Cline brings its agentic coding assistant to JetBrains IDEs with a human‑in‑the‑loop design
Cline has introduced a new plugin for JetBrains IDEs, extending the agentic coding assistant to IntelliJ and Android Studio. The release targets developers working on Java Enterprise and Android projects—communities that, according to the provided context, “until now had a limited number of choices available.” Competing plugins, such as Continue, are described as “still struggling to gain the same momentum as Cline or other VS Code plugins.” No availability dates or pricing information are provided.
Core model and approach
The announcement attributes Cline’s capabilities to Claude 3.7 Sonnet’s agentic coding features, stating the model handles “complex software development tasks step-by-step.” Additional model details are available in Anthropic’s overview: https://www.anthropic.com/claude/sonnet.
Cline operates across CLI and Editor, combining interactive coding assistance with tool use. The extension supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), enabling the creation of new tools and extensions to its capabilities. The company presents this as a flexible approach for augmenting workflows inside the IDE.
Human‑in‑the‑loop execution
The system is contrasted with “autonomous AI scripts” that traditionally run in sandboxed environments. Instead, Cline uses a human‑in‑the‑loop GUI to approve every file change and terminal command. This review step gates file edits and command execution prior to action and is presented as a “safe and accessible way to explore the potential of agentic AI.” No additional security specifics are provided.
Tools and onboarding workflow
Cline is described as capable of using tools to create and edit files, explore large projects, use the browser, and execute terminal commands (with explicit permission). The interface accepts task descriptions and images. Examples cited include converting UI mockups into functional apps and fixing bugs from screenshots.
For onboarding into existing projects, the assistant is described as:
- Analyzing file structure
- Analyzing source code ASTs
- Running regex searches
- Reading relevant files to establish context
The content states that Cline manages what information is added to context to support large, complex codebases without “overwhelming the context window.” No implementation details are given.
Actions during execution
After gathering necessary information, the assistant can:
- Create and edit files while monitoring linter and compiler errors to address issues such as missing imports and syntax errors.
- Execute terminal commands and monitor output during work, with an example of reacting to dev server issues after editing a file.
- For web development tasks, launch a site in a headless browser and perform interactive actions—clicking, typing, scrolling—while capturing screenshots and console logs. This is positioned as enabling fixes to runtime errors and visual bugs.
Upon completion, Cline presents results and can surface a terminal command such as: open -a "Google Chrome" index.html The announcement states that this command can be executed from the interface.
JetBrains plugin context
By expanding into IntelliJ and Android Studio, Cline extends beyond its existing footprint to reach developers in ecosystems that were described as having fewer established options for agentic coding assistants. The surrounding context notes that comparable JetBrains plugins are “still struggling to gain the same momentum as Cline or other VS Code plugins.” The release centers on agentic coding backed by Claude 3.7 Sonnet, MCP‑based extensibility, and a human‑in‑the‑loop GUI that requires approval for file and terminal actions. Image inputs, project analysis, context curation, file and command operations, and browser‑based validation constitute the stated workflow.
Availability
No availability dates or pricing information have been provided.
