Cline v3.28: Free Grok Extended, GPT-5 Optimized

TL;DR

• xAI extended free access to grok-code-fast-1 indefinitely (was supposed to end today)
• Cline optimized GPT-5 prompts for multi-step coding tasks and tool-calling accuracy
• Update now for free Grok access plus new integrations (Dify.ai, DeepSeek-V3.1 on SambaNova, Ollama custom prompts)

What Dropped

Cline v3.28 arrives with extended free access to xAI's grok-code-fast-1 model—originally scheduled to end today, but xAI just extended it with no announced end date. The release also includes GPT-5 prompt optimization and a handful of quality-of-life improvements across the IDE.

The Dev Angle

Free Grok access is the headline. The model was built specifically for agentic coding and handles diff edits, terminal operations, and file manipulation without requiring verbose prompts. Speed matters here—you iterate faster because the model understands context-heavy commands natively.

On the paid side, GPT-5 optimization is worth attention if you're running longer coding sessions. Cline's team fine-tuned the prompt specifically for how GPT-5 handles multi-step tasks and tool-calling accuracy. At $1.25/$10 per 1M tokens (versus $3/$15 for Claude Sonnet 4), the math works if you're doing heavy lifting.

New integrations expand your options: Dify.ai, DeepSeek-V3.1 via SambaNova, and Ollama custom prompt support. The `/deep-planning` command now works properly on Windows/PowerShell, and real-time task history syncs across all Cline instances—useful if you're juggling multiple projects.

Should You Care?

If you've been hesitant to try Cline because of model costs, Grok's free tier removes that friction. The model performs consistently on diff edits and understands coding workflows without hand-holding.

If you're already on GPT-5, the optimization is a direct improvement—better context retention and more reliable instruction-following on complex tasks. Choosing the right LLM for Cline depends on your task type, but GPT-5's pricing and performance now make it competitive for sustained coding sessions.

The smaller updates (ESC key cancellation, API provider search, Windows support) are polish—they won't change your workflow, but they remove friction points that probably annoyed you.

Update via your package manager or Cline's built-in updater to access extended Grok and GPT-5 improvements immediately.

Source: Cline