Cline

What Is Cline?

Cline is an AI pair programmer that runs as a VS Code extension. Unlike many AI tools, it is fully client-side. Your code never leaves your machine, which makes it popular with teams that need privacy and security.

It works with almost any major model: Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, OpenAI, or local options like Ollama and LM Studio. You can also bring your own API and switch models depending on your workflow.

Cline is open-source, actively maintained, and audited by enterprise teams for compliance.

How Does It Work?

Cline uses a Plan-Act method.

1. Plan: It scans your repo and proposes a plain-language action plan.
2. Approve: You review the plan.
3. Act: Only after approval does it generate and apply code changes.

This workflow reduces unwanted edits and keeps you in control.

It also maintains project-wide memory: your code, terminal history, checkpoints, and architectural rules. You can define standards in .clinerules files, ensuring every AI change follows your patterns.

Inside VS Code, Cline supports:

• Multi-file editing
• Terminal automation
• Runtime debugging
• Browser launches
• Screenshot analysis

Most Popular Application Types

• Distributed systems & microservices: Multi-service setups, event-driven handlers, cross-language workflows
• Dashboards & admin panels: Refactoring, dependency updates, rapid UI iteration
• SaaS MVPs: Scaffold, align, and debug entire architectures
• Legacy refactors: Update APIs, migrate modules, modernize architectures
• DevOps/CI/CD: Review pipelines, optimize scripts, monitor test coverage
• Frontend frameworks: React, Angular, Vue, with screenshot-based validation

Unique Features

• Bring your own model: Switch between cloud or local LLMs on demand
• Zero-trust security: Fully local, nothing leaves your machine
• Checkpoint system: Create environment snapshots beyond git
• Context visualization: Manage model limits and costs
• Runtime awareness: Launch browsers, run commands, analyze outputs
• Custom rules: Define repo-specific standards with .clinerules

Pros and Cons of Cline

Pros	Cons
Full control: approve plans before changes	Steeper learning curve; requires setup
Works with multiple models, cloud or local	Resource-intensive with large projects
Handles complex, multi-file apps	Sometimes “over-engineers” solutions
Advanced debugging with terminal/browser integration	Token costs can spike with heavy cloud usage
Checkpoint system for safe rollback	Not suited for beginners or fast prototyping

First-Hand Use: Porting Data Between Airtable and ACF in WordPress

I used Cline to build a small web app that synced records from Airtable into Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) inside WordPress.

I opened my repo in VS Code, launched Cline, and gave it this instruction:

“Create a Node.js script that connects to Airtable, fetches records, and updates custom fields in WordPress using the REST API.”

Cline generated a detailed plan: set up the Airtable client, authenticate with the WordPress API, map fields, and update posts.

Once I approved, it scaffolded the code and added clear comments for each step.

After running the script, I hit some authentication errors. I asked Cline to debug, and it walked through the error logs, fixed the token handling, and updated the code.

Within an hour, I had a working pipeline moving Airtable data into WordPress fields automatically.

The key difference from other tools was control. Every step came with a plan, code changes were clear, and I could roll back if needed.

For a messy integration like Airtable + WordPress, that level of oversight made the process much smoother.

Learning Curve

Cline is not plug-and-play. It requires:

• API/model setup
• .clinerules configuration for coding standards
• Familiarity with checkpoints and rollback

For teams, it also means defining rules around who approves plans and how models are mixed.

There is active documentation, a Discord community, and growing enterprise adoption, which helps with onboarding.

Bottom Line

Cline is designed for creators and teams working on serious, multi-file applications. It offers:

• Security (code stays local)
• Flexibility (any model, cloud or local)
• Transparency (Plan-Act workflow)
• Reliability (checkpoint system, rollback options)

It is not the fastest way to prototype.

But if you’re refactoring a large codebase, building SaaS products, or handling integrations that require oversight, Cline gives you power and structure that lighter tools can’t.