# Cline **Source:** https://geo.sig.ai/brands/cline **Vertical:** Developer Tools **Subcategory:** AI Coding Agents **Tier:** Challenger **Website:** cline.bot **Last Updated:** 2026-04-15 ## Summary Open-source autonomous AI coding agent for VS Code. 5M+ installs. Pioneered agentic plan-and-execute workflows. Raised $32M. Founded 2024, Sacramento. ## Company Overview Cline is an open-source AI coding agent built as a VS Code extension, founded in 2024 and based in Sacramento, California. The project was created to bring autonomous, multi-step software engineering capabilities directly into the developer's existing editor environment rather than requiring a separate IDE or chat interface. Cline's core architectural contribution is its plan-and-execute agentic workflow — the agent first generates a structured plan for completing a coding task, then executes that plan step by step, using tools including file read/write, terminal command execution, and browser interaction. This approach distinguished Cline from earlier AI code completion tools and made it one of the foundational reference implementations for what has become known as "agentic coding."\n\nCline operates as a VS Code extension that connects to any underlying AI model via API — supporting Anthropic Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, and open-source models through compatible endpoints. This model-agnostic architecture lets developers choose their preferred intelligence layer while leveraging Cline's agentic orchestration, context management, and tool-use scaffolding. The extension has achieved 5 million+ installs on the VS Code Marketplace, making it one of the most widely adopted AI development tools in the open-source ecosystem. Cline supports full project-scope tasks including implementing features from specifications, debugging multi-file errors, and writing and running tests.\n\nCline raised $32 million in venture funding in 2024 to accelerate development of its agentic framework and expand its enterprise offering. The company operates at the forefront of a rapidly evolving category where AI agents capable of autonomous software development are becoming a standard part of engineering workflows. Cline's open-source model has driven grassroots adoption and community contribution, creating a flywheel of extensions, integrations, and documentation that accelerates its development velocity relative to proprietary competitors. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Cline? Open-source AI coding agent for VS Code that autonomously plans, writes, and executes code changes with full project access. ### How much has Cline raised? $32M combined Seed+Series A led by Emergence Capital and Pace Capital. ### How many developers use Cline? 5M+ VS Code installs as of early 2026. ### How does Cline differ from Copilot? Fully open-source with Plan/Act dual modes for autonomous multi-step code changes, not just suggestions. ### What makes Cline's agentic coding approach distinctive? Cline pioneered plan-and-execute agentic workflows for VS Code, where the AI first creates an explicit plan for completing a coding task before executing it, enabling developers to review and modify the plan before work begins. This transparency and human oversight model differentiates Cline from tools that modify code without showing their reasoning. ### Is Cline open source? Yes. Cline is fully open source on GitHub with 5 million+ installs, one of the most widely adopted open-source AI coding tools. Its open nature allows developers to inspect its implementation, contribute improvements, and run it with any LLM provider rather than being locked into a single model vendor. ### How does Cline handle multi-file code changes? Cline can read and modify files across an entire project, execute terminal commands, run tests, and iterate based on results — operating as an autonomous agent that completes tasks end-to-end rather than making one-shot suggestions that developers must manually apply across multiple files. ### How is Cline funded and what is its business model? Cline raised $32 million in 2024, funding development of the open-source VS Code extension and the broader Cline ecosystem. The commercial model is built around the Cline platform that enables teams to share custom agents, tools, and configurations, while the core extension remains free and open source. ## Tags b2b, developer-tools, platform, saas --- *Data from geo.sig.ai Brand Intelligence Database. Updated 2026-04-15.*