{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "cline", "name": "Cline", "vendor": "Cline Bot Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://cline.bot", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "Open-source coding agent that runs as a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, a CLI and a desktop app, all on one TypeScript SDK since extension 4.0.0 (26 June 2026).", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cline", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cline.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cline.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cline.json", "repo": "https://github.com/cline/cline", "license": "Apache-2.0", "transports": [], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "cline" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "Your own provider keys (kept in ~/.cline/data/settings/providers.json for the CLI), a local model, or a Cline account (Google, GitHub or email sign-in) for the Cline provider and ClinePass. The CLI's default provider is Cline's own, so it needs `-P` and a key, or `cline auth`, to use anything else.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "The extension, CLI and SDK are free and Apache-2.0. You pay your model provider, or buy Cline credits for pay-as-you-go access to 100+ models through the Cline provider, or ClinePass at $9.99 a month for higher limits on selected open models. Free models rotate for signed-in users. Enterprise (SSO, role-based access, audit logs, SLA) is priced by sales. We found no public per-token price list for Cline credits.", "priceSummary": "$9.99 / mo", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, the pricing page or the source (checked 2026-10-01).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 67600, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-01" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.cline.bot", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.cline.bot/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "agent.harness", "agent.mcp-client", "agent.multi-agent" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "local", "freemium", "typescript", "llms-txt", "telemetry-default-on", "enterprise", "no-card" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-01", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 60.4, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 565, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1133, "categoryRank": 13, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 67, "maintenance": 85, "payments": 50, "reliability": 80, "schema": 77, "security": 57, "transparency": 61 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": -8, "negativeNotes": [ "2026-02-17. GHSA-9ppg-jx86-fqw7. An attacker used a compromised npm publish token to release cline@2.3.0 with a postinstall script that ran `npm install -g openclaw@latest`. It was live for about eight hours before 2.4.0 and a deprecation, the token was revoked and publishing moved to OIDC. A supply-chain incident that reached users, fixed and documented and seven months old, -4. https://github.com/cline/cline/security/advisories/GHSA-9ppg-jx86-fqw7", "2026-05-08. GHSA-5c57-rqjx-35g2 (CVE-2026-44211, 9.6). The kanban server the CLI uses accepted WebSocket connections on 127.0.0.1:3484 without checking Origin, so any website could read workspace data and inject commands. Affects kanban before 2.13.0. Inside six months, -2. https://github.com/cline/cline/security/advisories/GHSA-5c57-rqjx-35g2", "2026-06-23. GHSA-3cj3-hqcr-g934 (CVE-2026-59723, 8.8). The Cline Hub dashboard's `/browser` WebSocket accepted cross-origin connections when ROOM_SECRET was unset, the local default, letting a website add MCP servers to the settings file and run commands. NVD lists versions before 3.0.30 as affected. Inside six months, -2. https://github.com/cline/cline/security/advisories/GHSA-3cj3-hqcr-g934" ], "verdict": "Approval before edits and commands in the IDE, with command auto-approval off by default since 4.0.0. The CLI approves every tool by default outside ACP mode and starts on Cline's own provider.", "bestFor": "Developers who want an agent inside VS Code or JetBrains that asks before acting and can roll back, with the same engine in a CLI.", "strengths": [ "Approval before edits and commands in the IDE, with command auto-approval off by default since 4.0.0", "Checkpoints that restore files and task state, and sessions that resume by ID", "`CLINE_COMMAND_PERMISSIONS` allow and deny globs for shell commands, with deny taking precedence and redirects blocked", "Your own key for about 200 providers, or a local model, with no Cline account", "29 extension and 34 CLI releases since 3 July 2026, with tests passing on main" ], "weaknesses": [ "The CLI approves every tool by default outside ACP mode and starts on Cline's own provider", "Extension telemetry on by default, and the CLI's telemetry undocumented", "A compromised npm token shipped cline@2.3.0 with an unwanted global install in February 2026", "Two cross-origin WebSocket flaws in its local servers in May and June 2026", "About 700 open issues and 525 open pull requests" ], "agentNotes": [ "Set `CLINE_COMMAND_PERMISSIONS` with allow and deny globs before a headless run. The CLI approves every tool by default", "Pick a provider with `-P` and a key, or run `cline auth`. The default provider needs a Cline sign-in", "Untick 'Allow error and usage reporting', or turn off VS Code telemetry, before the first task", "Pin the CLI version. 