Cline

Cut Your Cline Token Costs by 40–70%

Cline is bring-your-own-model — you pay for every token its autonomous loop sends. Terse auto-detects Cline in VS Code, compresses each instruction you type, and flags the redundant file reads that make growing context expensive. All on-device.

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40–70%prompt compression
AutoCline detection
Any BYOMmodel-aware cost tracking
0data leaves device

How Terse Works with Cline

Cline's autonomous loop re-sends the entire growing context on every step — file contents, terminal output, and diffs stack up fast, and you pay per token. Terse compresses what it can — the instructions you type in Plan and Act mode — and flags what balloons the bill: the same files being re-read step after step.

VS Code — Cline (Act mode)
Terse Active
Cline v3.2 — API: Anthropic · Claude Sonnet 4.5 · context: 42,180 tokens
● Terse detected Cline in VS Code — monitoring (Sonnet 4.5 · $3.00/M input)
Plan: could you please go ahead and add input validation to the signup form component, and also i think it would be a good idea to write some tests for it if that makes sense
Terse: 38 tokens → 15 tokens · "add input validation to signup form, write tests" · 61% reduction
Act → read_file: src/components/SignupForm.tsx [3,410 tokens]
⚠ Terse: SignupForm.tsx re-read 4× this task — context now 58K, re-sent every step
214Ktask tokens
612Kwithout Terse
65%compressed
$1.84this task
⚡

Auto Cline Detection

Cline runs as a VS Code extension. Terse scans your editor every 5 seconds and, when a Cline session is active, attaches a floating monitor to its Plan/Act panel — no setup, no config, no API key sharing.

Automatic
🗜️

Prompt Compression

Every instruction you type into Cline's Plan or Act input goes through Terse's 7-stage pipeline: typo correction, filler removal, hedge stripping, and phrase shortening. Code blocks and file paths pass through untouched.

7-Stage Pipeline
📁

Redundant Read & Context-Growth Flagging

Cline's autonomous loop re-reads files and re-sends the whole context on every step. Terse tracks each read and alerts you when a file has been pulled in 2+ times — the single biggest driver of a runaway token bill.

Loop Tracking
💰

Model-Aware Cost Tracking

Because Cline is BYOM, you pay directly per token. Terse recognizes the active backend — Claude, GPT, Gemini, OpenRouter, or local — and tracks per-step cost at that model's real rate so nothing is a surprise.

Per-Step Visibility
📊

Session Cost Summary

When a Cline task finishes, Terse shows total tokens, total cost, and a breakdown of where they went — typed instructions, file reads, terminal output fed back in. See exactly what a task cost your API key.

Session Analytics
🔒

100% On-Device

Terse reads Cline's input via macOS Accessibility APIs and compresses locally in Rust. Your prompts, code, and file contents never leave your machine — and your model API key stays entirely inside Cline.

Zero Cloud

Supported Cline Backends

Cline is bring-your-own-model. Terse recognizes whichever backend you've plugged in — Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, or local — and tracks cost at that model's real per-token rate.

Claude Sonnet 4.5
$3/M input · $15/M output
Claude Opus 4
$15/M input · $75/M output
GPT-4o
$2.50/M input · $10/M output
Gemini 2.5 Pro
$1.25/M input · $10/M output
GPT-4o mini
$0.15/M input · $0.60/M output
Gemini 2.5 Flash
$0.075/M input · $0.30/M output
Claude Haiku 4.5
$0.80/M input · $4/M output
Local (Ollama/LM Studio)
Token count monitoring · no cost tracking

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything about using Terse with Cline.

Does Terse work with Cline?
Yes. Cline runs as a VS Code extension, and Terse auto-detects it by monitoring your editor every 5 seconds. When you type into Cline's Plan or Act input, Terse compresses the instruction before it reaches your model, flags redundant file reads across the autonomous loop, and tracks per-step cost. No configuration required.
Why is my Cline task so expensive?
Cline re-sends its entire growing context on every step — file contents, terminal output, and diffs all stack up, and it often re-reads the same files repeatedly. A single complex task can hit 500K–1M+ tokens. Since Cline is BYOM, you pay for all of it directly. Terse compresses your typed instructions and flags the redundant reads so you can interrupt before the context compounds.
Which BYOM backends does Terse support?
All of them. Plug Cline into Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, Google Gemini, an OpenRouter route, or a local model via Ollama or LM Studio — Terse recognizes the active model and tracks per-step cost at its real rate. For local backends there's no API bill, so Terse shows token counts without a dollar figure.
Does Terse interfere with Cline's autonomous editing?
No. Terse only compresses the instructions you type into Cline's Plan/Act input. It never touches Cline's file edits, terminal commands, diffs, or the context it assembles between steps — and it never sees your API key. Cline's loop runs exactly as before; you just seed it with shorter, cleaner instructions.

Also Works With

Terse reduces token costs across every major AI coding tool.

⚡ Claude Code → ⌨️ Cursor — AI Code Editor → 🤖 GitHub Copilot — VS Code → 🧠 Aider — Terminal Pair Programmer →

Stop Burning Tokens on Verbose Prompts

30-day free trial. No credit card required until your trial ends. Supports Claude, GPT, Gemini, OpenRouter, and local models.

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