What Cline does
Cline is an open source coding agent that runs as a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, a terminal CLI, or an embeddable SDK. It connects to MCP servers over stdio, Streamable HTTP or SSE so their tools can be used alongside its built-in ones.
Why teams reach for it: Cline is open source and locked to neither an editor nor a model vendor: one agent core ships as a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, an npm-installed CLI and an embeddable Node SDK, and it drives Claude, GPT, Gemini, a local Ollama or LM Studio model, or any OpenAI-compatible endpoint on your own key or your own weights, with every file edit and terminal command held for approval unless you turn auto-approve on.
How Cline compares
Fields the vendor doesn't document are left blank here rather than guessed — a blank means nothing verified, not a "no."
- Platform
- IDE extension, CLI
- Transports
- stdio, SSE, Streamable HTTP
- Client Registration Mode
- DCR
- Tools
- Yes
- Open Source
- Yes
Which host will connect to the server?
A client, or agent host, is the application — like Claude or Cursor — that actually connects to and uses an MCP server.