2.3.0 was a malicious publish", "Keep the hub on 127.0.0.1 or set ROOM_SECRET, and run 3.0.30 or later" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 2, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 60.4 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 67, "maintenance": 85, "payments": 50, "reliability": 80, "schema": 77, "security": 57, "transparency": 60 }, "provenanceScore": 61 }, "connect": { "install": "npm i -g cline # Node 22+; or the VS Code extension saoudrizwan.claude-dev", "headless": { "command": "cline --json -P anthropic -k \"$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY\" \"$TASK\"", "env": { "CLINE_COMMAND_PERMISSIONS": "{\"allow\": [\"npm test\", \"git diff *\"], \"deny\": [\"rm *\", \"sudo *\"]}" } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.harness", "tool": "https://letme.dev/cline" }, "area": "frameworks", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "ClinePass", "unit": "month", "usd": 9.99, "note": "higher limits on selected open coding models" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Cline Bot Inc.", "domain": "cline.bot", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://cline.bot/tos", "privacy": "https://cline.bot/privacy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/cline/cline/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-01", "notes": [ "The pricing page and the CLI's package.json name Cline Bot Inc.", "cline.bot/.well-known/security.txt lists security@cline.bot and the Bugcrowd programme, and expires on 2027-12-31.", "The privacy and terms pages render only with JavaScript, so we couldn't read them." ], "score": 61 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cline.json", "live": { "slug": "cline", "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "cline/cline", "version": "desktop-v0.0.47", "released": "2026-10-16", "seenAt": "2026-10-17T01:40:35.002609327Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "cline", "version": "3.0.72", "seenAt": "2026-10-17T01:40:34.317931027Z" } ], "githubStars": 70426, "npmWeekly": 65678, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://cline.bot/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-12-31T23:59:00z", "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T15:51:33.860475811Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.cline.bot/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T14:21:41.581192326Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "cline.bot", "registered": "2024-09-30", "source": "https://rdap.nominet.uk/bot/domain/cline.bot", "checkedAt": "2026-10-11T13:15:16.00554513Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cline/cline/main/CHANGELOG.md", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T23:09:40.819488859Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-16T22:30:37.717253978Z", "fingerprint": "5e5d7447c5e8" }, { "url": "https://cline.bot/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T22:57:32.712397387Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-08T18:16:11.11005196Z", "fingerprint": "7c5e50c585e0" }, { "url": "https://cline.bot/tos", "kind": "terms", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T22:57:34.746485705Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-08T18:16:13.372700135Z", "fingerprint": "9f6fe5247cb8" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-17T23:09:40.819488859Z" } }, "answer": "Cline and Harness score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 60.4 (C) and 60.3 (C). Harness leads on schema \u0026 documentation, agent ergonomics and transparency \u0026 trust.", "b": { "slug": "harness-autonomous", "name": "Harness", "vendor": "Autonomous, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://www.autonomous.ai/harness", "kind": "harness", "category": "agent-harnesses", "summary": "Harness, by Autonomous, is an open-source app that runs Claude Code, Codex and twelve other coding agents in tmux sessions across a person's computers. Agents can start, wait for and read other agents through its CLI or MCP tools.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness-autonomous", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness-autonomous.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness-autonomous.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harness-autonomous.json", "repo": "https://github.com/autonomous-ai/openharness", "license": "MIT", "transports": [ "stdio" ], "packages": [], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "No account for harnesses on one computer. Agents starting harnesses, remote machines and the phone need the person's Harness account, signed in with Google or Apple in a browser (PKCE) or by QR from the phone. Agents use the person's own Claude Code or Codex credentials.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "The desktop app, CLI and phone apps are free and MIT licensed. Agent subscriptions and model usage are the person's own. The Harness Device ($149) and Harness Pro ($299) are optional hardware.", "priceSummary": "Free · OSS", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the README, llms.txt, the agents page or the CLI source (checked 2026-10-17). The software has nothing to buy.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 7, "popularity": { "githubStars": 1284, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-17" }, "docsUrl": "https://harness.autonomous.ai/agents", "llmsTxt": "https://harness.autonomous.ai/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "agent.multi-agent" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "mit", "local", "free", "no-card", "macos", "linux", "typescript", "mcp", "llms-txt", "desktop-app", "cli", "agent-skill" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-17", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 60.3, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 570, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1133, "categoryRank": 14, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 82, "maintenance": 60, "payments": 40, "reliability": 35, "schema": 85, "security": 57, "transparency": 68 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "low", "date": "2026-10-17" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "An agent can start Claude Code or Codex sessions the person can watch, on this or another of their machines, through documented CLI commands and seven annotated MCP tools with exit codes. Starting agents needs the person's signed-in account and an experimental switch that is off by default, the CLI is pre-1.0, and usage counts are shared by default.", "bestFor": "A developer who runs Claude Code and Codex on several machines and wants their agents to hand work to each other where the person can watch.", "strengths": [ "Seven MCP tools with typed JSON Schema inputs, `additionalProperties: false`, readOnlyHint on reads and server instructions on when not to start one", "llms.txt and an agents page list every command, the exit codes 0 to 5 and 124, and a `Next:` line after each answer", "Agents may start harnesses only after the person turns on an account switch an agent cannot flip, with at most four live harnesses each", "MIT licence for the app, CLI, daemon, relay and device