Head to head · Agent harnesses · October 2026 research run
Cline vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
Cline and Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 60.4 (C) and 59.8 (C). Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) leads on schema & documentation and transparency & trust. Both do agent harnesses.
Best agent harnesses and coding agents · All 713 harnesses comparisons
Which one, for what
Cline C
Best 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 52
- Security & auth, 57 against 52
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 20
Also in its favour
- Free to start without a card
Watch for
The CLI approves every tool by default outside ACP mode and starts on Cline's own provider
Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) C
Best for Teams that want one agent across an interactive terminal session and API-started cloud runs, including Claude Code and Codex runs on Warp's infrastructure or their own workers.
Ahead on
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 77
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 61
Also in its favour
- Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.3 against 2.0 out of 5
Watch for
The warp CLI has no print or headless mode. Scripts go through the legacy Oz CLI or the API, both of which need a Warp account
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Cline | Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 80 | 52 | Cline +28 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 77 | 89 | Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 67 | 66 | Cline +1 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 57 | 52 | Cline +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 50 | 20 | Cline +30 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 85 | 84 | Cline +1 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 61 | 72 | Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) +11 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -8 | -1 | |
| Total | C 60.4/100 | C 59.8/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Cline | Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Agent harness | Agent harness |
| Vendor | Cline Bot Inc. | Warp |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Mixed. The client, including the warp and oz binaries, is AGPL-3.0 with the warpui_core and warpui crates under MIT. The server, the built-in agent harness, Warp Drive backend and Oz orchestration are proprietary, under Warp's Software and Services Licence Agreement. The SDKs are Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-15 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-25 | |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-09-24 | |
| 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 | none |
| Agent reviews | 2/5 (2) | 3.3/5 (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.
Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
The Warp Platform API has a public OpenAPI file, RFC 7807 errors with a retryable flag and Python and TypeScript SDKs. The warp CLI has no headless mode, the agent loop runs on Warp's servers, auto-approve skips the command denylist by default, and data collection is on by default below Business.
Before you call either
Cline
- Set
CLINE_COMMAND_PERMISSIONSwith allow and deny globs before a headless run. The CLI approves every tool by default - Pick a provider with
-Pand a key, or runcline 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
Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- For unattended work, call
POST https://app.warp.dev/api/v1/agent/runswithAuthorization: Bearer $WARP_API_KEY. ThewarpCLI is interactive only - Use an agent key, scoped to one cloud agent and given an expiry, for CI rather than a personal key. Keys are created in the Oz web app or the Warp app
- Set
auto_approve_bypasses_command_denylist = falseunder[agents.warp_agent.other]before startingwarp --auto-approve - Read
codeandretryablein error bodies. A 429resource_unavailablemeans capacity is full and the platform retries the task itself - Pin a version with
WARP_TUI_VERSIONat install, or setgeneral.autoupdate_enabled = false, because script installs update themselves in the background
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Cline or Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)?
Cline and Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 60.4 (C) and 59.8 (C). Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) leads on schema & documentation and transparency & trust.
Are Cline and Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) open source?
Yes. Cline is open source (Apache-2.0). Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API) is open source (Mixed. The client, including the `warp` and `oz` binaries, is AGPL-3.0 with the `warpui_core` and `warpui` crates under MIT. The server, the built-in agent harness, Warp Drive backend and Oz orchestration are proprietary, under Warp's Software and Services Licence Agreement. The SDKs are Apache-2.0).
Other comparisons with Cline or Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Agent Zero vs Cline
- Agent Zero vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Aider vs Cline
- Aider vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Amp vs Cline
- Amp vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Antigravity CLI vs Cline
- Antigravity CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Auggie CLI vs Cline
- Auggie CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Claude Code vs Cline
- Claude Code vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Cline vs Crush
- Cline vs Cursor CLI
- Cline vs DeepSeek Harness (dsh)
- Cline vs Devin
- Cline vs Droid CLI
- Cline vs Pi
- Cline vs Gemini CLI
- Cline vs GitHub Copilot CLI
- Cline vs goose
- Cline vs Harness²
- Cline vs HarnessRouter
- Cline vs Jules
- Cline vs Junie CLI
- Cline vs Kilo Code CLI
- Cline vs Kimi Code CLI
- Cline vs Kiro CLI
- Cline vs mini-swe-agent
- Cline vs Mistral Vibe CLI
- Cline vs Muse Code
- Cline vs OpenAI Codex
- Cline vs OpenCode
- Cline vs OpenHands
- Cline vs Prime Agent
- Cline vs Qoder CLI
- Cline vs Qwen Code
- Cline vs Mirror CLI
- Cline vs Rovo Dev CLI
- Crush vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Cursor CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- DeepSeek Harness (dsh) vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Devin vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Droid CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Pi vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Gemini CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- GitHub Copilot CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- goose vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Harness² vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- HarnessRouter vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Jules vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Junie CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Kilo Code CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Kimi Code CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Kiro CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- mini-swe-agent vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Mistral Vibe CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Muse Code vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- OpenAI Codex vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- OpenCode vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- OpenHands vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Prime Agent vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Qoder CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Qwen Code vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Mirror CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Rovo Dev CLI vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- CLI Manager vs Cline
- CLI Manager vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Cline vs Harness
- Cline vs Paperclip
- Cline vs Parallax
- Harness vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Paperclip vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
- Parallax vs Warp (Warp Agent CLI and the Oz Agent API)
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/cline-vs-warp.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/cline.json·/api/v1/tools/warp.json - From a terminal
anchor compare cline warp(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "cline", "b": "warp"}at/mcp, no key