updated 2026-10-09 08:15 UTC

Cline

Repository Website

Autonomous coding agent as an SDK, IDE extension, or CLI assistant.

Coding Agents TypeScript Listed Apache-2.0

Is Cline safe? Strong public trust posture, backed by multiple independent signals.

OSSF Scorecard 6.3 / 10
Provenance Attested
Signed commits 79%
Last push today
Advisories None known
Compare Cline

How does it stack up against its Coding Agents neighbours?

Pick any agent to compare →
Suggest a correction

In detail: Cline scores 91.7/100 (Grade A), ranked #10 of 1371 tracked open-source AI agent projects, on evidence coverage A (4 of 5 independent signal types). The public evidence: its packages ship with cryptographic provenance; OSSF Scorecard rates its supply-chain practices 6.3/10; 79% of recent commits are signed; no published advisory affects its latest release (cline); last pushed 2026-10-09. Every point is earned from checkable signals — never paid placement. How scoring works →

What Cline can reach, and who runs it

Checked 2026-10-06, each with its source. PUBLISHER is the company's or project's own statement, which we haven't verified; CHECKED is something we observed ourselves; IN CODE is read from the project's source code. These facts describe the product. They don't change its score.

Who runs it

What it can reach

  • PUBLISHER Runs in your editor or terminal and can read and edit files, run terminal commands, use a browser and call MCP servers. Each kind of action has its own auto-approve setting. docs.cline.bot
  • IN CODE In the VS Code extension, reading and editing files, using the browser and calling MCP servers are auto-approved by default; terminal commands ask first. github.com

Where your data goes

  • PUBLISHER Works with the model provider you choose (Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter and others), or with a local model through Ollama or LM Studio. github.com
  • PUBLISHER Cline's own telemetry excludes code, file contents and paths, command arguments, conversation content and API keys, and can be turned off in settings. docs.cline.bot

Security practice

  • CHECKED cline.bot publishes a security.txt ([email protected]), the repository has a SECURITY.md, and GitHub private vulnerability reporting is enabled. cline.bot
  • CHECKED Its maintainers have published 3 security advisories (1 critical, 1 high, 1 low), all in the last 12 months. github.com
Something wrong or out of date? Suggest a correction

How Cline could raise its score

Each line changes one public signal and recomputes with the live scoring function. The gains don't add up exactly, because the score is capped near the top.

Already done? Suggest a correctionAdd the trust badge

Chain of custody

Scanners check what the code says. This traces who ships Cline and whether that has changed: from the source repository, through how changes are reviewed and released, to the package you install. These are the checks for OWASP ASI04 Agentic Supply Chain Vulnerabilities.

  1. Source Partly signed

    github.com/cline/cline, Apache-2.0, last pushed 2026-10-09. 79% of the last 100 commits carry a verified signature; the rest can't be tied to a verified identity.

  2. Review and release Mixed

    OpenSSF Scorecard rates the repository's practices 6.3/10 (scanned Oct 7, 2026). The checks that decide who can get a change released:

    • Code Review7
    • Branch Protection5
    • Signed Releases4
    • Dangerous Workflow10
    • Token Permissions0
    • Pinned Dependencies1
    All 18 Scorecard checks
    Binary-Artifacts 10
    Branch-Protection 5
    CI-Tests 10
    CII-Best-Practices 0
    Code-Review 7
    Contributors 10
    Dangerous-Workflow 10
    Dependency-Update-Tool 10
    Fuzzing 0
    License 10
    Maintained 10
    Packaging 10
    Pinned-Dependencies 1
    SAST 7
    Security-Policy 10
    Signed-Releases 4
    Token-Permissions 0
    Vulnerabilities 0

  3. Published packages Linked and attested

    • npm cline Source link points back to this repo Build provenance attested

  4. What you install today No known advisories

    Latest release checked: cline 3.0.69. No published advisory affects it (OSV, checked 2026-10-09).

Changes to this chain

No change to package provenance, package source links, Scorecard coverage or license in HVTracker's daily snapshots of Cline.

Evidence behind this score

Coverage A: 4 of 5 independent evidence types found.

  • GitHub repository data
  • Package downloads
  • Supply-chain checks
  • Public actions (missing)
  • Community mentions

Verify this score yourself

Every build re-issues Cline’s score as an Ed25519-signed credential, valid for 7 days. You can check it offline against HVTracker’s published key; if anyone changes a number after signing, verification fails.

Signed credential (JSON) How to verify

What this score doesn’t check

It covers who ships the code, not what the code does. It doesn’t read tool descriptions or prompts for injected instructions, watch runtime behaviour, or find bugs nobody has disclosed yet. For that, run a content scanner before you connect it, such as Cisco MCP Scanner or Snyk Agent Scan.

How Cline compares in Coding Agents

  1. #1 Cline 91.7 this agent
  2. #2 Codex 90.0 −1.7
  3. #3 Qwen Code 89.4 −2.3
  4. #4 Bernstein 88.9 −2.8
  5. #5 ECC 87.8 −3.9

Bars show each HVTrust score; the tick marks Cline’s 91.7.