firmware, with 548 tags between 9 September and 17 October 2026", "Remote terminal traffic is end-to-end encrypted, direct over WebRTC where the network allows, and relays forward ciphertext" ], "weaknesses": [ "Starting harnesses needs the person signed in with Google or Apple in a browser and an experimental account switch, off by default", "The CLI agents call is version 0.4.18 and the npm MCP package in the repository was never published", "Product usage counts are shared by default, with an opt-out in Settings or `harness privacy off`", "Installing Harness adds its commands to Claude Code's and Codex's permission rules, and Codex runs them outside its sandbox", "Autonomous's privacy policy and terms cover its stores and websites and do not mention Harness" ], "agentNotes": [ "Run `harness whoami` first. If it says you may not start harnesses, tell the person and do the work yourself", "Ask the person before installing Harness, and leave `harness login` and the agents-start-agents switch to them", "Treat exit 5 as final and do not retry. Treat exit 3 as needs the person, and never answer a harness's question or permission prompt", "Name every harness, put the whole task in `harness new`, then wait, read with `harness show` and close only the ones you started", "Run each `harness` command on its own or joined with `\u0026\u0026`, since piped commands no longer match the permission rule" ], "metrics": { "kind": "local", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 4, "avgRating": 3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "low", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 60.3 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 82, "maintenance": 60, "payments": 40, "reliability": 35, "schema": 85, "security": 57, "transparency": 64 }, "provenanceScore": 72 }, "connect": { "install": "curl -fsSL https://harness.autonomous.ai/cli/install.sh | bash \u0026\u0026 harness start", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add harness -- harness mcp", "config": { "mcpServers": { "harness": { "args": [ "mcp" ], "command": "harness" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/agent.multi-agent", "tool": "https://letme.dev/harness-autonomous" }, "area": "frameworks", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Autonomous, Inc.", "domain": "autonomous.ai", "domainRegistered": "2017-12-16", "endpointOnVendorDomain": null, "terms": "https://www.autonomous.ai/terms-of-use", "privacy": "https://www.autonomous.ai/privacy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/autonomous-ai/openharness/releases", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-17", "notes": [ "The LICENSE file reads Copyright (c) 2026 Autonomous, Inc., and the privacy policy (last updated 7 July 2026) names Autonomous, Inc. The terms choose the law of California with binding arbitration.", "The privacy policy and terms cover Autonomous's websites, stores and apps in general. Neither names Harness or its product usage counts, which are described in the repository.", "RDAP at Identity Digital gives a registration date of 2017-12-16 for autonomous.ai.", "security.txt returned 404 on www.autonomous.ai and harness.autonomous.ai on 17 October 2026. The repository's SECURITY.md asks for reports to dee@autonomous.ai, with acknowledgement within three working days.", "CHANGELOG.md covers only the provider protocol (0.3.0, 6 August 2026). The CLI release workflow cuts a GitHub Release per tag, which we could not read because GitHub's web pages and API were not reachable from our network.", "The software runs on the owner's machines. Accounts, the relay and the backend are Autonomous's, and no status page was found." ], "score": 72 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness-autonomous.json", "live": { "slug": "harness-autonomous", "pages": [ { "url": "https://www.autonomous.ai/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T23:13:27.381383505Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "caddd4dd6217" }, { "url": "https://www.autonomous.ai/terms-of-use", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T23:13:29.742966815Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "c30237c8a371" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-17T23:13:29.742966815Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "Agent harness", "b": "Agent harness", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Cline Bot Inc.", "b": "Autonomous, Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "", "b": "stdio", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "OAuth", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Free", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Apache-2.0", "b": "MIT", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "none", "b": "7", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-01", "b": "2026-10-17", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2025-09-25", "b": "", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2025-09-24", "b": "", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "68k stars", "b": "1.3k stars", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "2/5 (2)", "b": "3/5 (4)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Cline and Harness score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 60.4 (C) and 60.3 (C). Harness leads on schema \u0026 documentation, agent ergonomics and transparency \u0026 trust.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Cline or Harness?