Cline

Cline is a coding agent for editors such as VS Code and Cursor, with Plan and Act modes, file editing, and terminal command execution. Its Step Plan provider connects the editor to Step models.

Prerequisites

VS Code or Cursor installed. The Python verification example also requires Python 3.
An active Step Plan subscription with available quota and access to the selected model.
An API key from the StepFun platform API keys page.

Install Cline

Find Cline in your editor’s extension marketplace and install it. The extension ID is saoudrizwan.claude-dev.

Configure Step Plan

Select the provider

Open the Cline panel and select API Configuration in settings. On first launch, select Configure your provider.
Select StepFun Step Plan (Global) under API Provider.
Enter your API key and select step-5-preview. Check the remaining connection settings below.

Setting	Value
`API Provider`	`StepFun Step Plan (Global)`
`Base URL`	`https://api.stepfun.ai/step_plan/v1`. Confirm that the preset uses this address.
`API Key`	Your Step API key, without a `Bearer` prefix or leading or trailing spaces. Some versions label this field `OpenAI Compatible API Key`.
`Model ID`	`step-5-preview`

If your version does not include a Step Plan preset, select OpenAI Compatible and enter the same base URL, API key, and model ID. Cline appends /chat/completions, producing /step_plan/v1/chat/completions.

Check model settings

Expand MODEL CONFIGURATION. These settings apply to Step 5 Preview. When using a preset, check its existing values.

Setting	Value	Description
`Supports Images`	Enabled	Allows image input.
`Context Window`	`1000000`	Context window used by the client.
`Max Output Tokens`	`65536`	Leaves room for reasoning and visible output. Avoid setting a very small budget.
`Input / Output Price / 1M`	Default	Used for Cline’s cost estimates; actual usage is determined by the platform.
`Temperature`	Default	No change is needed for this setup.
`Reasoning Effort`	Default, or `High`	Increase when the task needs more reasoning. Step 5 Preview supports `low`, `medium`, and `high`.

When switching models, match the context window and output budget to the selected model. Save the settings and start a new task.

Connect StepSearch MCP

StepSearch provides web_search and web_fetch through the Step Plan endpoint. Add it when you need web searches or page retrieval.

Open MCP Servers in the Cline panel, select Configure, then choose Configure MCP Servers.
Merge the following configuration into cline_mcp_settings.json, preserving other servers. Replace YOUR_STEP_API_KEY with your key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "step-search": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "https://api.stepfun.ai/step_plan/v1/mcp/web_search/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_STEP_API_KEY"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

Save the file. Confirm that step-search is connected and its tool list includes web_search and web_fetch.
Start a new task and ask Cline to use either tool. Inspect the tool call and returned result.

Use Cline’s exact streamableHttp spelling for type. Omitting it selects the legacy SSE transport. With autoApprove: [], approve tool calls when prompted.

The MCP configuration stores the API key in plain text. Keep it in Cline’s user configuration and do not commit or share the key. Anyone with the key may make requests using your permissions and consume quota.

Verify the integration

Test a conversation

Start a new task and enter Reply only with OK. Expected output: OK.

Test tool calls

Create a separate test directory with a README.md containing Cline Step Plan test, then open it in the editor.
Select Act mode in Cline and enter:

Read README.md and create hello.py that prints "Hello, world!".
Run hello.py with an available Python interpreter and report the command and actual output.
Do not change README.md or any other existing files.

Approve the required file operations and commands. Inspect the tool records, confirm that hello.py exists and prints Hello, world!, and check that README.md is unchanged.

Auto-approval is optional. Manual approval is sufficient for this test.

Check saved settings

Restart the editor, confirm that the provider and model selection are retained, and start another short conversation.

Common questions

Q: What if the Step Plan provider is missing?

Update Cline, or select OpenAI Compatible with https://api.stepfun.ai/step_plan/v1, your API key, and step-5-preview or another model available to your account.

Q: What should I check after a Connection error?

Check the base URL, network connection, API key, and model permissions. The base URL ends at /step_plan/v1; do not add Bearer to the API Key field. Use the full error to distinguish authentication, model, and request-parameter failures. A successful model-list request still needs a conversation test.

Q: What should I check after a 401 response?

Confirm that the key is complete, valid, and free of leading or trailing spaces, and belongs to the account for this endpoint. Enter the raw key in the model connection settings. The MCP header instead requires Authorization: Bearer YOUR_STEP_API_KEY.

Q: Why does Cline reply without editing files or running commands?

Select Act mode and open the target project. Check for pending tool approvals and approve the required operations. You do not need to enable all auto-approval options. Start a new task if you have just changed the configuration.

Q: Why is the response empty, truncated, or missing visible text during reasoning?

Reasoning may produce no visible text until it completes. If the request finishes without text, inspect the stop reason, errors, and output budget. A small budget may be exhausted before visible output begins. For Step 5 Preview, check the model settings above before adjusting them based on the error.

Q: Why is step-search or its tool list missing?

Check that the configuration is under mcpServers, type is streamableHttp, disabled is false, and the authorization header contains the Bearer prefix and complete key. Save, reconnect the server, and inspect its connection log.

Integrations

Migration

Text & Reasoning

Requests & Context

Agents & Tools

Vision

Audio

Developer Tools

Examples & Cookbooks

Errors & Troubleshooting

Prerequisites

Install Cline

Configure Step Plan

Select the provider

Check model settings

Connect StepSearch MCP

Verify the integration

Test a conversation

Test tool calls

Check saved settings

Common questions

​Prerequisites

​Install Cline

​Configure Step Plan

​Select the provider

​Check model settings

​Connect StepSearch MCP

​Verify the integration

​Test a conversation

​Test tool calls

​Check saved settings

​Common questions

Prerequisites

Install Cline

Configure Step Plan

Select the provider

Check model settings

Connect StepSearch MCP

Verify the integration

Test a conversation

Test tool calls

Check saved settings

Common questions