---
id: cline
slug: cline
title: Cline Integration
description: Run Cline, the autonomous VS Code coding agent, on any of 200+ models through LLM Gateway. One OpenAI-compatible endpoint, unified billing, full cost tracking.
date: 2026-07-03
---

[Cline](https://cline.bot) is an autonomous AI coding assistant that lives in VS Code. It creates and edits files, runs terminal commands, and works through multi-step tasks on its own. Unlike Cursor, Cline routes **everything** through the endpoint you give it — so with LLM Gateway you get a full coding agent on any model in our catalog, with every request tracked and billed in one place.

> **Using DevPass?** This integration also works with a [DevPass](https://devpass.llmgateway.io) plan key. Use root model IDs without a provider prefix (`claude-sonnet-4-5`, not `anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-5`) — provider-pinned routing is not available on coding plans; the gateway picks the provider for you.

## Quick Start

### 1. Install the Cline extension

Search for "Cline" in the VS Code Extensions view (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + X) and install it.

![Install Cline Extension](https://docs.llmgateway.io/guides/cline/clineinstall.webp)

### 2. Configure the API provider

Open the Cline panel, click the settings gear, and set:

- **API Provider**: `OpenAI Compatible`
- **Base URL**: `https://api.llmgateway.io/v1`
- **API Key**: your key from the [LLM Gateway dashboard](/dashboard)
- **Model ID**: any model from the [catalog](https://llmgateway.io/models), e.g. `claude-sonnet-4-6`, `gpt-5.2`, or `deepseek-v3.2`

![Configure API Provider](https://docs.llmgateway.io/guides/cline/modelsetup.webp)

### 3. Test it

Ask Cline to do something concrete — "Create a hello world function in Python". It should respond and offer to create the file.

![Test Cline](https://docs.llmgateway.io/guides/cline/clineexec.webp)

All requests — planning, edits, terminal commands — now route through LLM Gateway.

## Picking the right model

Cline works the codebase hard: long contexts, lots of tool calls. A few tips:

- **Frontier coding models** (`claude-sonnet-4-6`, `gpt-5.2`, `gemini-3-pro-preview`) give the best autonomous results
- **Discounted models**: check the [discounted list](https://llmgateway.io/models?view=grid&filters=1&discounted=true) — same models, lower price through partner providers
- **Provider pinning**: prefix with a provider (e.g. `openai/gpt-5.2`) to pin routing; otherwise LLM Gateway picks the best available provider with automatic failover
- **Free models**: try [free models](https://llmgateway.io/models?view=grid&filters=1&free=true) for low-stakes tasks

## Switching models mid-project

Because Cline just sees one OpenAI-compatible endpoint, swapping models is a one-line change in its settings — no new accounts or API keys. Use a fast, cheap model for boilerplate and switch to a frontier model for the hard parts, keeping one bill and one usage dashboard the whole time.

## Troubleshooting

**Authentication errors** — Double-check the key and that the base URL is exactly `https://api.llmgateway.io/v1`.

**Model not found** — Copy the model ID exactly from the [models page](https://llmgateway.io/models).

**Context overflow on big tasks** — Switch to a model with a larger context window; the catalog lists context sizes per model.

Need help? Join our [Discord](https://llmgateway.io/discord).

## Why route Cline through LLM Gateway

- **Full agent support** — unlike Cursor, every Cline feature works through the gateway
- **Any model, one key** — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, DeepSeek, and open-source models
- **Cost control** — per-request cost tracking and spend limits in the [dashboard](/dashboard)
- **Caching and failover** — repeated requests hit cache; failing providers fall over automatically

[Get started for free](/signup) — no credit card required.