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Cline is open source (Apache-2.0). Harness is open source (MIT).", "question": "Are Cline and Harness open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 80 against 35", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 50 against 40", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 85 against 60" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Developers who want an agent inside VS Code or JetBrains that asks before acting and can roll back, with the same engine in a CLI.", "slug": "cline", "watchFor": "The CLI approves every tool by default outside ACP mode and starts on Cline's own provider" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 85 against 77", "Agent ergonomics, 82 against 67", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 68 against 61" ], "also": [ "Runs on your own machine", "Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.0 against 2.0 out of 5", "No incidents deducted, where Cline loses 8 points for them" ], "goodFor": "A developer who runs Claude Code and Codex on several machines and wants their agents to hand work to each other where the person can watch.", "slug": "harness-autonomous", "watchFor": "Starting harnesses needs the person signed in with Google or Apple in a browser and an experimental account switch, off by default" } ], "job": { "capability": "agent.multi-agent", "name": "Multi-agent orchestration" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cline.json", "title": "Agent Zero vs Cline", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cline" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cline.json", "title": "Aider vs Cline", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cline" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cline.json", "title": "Amp vs Cline", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cline" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-cline.json", "title": "Antigravity CLI vs Cline", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-cline" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cline.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Cline", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cline" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-cursor-cli.json", "title": "Cline vs Cursor CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-cursor-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-devin.json", "title": "Cline vs Devin", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-devin" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-droid-cli.json", "title": "Cline vs Droid CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-droid-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-earendil-pi.json", "title": "Cline vs Pi", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-earendil-pi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-gemini-cli.json", "title": "Cline vs Gemini CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-gemini-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-github-copilot-cli.json", "title": "Cline vs GitHub Copilot CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-github-copilot-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-goose.json", "title": "Cline vs goose", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-goose" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harnessrouter.json", "title": "Cline vs HarnessRouter", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harnessrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kilo-code-cli.json", "title": "Cline vs Kilo Code CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kilo-code-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Cline vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-muse-code.json", "title": "Cline vs Muse Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-muse-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openai-codex.json", "title": "Cline vs OpenAI Codex", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openai-codex" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-opencode.json", "title": "Cline vs OpenCode", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-opencode" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openhands.json", "title": "Cline vs OpenHands", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openhands" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Cline vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "Cline vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-reflection-mirror.json", "title": "Cline vs Mirror CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-reflection-mirror" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Amp vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Antigravity CLI vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Claude Code vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-cline.json", "title": "CLI Manager vs Cline", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-cline" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "CLI Manager vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Cline vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-parallax-agents.json", "title": "Cline vs Parallax", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-parallax-agents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Devin vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Droid CLI vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "Gemini CLI vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "GitHub Copilot CLI vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "title": "goose vs Harness", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness-autonomous" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-harnessrouter.json", "title": "Harness vs HarnessRouter", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-harnessrouter" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kilo-code-cli.json", "title": "Harness vs Kilo Code CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kilo-code-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kiro-cli.json", "title": "Harness vs Kiro CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kiro-cli" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-muse-code.json", "title": "Harness vs Muse Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-muse-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-opencode.json", "title": "Harness vs OpenCode", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-opencode" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-openhands.json", "title": "Harness vs OpenHands", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-openhands" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paperclip.json", "title": "Harness vs Paperclip", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paperclip" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-parallax-agents.json", "title": "Harness vs Parallax", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-parallax-agents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-prime-agent.json", "title": "Harness vs Prime Agent", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-prime-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-qwen-code.json", "title": "Harness