Have you ever heard of the tool Cursor? It’s like a combination of AI + VS Code—as long as you integrate APIs from large models like ChatGPT or Claude, you can achieve conversational, self-assisted programming, casually chatting a few lines and developing a software application.
However, Cursor is quite expensive, making it rather impractical for many users.
That’s where an alternative comes in—Cline, a very useful VS Code plugin that is free, simple, and powerful.
The key advantage of Cline is that, in addition to integrating ChatGPT, Claude, and other mainstream AI model APIs, it also supports the recently trending DeepSeek, making coding an incredibly smooth and enjoyable experience.
Of course, AI model APIs are not free, so you’ll need to purchase them yourself.
Without further ado, let me briefly explain the process.
First, you need to have the VS Code software installed and set up with the appropriate programming environment. For example, I use Python.
Next, search for Cline in the VS Code extension marketplace and download/install it directly.
Once installed, you can start using Cline. Select the large model API you want to use, such as DeepSeek, and enter the API key.
Getting the key is straightforward. Each large model has its own website, where you can easily find it.
After selecting DeepSeek, you can configure the corresponding model, such as deepseek-reasoner. Cline will display the model’s capabilities, whether it supports images, the token billing rules, and allow you to customize the system prompt.
You can also configure an MCP server, which provides additional capabilities for Cline, such as accessing a PostgreSQL database, executing specific task tools, and more. These servers run locally and interact with the main application (Cline) through the MCP protocol.
Once you’ve configured the key and other parameters, you’ll see a dialog box—just start your conversational coding right away!
Next, let’s do a simple test and have Cline write a basic GUI calculator program using Python.
Command:
Develop a simple calculator application using Python Tkinter with the following features:
- A standard calculator interface with a clean and visually appealing UI.
- Support for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, square, and square root calculations.
Cline responds very quickly (of course, this depends on the model API speed). It immediately analyzes the requirements and automatically creates a new calculator.py file on the left panel, writing the code without requiring any manual input.
Once the code is complete, Cline prompts you to save and run it.
Result:
In about 10 seconds, a basic calculator program is fully developed. Cline generated 115 lines of code, and the UI looked quite good when executed.
However, when I tried calculating 6 × 8, an error occurred! This indicated that the code had a bug.
This is completely normal, as even the latest AI models are not perfect and often struggle to generate bug-free programs in one go.
Debugging with Cline:
We don’t need to debug manually—just report the issue to Cline, and it will automatically fix the code.
Command:
When using the calculator program, I encountered a calculation error, and it failed to produce the correct result.
Cline analyzes the bug, provides a solution, and then modifies the code accordingly.
After debugging is complete, save and run the code again.
This time, when calculating 6 × 8, the correct answer appears! ✅
The calculator UI looks too plain, so I decided to enhance its design. I wanted it to resemble the iPhone calculator, and all I had to do was give the requirements to Cline—it would modify the code and bring my idea to life!
Command:
Optimize the UI to match the iPhone calculator design:
- Black background, number buttons in gray, and other function buttons in orange.
- All button fonts should be white.
Final Result:
Cline successfully transformed the calculator UI to resemble the iPhone calculator. 🎨✨
Packaging as an Executable (.exe):
Once the script was complete, I could also ask Cline to package it into an .exe file for direct execution on my computer.
Command:
Package this script into an .exe application.
With just a short wait, Cline automatically converted the calculator script into an executable file, turning it into a personal standalone software. 🚀
You can design more advanced and practical features, and Cline can implement them—all you need is clear and specific requirements! 🚀
