Cline

Cline can send requests to hosted providers or run models through Ollama/LM Studio on your own hardware. Local serving gives you a place to measure electricity, but large models may use substantial device power and the product publishes no comparative results. Measure a bounded task on your hardware and compare it with a named hosted route before claiming a reduction.

No per-task electricity, water, or emissions data, serving-region breakdown, or lifecycle assessment was found for the harness.

• Cline current product, local-provider and bring-your-own-key options ↗

Cline supports local weights and a broad set of hosted providers. Its current terms make clear that provider data may be used for training unless the user opts out where available, so model selection alone does not guarantee rights. Choose a documented local model or verify the selected provider’s opt-out and corpus disclosures before sharing code.

The provider and exact model vary by configuration; no complete rights ledger can be inferred from the harness license or provider list.

• Cline Terms of Service (last modified 2025-09-25) ↗
• Cline current product, local-provider and bring-your-own-key options ↗

Current Terms of Service (September 25, 2025) say telemetry is on by default and may be disabled; they also permit service-improvement use of user content outside per-seat subscriptions and say providers may train unless opted out. The 2025 blog says telemetry is opt-in, so the newer terms are the safer source for the current default; use your own key/local model and disable telemetry if you need tighter control.

Plan, selected model/provider, enabled features, and deployment mode can change this assessment.

• Official privacy or data-processing disclosure ↗
• Cline Terms of Service (last modified 2025-09-25) ↗
• Official telemetry documentation ↗

Cline’s Apache-2.0 repository allows users to inspect, modify and redistribute the client. Its connected models and provider services have their own licenses and terms. The open extension does not make a hosted model open.

This score covers the harness/editor source only; hosted services, models, data, or enterprise features may remain proprietary.

• Official source repository or product page ↗
• Official privacy or data-processing disclosure ↗

Cline’s repository makes its code and contribution history visible, but it does not disclose whether maintainers are paid or how model providers treat data workers. Open code is not the same as fair work. Consider supporting maintainers and ask the chosen provider for its current data-worker disclosures.

Current worker pay, working conditions, subcontracting, safety provisions, and grievance outcomes are not established for this product’s full service chain.

• Official source repository or product page ↗

Cline’s current product pages emphasize user-selected and local providers; the sources reviewed do not name a Cline defense deployment. A model provider’s contract should not be attributed to Cline without evidence that the product was used. For sensitive development, choose a local provider or ask Cline and the selected host about contract restrictions.

No public evidence in the reviewed material names this harness in a defense workload; absence in this review does not establish absence of indirect use.

• Cline current product, local-provider and bring-your-own-key options ↗

Cline is not a named target in the checked lists, but BDS uses selective campaigns, so absence cannot establish a clean record. Check the model and host this tool connects to as well as the company providing the tool.

This review covers the named targets in the BNC consumer/pressure guide and No Tech campaign, not every BDS campaign, local group, investment or supplier. Lists and ownership can change. A company’s absence from these lists is not an endorsement or proof that it has no relevant relationships.

• BNC: live guide to consumer boycott and pressure targets ↗
• BNC: No Tech for Oppression, Apartheid or Genocide campaign ↗