Compare
Cline vs recall
Cline is an autonomous coding agent; Recall is a CLI tool for browsing past agent conversations.
ClineOpen-source autonomous coding agent for your IDE
recallFull-text search and resume for Claude/Codex conversationsWhich to pick
Pick Cline if you want…
- Self-hosted AI coding agent for IDEs and terminals
- Full-text search of AI chat history
- Integrations with VS Code, JetBrains or CLI (on Cline's list, not recall's)
Pick recall if you want…
- Terminal search & resume for AI chat sessions
- A free, open-source tool
- Integrations with Codex, OpenCode or Factory (Droid) (on recall's list, not Cline's)
Side by side
- What it is
- Cline:Open-source autonomous coding agent that works in IDEs, terminals and can be embedded in products.
- recall:Recall provides full-text search and resume capabilities for Claude, Codex, OpenCode, and Factory conversations via a terminal UI.
- Best for
- Cline:Self-hosted AI coding agent for IDEs and terminals
- recall:Terminal search & resume for AI chat sessions
- Who it’s for
- Cline:Individual developers and engineering teams needing AI-assisted coding without vendor lock-in.
- recall:Developers using Claude/Codex/AI coding agents who need to browse past sessions quickly.
- Pricing
- Cline:Freemium
- recall:Open source
- Plans
- Cline:Individual (Open Source) Free
- recall:—
- Open source
- Cline:Yes, 69,660 GitHub stars
- recall:Yes, 199 GitHub stars
- Works with
- Cline:VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, Slack, Discord, Telegram, Linear, GitHub Actions
- recall:Claude, Codex, OpenCode, Factory (Droid)
Cline features
- Plan-and-Act workflow. Toggle between planning steps and executing them, with optional auto-approve.
- Multi-file edits. Coordinated changes across a project with linter-aware fixes, diffs and one-click undo.
- Terminal integration. Runs bash commands, reacts to live output and can be used in CI pipelines.
- Custom rules & skills. Define .clinerules to enforce coding standards and deployment conventions.
- Model agnostic. Supports Claude, GPT, Gemini, Ollama, LM Studio and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
- Extensible via MCP & plugins. Register custom tools, lifecycle hooks and integrate databases or APIs.
- Team & automation features. Multi-agent teams, scheduled cron jobs and integrations with Slack, Linear and CI systems.
- Desktop app. Native desktop client for Mac, Windows and Linux, no editor required.
recall features
- Full-text search. Search across all saved Claude/Codex sessions with phrase queries and snippets.
- Conversation preview. Shows highlighted message excerpts while navigating results.
- Resume command. Jump back into a selected session directly from the CLI.
- Scope toggle. Switch between folder-specific and global search with the '/' key.
- Keyboard shortcuts. Navigate, expand, copy IDs, and quit using intuitive keys (↑↓, PgUp/Down, Ctrl+E, Tab, Esc).
- Custom commands. Configure resume commands via environment variables for different agents.
Cline vs recall FAQ
Is Cline or recall free?+
Cline has a free plan (Individual (Open Source)) and paid plans. recall is free and open source.
Is Cline or recall open source?+
Yes, both are open source: Cline (cline/cline on GitHub, Apache-2.0 license) and recall (zippoxer/recall on GitHub, MIT license).
Do Cline and recall integrate with the same tools?+
Partly. Both list Claude. Cline also lists VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, Slack and 9 more; recall also lists Codex, OpenCode and Factory (Droid).
On DevHunt
Based on each tool's website and DevHunt data. Details may change; check the official sites.