vs Qwen Code", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-qwen-code" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-reflection-mirror.json", "title": "Harness vs Mirror CLI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-reflection-mirror" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 45, "cline": 80, "edge": "cline", "harness-autonomous": 35, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 8, "cline": 77, "edge": "harness-autonomous", "harness-autonomous": 85, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 15, "cline": 67, "edge": "harness-autonomous", "harness-autonomous": 82, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 0, "cline": 57, "edge": "", "harness-autonomous": 57, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 10, "cline": 50, "edge": "cline", "harness-autonomous": 40, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 25, "cline": 85, "edge": "cline", "harness-autonomous": 60, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 7, "cline": 61, "edge": "harness-autonomous", "harness-autonomous": 68, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Cline and Harness score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 60.4 (C) and 60.3 (C). Harness leads on schema \u0026 documentation, agent ergonomics and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do multi-agent orchestration.", "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "cline": "Approval before edits and commands in the IDE, with command auto-approval off by default since 4.0.0. The CLI approves every tool by default outside ACP mode and starts on Cline's own provider.", "harness-autonomous": "An agent can start Claude Code or Codex sessions the person can watch, on this or another of their machines, through documented CLI commands and seven annotated MCP tools with exit codes. Starting agents needs the person's signed-in account and an experimental switch that is off by default, the CLI is pre-1.0, and usage counts are shared by default." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness-autonomous", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness-autonomous.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness-autonomous.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness-autonomous.min.md" }, "markdown": "Cline and Harness score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 60.4 (C) and 60.3 (C). Harness leads on schema \u0026 documentation, agent ergonomics and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do multi-agent orchestration.\n\n- Cline: grade C, 60.4/100, rank #565 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cline.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cline.json\n- Harness: grade C, 60.3/100, rank #570 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/harness-autonomous.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harness-autonomous.json\n- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md\n- All 331 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Cline (C)\n\nGood for: Developers who want an agent inside VS Code or JetBrains that asks before acting and can roll back, with the same engine in a CLI.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 80 against 35\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 50 against 40\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 85 against 60\n\nWatch for: The CLI approves every tool by default outside ACP mode and starts on Cline's own provider\n\n### Harness (C)\n\nGood for: A developer who runs Claude Code and Codex on several machines and wants their agents to hand work to each other where the person can watch.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 85 against 77\n- Agent ergonomics, 82 against 67\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 68 against 61\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Runs on your own machine\n- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.0 against 2.0 out of 5\n- No incidents deducted, where Cline loses 8 points for them\n\nWatch for: Starting harnesses needs the person signed in with Google or Apple in a browser and an experimental account switch, off by default\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Cline | Harness | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 35 | Cline +45 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 85 | Harness +8 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 82 | Harness +15 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 57 | even |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 50 | 40 | Cline +10 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 60 | Cline +25 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 68 | Harness +7 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -8 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **60.4 · C** | **60.3 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Cline | Harness |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |\n| Vendor | Cline Bot Inc. | Autonomous, Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | | stdio |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Free |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Apache-2.0 | MIT |\n| Tools exposed | none | 7 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-17 |\n| Terms last updated | 2025-09-25 | |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-09-24 | |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | |\n| Popularity | 68k stars | 1.3k stars |\n| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | 3/5 (4) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Cline.** Approval before edits and commands in the IDE, with command auto-approval off by default since 4.0.0. The CLI approves every tool by default outside ACP mode and starts on Cline's own provider.\n\n**Harness.** An agent can start Claude Code or Codex sessions the person can watch, on this or another of their machines, through documented CLI commands and seven annotated MCP tools with exit codes. Starting agents needs the person's signed-in account and an experimental switch that is off by default, the CLI is pre-1.0, and usage counts are shared by default.