capability that most competitors lack entirely. Cline can launch a browser, interact with your running application, take screenshots, and use visual feedback to debug rendering issues. For front-end development, having your coding agent visually verify changes in a running app meaningfully shortens the feedback loop between writing code and confirming it works.

The MCP (Model Context Protocol) Marketplace extends Cline’s capabilities through community-built integrations, adding connections to databases, APIs, documentation, and other development tools. The trade-off is that Cline is VS Code only — no JetBrains, Neovim, or other IDE support. API costs require active management since there is no flat-rate subscription for the open-source version, and there are no inline code completions. Cline is an agent, not an autocomplete; for tab completions, you need a separate tool alongside it.

Who It’s For

• Developers who value open source and want full control over their AI stack
• Teams that need specific model providers for compliance, cost, or privacy reasons
• Front-end developers who benefit from browser-based visual verification
• Not ideal for non-VS Code users, beginners wanting simple setup with built-in model access, or those preferring predictable monthly pricing

Sources

• Cline
• Documentation
• GitHub Repository