Headquarters
San Francisco, CAFounded
2024CEO / Founder
Saoud RizwanEmployees
1-10Funding
Series AProducts
1 product listedAvg. AI Score
8.2/10Website
cline.bot/Profile updated
Cline Bot Inc is the company behind Cline, an open-source AI coding assistant built as a VS Code extension. The project emerged in 2024 and operates as an autonomous coding agent capable of creating and editing files, executing terminal commands, and interacting with web browsers to complete multi-step development tasks.
Cline integrates with multiple AI model providers, including Anthropic's Claude, OpenAI, and others via OpenRouter, allowing developers to bring their own API keys. The extension supports a human-in-the-loop workflow where users can approve or reject individual actions before execution. It is distributed under an open-source license and maintained on GitHub, where it has accumulated significant community traction.
The project was originally released under the name "Claude Dev" before being rebranded to Cline. The company has raised early-stage funding, though specific amounts have not been publicly disclosed. The team remains small, consistent with an early-stage startup.
Dated, source-cited figures. Estimates are marked.
All products by Cline Bot Inc reviewed by our AI panel of experts.
Six independent reviewer personalities assessed Cline Bot Inc's product on their own terms. They landed within 0.6 points of each other, an unusually strong consensus.
Averaged across 1 reviewed product in our catalog. Scores are out of 10.
Who Cline Bot Inc competes with, and how they differ.
Terminal-based autonomous coding agent built by Anthropic itself, tightly optimized for Claude models rather than editor-agnostic, and sold as a paid product rather than open-source.
3 products reviewed on TopReviewedA standalone VS Code fork with proprietary AI features and a paid subscription model, versus Cline's open-source extension that runs inside existing VS Code installs.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedProprietary AI-native IDE (also a VS Code fork) with its own agentic 'Cascade' engine, monetized via subscription tiers, unlike Cline's free open-source extension approach.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedCommand-line, git-centric AI pair programmer with no GUI or browser automation, appealing to terminal-first developers rather than VS Code users.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedOpen-source VS Code/JetBrains extension focused more on customizable chat and autocomplete workflows than on autonomous multi-step agentic execution and terminal/browser control.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedFully autonomous cloud-hosted AI software engineer aimed at end-to-end task delegation with enterprise pricing, contrasting with Cline's free, locally-run, developer-supervised editor extension.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedKey milestones in Cline Bot Inc's history, with sources.
Series A — $27M at $110M valuation, led by Emergence Capital
Cline raised a $27M Series A led by Emergence Capital with Pace Capital and 1984 Ventures participating, at a $110M valuation, bringing combined seed + Series A funding to $32M.
themoneytimes.mediaCline Teams enterprise platform launched
Cline launched Cline Teams, an enterprise platform adding organization management, centralized billing, and usage tracking, alongside its funding announcement.
cline.botSeed round — $5M
Cline raised a $5M seed round; founder Saoud Rizwan relocated from Indiana to San Francisco to build the startup full-time.
themoneytimes.mediaRebranded from "Claude Dev" to "Cline" with v2.0 release
The extension was renamed from "Claude Dev" to "Cline" (a portmanteau of "CLI aNd Editor") alongside a v2.0 release, reflecting expanded multi-model support beyond Anthropic.
en.wikipedia.orgBuilt as "Claude Dev" at an Anthropic hackathon
Saoud Rizwan built the first version of the tool, published to the VS Code Marketplace as "Claude Dev", during Anthropic's "Build with Claude" hackathon; it went viral among developers despite not winning.
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