Cline AI
Cline is an open-source AI coding agent that enables developers and enterprises to build software faster through agentic AI coding with full transparency, control, and privacy.
At a Glance
- Individual software developers
- Enterprise software development teams
- DevX (Developer Experience) teams
- Platform teams
- +4 more
AI Tools by Cline AI
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Cline
Open Source AI Coding Agent
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Latest News
5M installs, $1M Open Source Grant program announced
OpenAI hires at least seven employees from Cline (not an acquisition)
The architecture that gets AI coding tools approved
Cline v3.41 adds GPT-5.2, Devstral 2, & ergonomic model switching
Products & Services
Free open-source AI coding agent available as VS Code extension, JetBrains extension, and CLI. Features client-side architecture, supports multiple AI models, includes Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration, and provides full transparency with no vendor lock-in.
Command-line interface for terminal-first developers enabling scriptable automation, use in cron jobs and CI pipelines for recurring checks, updates, and custom workflows.
Enterprise platform offering organization management with SSO and role-based access control, centralized billing with credits purchased at no markup, usage tracking with auto top-up rules, team management dashboard, and priority support. Free through Q1 2026, then $20/month per user (first 10 seats remain free).
Custom enterprise solution with all Teams features plus SSO, OIDC, SCIM provisioning, SLA, dedicated support, authentication and audit logs, VPC deployments, OpenTelemetry, and advanced config management. Supports deployment within VPC, on-prem, or air-gapped environments.
Market Position
Cline positions itself as a local-first, open-source alternative to cloud-only AI coding tools like Cursor and GitHub Copilot. It differentiates through client-side execution ensuring source code remains within the user's secure environment, model flexibility with BYOK support, transparent usage-based pricing without markups, and a diff-first approval system requiring user review of all changes. Unlike passive autocomplete tools, Cline operates as a full-stack autonomous coding agent capable of terminal commands, error monitoring, and web application interaction. It targets enterprises requiring higher control, transparency, and compliance than legacy cloud-based tools, particularly Zero Trust enterprises and regulated industries.
Leadership
Founders
Saoud Rizwan
28-year-old founder and software engineer with 10 years of experience in iOS engineering, specializing in product leadership, file-system interaction, local data persistence, and developer ergonomics. Previously developed open-source frameworks including Disk and Piano for iOS.
Executive Team
Saoud Rizwan
Founder and CEO
Software engineer with 10 years of experience, specializing in iOS development and developer tooling. Previously built open-source frameworks for iOS.
Nick Baumann
Team member (role not specified)
Contact person for Cline, active in blog writing and product development.
Board of Directors
Founding Story
Cline was developed in July 2024 by Saoud Rizwan in a garage in Terre Haute, Indiana as a demo for Anthropic's Build with Claude hackathon. The goal was to give AI models developer tools like file access and terminal commands. Although the demo did not win the hackathon, it was released to the developer community and grew organically. Rizwan moved to San Francisco in November 2024 to build the startup, and what began as a solo weekend project has grown into a team of over 35 people, many of whom were originally open source contributors hired full-time.
Business Model
Revenue Model
Usage-based pricing for AI inference without markups or subscriptions for individuals. Users pay only for AI credits consumed at cost or bring their own API keys (BYOK). Teams tier uses per-user subscription model ($20/month per user after Q1 2026, first 10 seats free). Enterprise tier uses custom pricing. Revenue also comes from helping large organizations manage their organic Cline usage.
Pricing Tiers
VS Code Extension, CLI, secure client-side architecture, purchase inference at cost or BYOK, MCP Marketplace, multi-root workspaces, community support.
All Open Source features plus JetBrains extension, centralized billing (credits at no markup), config management, role-based access control, limit inference providers, team management dashboard, priority support.
All Teams features plus SSO, OIDC, SCIM provisioning, SLA, dedicated support, authentication logs, audit logs, VPC deployments, OpenTelemetry, advanced config management, fine-grained permissioning.
Target Markets
- Individual software developers
- Enterprise software development teams
- DevX (Developer Experience) teams
- Platform teams
- Fortune 500 companies
- Regulated industries requiring data privacy and security
- Codebase understanding and analysis
- Large-scale refactoring across multiple files
- Automated code reviews and pull request generation
- Integration with incident response systems and Sentry webhooks
- Slack-triggered code reviews
- Building custom internal developer tooling
- Samsung
- SAP
- Salesforce
- Amazon