Cline is primarily a VS Code extension (3,354,473 VS Code installs, 5M across editors) with a CLI component. $32M raise (Emergence Capital). Named enterprise customers: Salesforce, Samsung, SAP. 59K stars. Supply chain incident: v2.3.0 'OpenClaw' compromise is a documented trust flag. v3.73.0 released 2026-03-16.
Shipped last month
Cline drops to #8 in coding-clis (was #6)
The Feb 2026 'Clinejection' supply chain attack (~4K machines affected) is the most severe trust incident in the coding agent category, pushing Cline below Goose and OpenHands. · 2026-03-25
Where it wins
3,354,473 VS Code installs (5M across editors, Jan 2026) — dominates IDE-embedded-agent segment
$32M raise from Emergence Capital — most enterprise-funded tool in the IDE agent lane
Named enterprise customers: Salesforce, Samsung, SAP — independently verified adoption
ACP protocol, parallel isolated agents, Unix pipes — pipeline-component architecture
BYOK with free models (Kimi K2.5, MiniMax M2.5 at 100 tok/s) — lowest cost barrier
Active shipping: v3.73.0 released 2026-03-16
Where to be skeptical
Supply chain incident: v2.3.0 'OpenClaw' compromise — documented trust flag, no third-party security audit published
No published SWE-bench or Terminal-Bench scores
Primarily a VS Code extension — the CLI surface is secondary to the IDE experience
Weak HN organic engagement (low HN pts) relative to VS Code install count
Editorial verdict
#4 coding CLI — strongest in the IDE-embedded-agent segment with 3.35M VS Code installs, 5M total across editors, $32M funding (Emergence Capital), and named enterprise customers (Salesforce, Samsung, SAP). The supply chain incident (v2.3.0 'OpenClaw') is a documented trust flag that still applies. A credible third-party security audit would remove the primary concern. Best for developers who live in VS Code and want agentic assistance without leaving the editor.
Videos
Reviews, tutorials, and comparisons from the community.
Cline CLI 2.0: An open-source Terminal AI coding agent (Free Minimax M2.5 & Kimi K2.5 )
Introducing Cline CLI 2.0
Cline + VS Code Changed How I Code Forever
Related
Coding CLIs / Code Agents
VS Code-centric developers, enterprise teams with existing VS Code infrastructure
Software Factories
VS Code users wanting BYOM flexibility with the largest IDE-agent install base
Claude Code
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OpenHands
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OpenCode
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Gemini CLI
88Google's open-source terminal agent with Gemini 3 models, 1M token context, built-in Google Search grounding, and the best free tier in the category (60 req/min, 1K req/day). v0.35.0 (Mar 24) shipped keybinding, policy, and telemetry fixes while the repo hit 98,957 stars and 12,593 forks. Terminal-Bench 2.0: 78.4% (#1). SWE-bench Pro standardized 43.30% (#3). Plan Mode added March 2026. First-pass correctness ~50-60% (Educative.io).
Public evidence
Cline v2.3.0 'OpenClaw' compromise is a documented supply chain incident. Until a credible third-party security audit is published, trust score is penalized relative to other tools at similar star counts.
Called Cline CLI 2.0 'the moment the coding agent stopped being an IDE feature and became a pipeline component.' Covers ACP protocol support, parallel agents, and CI integration.
Launched Feb 13, 2026 with ACP protocol support, parallel isolated agent instances, full stdin/stdout Unix pipe support, and 600-second CI timeout constraint. BYOK with free models.
Groups Cline with OpenCode and Aider as the three OSS coding agents solving vendor lock-in. Named enterprise customers (Salesforce, Samsung, SAP) cited as evidence of enterprise-grade adoption.
$32M raise from Emergence Capital. Named enterprise customers include Salesforce, Samsung, and SAP — the most independently verifiable enterprise adoption evidence in the IDE-agent segment.
Raw GitHub source
GitHub README could not be fetched right now.