Where the 91.7 comes from

HVTrust dimensions vs the Coding Agents average

91.7 / 100 · 100.0% confidence

Cline Coding Agents average (77 agents)

Safety / Integrity50% OSSF Scorecard · 30% provenance · 20% signed commits
19.3 / 25
10.5 above avg 8.8
Identity / Provenance60% listing status · 40% build provenance
18.0 / 18
6.3 above avg 11.7
Transparency50% declared license · 50% OSSF Scorecard
13.9 / 17
2.3 above avg 11.6
Maintenance60% last-push freshness · 40% commit activity
20.0 / 20
5.6 above avg 14.4
AdoptionLog-scaled stars · package downloads
20.0 / 20
8.1 above avg 11.9

Quick Trust Read

What Would Improve It
Improve safety / integrity to lift the weakest part of the trust profile.
Maintainer Checklist
Raise Scorecard signals Current OSSF Scorecard is 6.3/10. Tighten the weakest checks to improve public safety evidence.
Compare with Codex Get email alerts for Cline View Coding Agents Report missing data
97.2
Activity sub-score · out of 100
#1
In Coding Agents

How to read this: HVTrust (0–100) weighs supply-chain signals (provenance, OSSF Scorecard, signed commits, open license) alongside real-world adoption. Grade A reflects the trust score band: A ≥ 80, B ≥ 65, C ≥ 50, D < 50. Evidence coverage A is separate — it grades how many independent signal types back the score (4 of 5), so a high score on thin evidence stays visible. Full methodology →

Signals refreshed 2026-10-09 08:15 UTC · Repo last pushed today

Rank Trend

2026-09-29 2026-10-09

Activity & Reach

Stars
70.0k
Forks
7.6k
Last Push
2026-10-09
today
Commits (4 wk)
328
Downloads (7d)
5,629,732
npm+vscode
HN mentions (30d)
9
Open Issues
923
Rank Change
▼1
was #9

Analysis

Activity Inputs

97.2 / 100
StarsRepository reach
29.1 / 30
FreshnessLast push recency
25.0 / 25
ActivityRecent commits
25 / 25
CommunityFork signal
18.1 / 20

Common questions about Cline

Public supply-chain signals for Cline are strong: it has multiple independent trust indicators in place. This does not replace your own security review, but Cline carries less obvious unverified-evidence risk than projects with thin signals.
Does Cline publish package provenance?
Yes. Cline's package releases carry build provenance attestations, which cryptographically link the published package back to its source repository and CI workflow.
Does Cline have an OpenSSF Scorecard?
Cline has an OpenSSF Scorecard score of 6.3/10. The Scorecard checks for branch protection, signed releases, dependency updates, fuzzing, code review, and other supply-chain hygiene items. See the full check breakdown on this page.
Is Cline actively maintained?
Actively maintained. The repository was pushed to within the last 1 day(s).
What license does Cline use?
Cline ships under Apache-2.0. A declared, OSI-approved license is one of the transparency signals HVTrust scores.
Are Cline's commits signed?
79% of the last 100 commits to Cline are verified-signed (GPG, SSH, S/MIME, or GitHub's signing flow). Signed commits help confirm that code was authored by who the commit claims.

Not a safety endorsement. HVTracker describes what public signals show, not whether a project is safe for your use case. Run your own security review before adopting in production.

Compare Cline head-to-head

Cline vs Codex → Cline vs Qwen Code → Cline vs Bernstein →

AI agent surface

MCP, providers, tool surface
Scored in HVTrust

These runtime-trust fields — detected from public repo docs and manifests — contribute a bounded adjustment to this project's HVTrust score alongside supply-chain evidence. The exact values each field can add or subtract are documented in the methodology → Compare this surface across every listed agent in the capability matrix →

MCP Server Support
medium confidence
Declared
MCP support appears present, but direct server implementation is less certain.
Detailed evidence is not shown in the public view.
External Service Dependencies
low confidence
None detected
No clear third-party provider dependency detected.
Credential signal: API keys or service config markers documented.
Tool / Plugin Surface
high confidence
Declared
Declared plugin/integration surface detected.
Detailed evidence is not shown in the public view.
Package Provenance Drift
high confidence
Match
Published package metadata matches the tracked repo
Detailed evidence is not shown in the public view.
  • MCP signal live
  • External deps live
  • Tool / plugin surface live
  • Package provenance drift live

Maintain Cline?

For maintainers

HVTrust scores Cline from public signals only — we never contact maintainers first. If a signal is wrong, stale, or missing (provenance you publish, a Scorecard you run, signed releases), tell us and we'll review it. Corrections are public and tracked on GitHub.

Submit a correction → Add the trust badge
GitHub → Website → npm: cline

Embed Badge Badge guide for maintainers →

For maintainers
HVTrust 91.7 Grade A
Markdown:
[![HVTrust](https://hvtracker.net/badge/cline.svg)](https://hvtracker.net/agents/cline)
HTML:
<a href="https://hvtracker.net/agents/cline"><img src="https://hvtracker.net/badge/cline.svg" alt="HVTrust"></a>

Other agents in Coding Agents

Data sources
GitHub REST API (repo, commits, stars, forks, license) · npm Registry (downloads, provenance) · OpenSSF Scorecard CLI · Algolia HN Search API
Each agent's signals refresh once daily across 6 staggered batches. Methodology v4.4 · Raw JSON