# Cline vs mini-swe-agent

> Cline scores 60.4 (C) to mini-swe-agent's 56.7 (C) for agent harnesses. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-mini-swe-agent
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-mini-swe-agent.md (~3,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-mini-swe-agent.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-mini-swe-agent.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
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- Updated: 2026-10-18

Cline scores 60.4 (C) on agent readiness against mini-swe-agent's 56.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. mini-swe-agent leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent harnesses.

- Cline: grade C, 60.4/100, rank #568 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cline.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cline.json
- mini-swe-agent: grade C, 56.7/100, rank #698 of 1146. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mini-swe-agent.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mini-swe-agent.json
- Best agent harnesses and coding agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-harnesses/index.md
- All 713 harnesses comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-harnesses/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Cline (C)

Good 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.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 80 against 70
- Schema & documentation, 77 against 58
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 49
- Transparency & trust, 61 against 51

Watch for: The CLI approves every tool by default outside ACP mode and starts on Cline's own provider

### mini-swe-agent (C)

Good for: Benchmark runs, research baselines and RL or fine-tuning pipelines that want a minimal, readable agent with a linear trajectory, and for people who want to read every line of their harness.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 50

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.0 against 2.0 out of 5

Watch for: The default local environment runs commands on the host with no isolation and the full host environment


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cline | mini-swe-agent | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 70 | Cline +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 58 | Cline +19 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 69 | mini-swe-agent +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 57 | 56 | Cline +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 50 | 60 | mini-swe-agent +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 49 | Cline +36 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 61 | 51 | Cline +10 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -8 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **60.4 · C** | **56.7 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cline | mini-swe-agent |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Cline Bot Inc. | SWE-bench team (Princeton and Stanford) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Freemium | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-07-23 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-25 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-09-24 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | 68k stars | 8.6k stars, 4.4M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | 3/5 (4) |

## 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.

**mini-swe-agent.** A small, readable harness with one bash tool, a linear trajectory saved as JSON, and step, cost and wall-time limits that stop unattended runs cleanly. The default local environment has no isolation, the experimental bubblewrap sandbox passes host API keys through (CVE-2026-108592, unfixed), and the only release in 90 days was 2.4.6 on 23 July 2026.

## Before you call either

### Cline

1. Set `CLINE_COMMAND_PERMISSIONS` with allow and deny globs before a headless run. The CLI approves every tool by default
2. Pick a provider with `-P` and a key, or run `cline auth`. The default provider needs a Cline sign-in
3. Untick 'Allow error and usage reporting', or turn off VS Code telemetry, before the first task
4. Pin the CLI version. 2.3.0 was a malicious publish
5. Keep the hub on 127.0.0.1 or set ROOM_SECRET, and run 3.0.30 or later

### mini-swe-agent

1. Run with `-y --exit-immediately` for unattended use. Without `--exit-immediately` it waits for input when the agent finishes
2. Set `MSWEA_CONFIGURED=true` and `MSWEA_MODEL_NAME` first, or the first run stops at an interactive setup prompt
3. Read `info.exit_status` in the `-o` trajectory file. A run that hits its limits still exits normally
4. For untrusted repositories use `-c mini.yaml -c environment.environment_class=docker -c environment.image=<image>`. The local and bubblewrap environments both expose host variables
5. Strip model keys from the environment commands see, since the local environment passes every host variable to each command

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Cline or mini-swe-agent?

Cline scores 60.4 (C) on agent readiness against mini-swe-agent's 56.7 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. mini-swe-agent leads on payments & pricing.

### Are Cline and mini-swe-agent open source?

Yes. Cline is open source (Apache-2.0). mini-swe-agent is open source (MIT).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-mini-swe-agent.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-mini-swe-agent.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "cline", "b": "mini-swe-agent"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cline mini-swe-agent`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cline.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mini-swe-agent.json

## Other comparisons with Cline or mini-swe-agent

- [Agent Zero vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-cline.md)
- [Agent Zero vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-zero-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Aider vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-cline.md)
- [Aider vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aider-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Amp vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-cline.md)
- [Amp vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amp-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-cline.md)
- [Antigravity CLI vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/antigravity-cli-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-cline.md)
- [Auggie CLI vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/auggie-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Claude Code vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-cline.md)
- [Claude Code vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-code-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Cline vs Crush](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-crush.md)
- [Cline vs Cursor CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-cursor-cli.md)
- [Cline vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-deepseek-harness.md)
- [Cline vs Devin](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-devin.md)
- [Cline vs Droid CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-droid-cli.md)
- [Cline vs Pi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-earendil-pi.md)
- [Cline vs Gemini CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-gemini-cli.md)
- [Cline vs GitHub Copilot CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-github-copilot-cli.md)
- [Cline vs goose](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-goose.md)
- [Cline vs Harness²](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness2.md)
- [Cline vs HarnessRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harnessrouter.md)
- [Cline vs Jules](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-jules.md)
- [Cline vs Junie CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-junie.md)
- [Cline vs Kilo Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kilo-code-cli.md)
- [Cline vs Kimi Code CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kimi-code-cli.md)
- [Cline vs Kiro CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-kiro-cli.md)
- [Cline vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [Cline vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-muse-code.md)
- [Cline vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [Cline vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-opencode.md)
- [Cline vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-openhands.md)
- [Cline vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [Cline vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [Cline vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [Cline vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [Cline vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [Cline vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-warp.md)
- [Crush vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crush-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Cursor CLI vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-cli-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepseek-harness-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Devin vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/devin-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Droid CLI vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/droid-cli-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Pi vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/earendil-pi-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Gemini CLI vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-cli-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [GitHub Copilot CLI vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/github-copilot-cli-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [goose vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/goose-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Harness² vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harness2-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [HarnessRouter vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/harnessrouter-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Jules vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jules-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Junie CLI vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/junie-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Kilo Code CLI vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kilo-code-cli-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Kimi Code CLI vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kimi-code-cli-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [Kiro CLI vs mini-swe-agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kiro-cli-vs-mini-swe-agent.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Mistral Vibe CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-mistral-vibe-cli.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Muse Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-muse-code.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs OpenAI Codex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-openai-codex.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs OpenCode](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-opencode.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs OpenHands](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-openhands.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Prime Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-prime-agent.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Qoder CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-qoder-cli.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Qwen Code](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-qwen-code.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Mirror CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-reflection-mirror.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Rovo Dev CLI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-rovo-dev-cli.md)
- [mini-swe-agent vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mini-swe-agent-vs-warp.md)
- [CLI Manager vs Cline](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cli-manager-vs-cline.md)
- [Cline vs Harness](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-harness-autonomous.md)
- [Cline vs Paperclip](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-paperclip.md)
- [Cline vs Parallax](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cline-vs-parallax-agents.md)

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