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Cline\n\n1. Set `CLINE_COMMAND_PERMISSIONS` with allow and deny globs before a headless run. The CLI approves every tool by default\n2. Pick a provider with `-P` and a key, or run `cline auth`. The default provider needs a Cline sign-in\n3. Untick 'Allow error and usage reporting', or turn off VS Code telemetry, before the first task\n4. Pin the CLI version. 2.3.0 was a malicious publish\n5. Keep the hub on 127.0.0.1 or set ROOM_SECRET, and run 3.0.30 or later\n\n### Harness\n\n1. Run `harness whoami` first. If it says you may not start harnesses, tell the person and do the work yourself\n2. Ask the person before installing Harness, and leave `harness login` and the agents-start-agents switch to them\n3. Treat exit 5 as final and do not retry. Treat exit 3 as needs the person, and never answer a harness's question or permission prompt\n4. Name every harness, put the whole task in `harness new`, then wait, read with `harness show` and close only the ones you started\n5. Run each `harness` command on its own or joined with `\u0026\u0026`, since piped commands no longer match the permission rule\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Cline or Harness?\n\nCline and Harness score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 60.4 (C) and 60.3 (C). Harness leads on schema \u0026 documentation, agent ergonomics and transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Are Cline and Harness open source?\n\nYes. Cline is open source (Apache-2.0). Harness is open source (MIT).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness-autonomous.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness-autonomous.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"cline\", \"b\": \"harness-autonomous\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cline harness-autonomous`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cline.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/harness-autonomous.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Cline or Harness\n\n- [Agent Zero vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cline.md)\n- [Aider vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cline.md)\n- [Amp vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cline.md)\n- [Antigravity CLI vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-cline.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cline.md)\n- [Cline vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-cursor-cli.md)\n- [Cline vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-devin.md)\n- [Cline vs Droid CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-droid-cli.md)\n- [Cline vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-earendil-pi.md)\n- [Cline vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-gemini-cli.md)\n- [Cline vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)\n- [Cline vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-goose.md)\n- [Cline vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harnessrouter.md)\n- [Cline vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)\n- [Cline vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [Cline vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-muse-code.md)\n- [Cline vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openai-codex.md)\n- [Cline vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-opencode.md)\n- [Cline vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openhands.md)\n- [Cline vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Cline vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-qwen-code.md)\n- [Cline vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-reflection-mirror.md)\n- [Amp vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Antigravity CLI vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Claude Code vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [CLI Manager vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-cline.md)\n- [CLI Manager vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Cline vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Cline vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-parallax-agents.md)\n- [Devin vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Droid CLI vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Gemini CLI vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [goose vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-harness-autonomous.md)\n- [Harness vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-harnessrouter.md)\n- [Harness vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)\n- [Harness vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-kiro-cli.md)\n- [Harness vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-muse-code.md)\n- [Harness vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-opencode.md)\n- [Harness vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-openhands.md)\n- [Harness vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-paperclip.md)\n- [Harness vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-parallax-agents.md)\n- [Harness vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-prime-agent.md)\n- [Harness vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-qwen-code.md)\n- [Harness vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness-autonomous-vs-reflection-mirror.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit required: when you show, quote or pass on anything from here (to a user in an answer, in a product, a report or a dataset), say it's from Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link the page or API address you took it from. Reviews also credit their author.", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-18", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Cline vs Harness", "url": "" } ], "description": "Cline and Harness score within a point of each other for multi-agent orchestration, 60.4 and 60.3 out of 100. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Cline C 60.4", "Harness C 60.3", "scores" ], "h1": "Cline vs Harness", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-cline-vs-harness-autonomous.png", "path": "/compare/cline-vs-harness-autonomous", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Cline vs Harness for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-17", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness-autonomous" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2750, "slim": 680 }, "version": 1 }