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> Fetch the complete content index at: https://blog.meganova.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Step-by-Step Guide: How to Use MegaNova Free API with Cline in VS Code
- URL: https://blog.meganova.ai/step-by-step-guide-how-to-use-meganova-free-api-with-cline-in-vs-code/
- Published: 2025-10-08T14:25:15.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-16T15:34:29.000Z
- Description: Looking for a seamless way to run AI assistants inside VS Code without paying for expensive APIs or hosting your own server? With MegaNova AI’s free serverless inference, you can power Cline — a lightweight AI coding assistant — using free models like Manta-Mini-1.0 or Free DeepSeek model
- Author: MegaNova AI
- Tags: #Import 2026-07-09 05:42

Looking for a seamless way to run AI assistants inside VS Code without paying for expensive APIs or hosting your own server?

With [**MegaNova AI**](https://www.meganova.ai/?utm%5Fsource=blog&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=blog%5Fmn%5Flaunch&utm%5Fcontent=body%5Flink)’s free serverless inference, you can power **Cline** — a lightweight AI coding assistant — using free models like **Manta-Mini-1.0** or **Free DeepSeek models** in just a few minutes.

This guide will walk you through setup, configuration, and usage so you can have a fully working AI assistant in your IDE.

## What is Cline?

Cline is an open-source AI coding assistant built as a lightweight VS Code extension. Unlike heavy, cloud-tied copilots, Cline runs locally in your editor and connects to any OpenAI-compatible API. That means you can choose your own backend (like MegaNova AI) and power Cline with cutting-edge models for tasks such as code explanation, refactoring, documentation, and project-wide reasoning. It’s fast, flexible, and gives developers full control over which models they use — without being locked into a single provider.

## Step 1: Get Your MegaNova AI API Key

1. Sign up: [www.meganova.ai](https://console.meganova.ai/register?referral=e0602d28&utm%5Fsource=blog&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=blog%5Fmn%5Flaunch&utm%5Fcontent=body%5Flink&ref=blog.meganova.ai)
2. Once logged in, open the **API Keys** page from the dashboard.
3. Copy and save the key (it starts with `sk-`).

![](https://blog.meganova.ai/content/images/2025/10/image-33.png)

👉 You’ll use this key to authenticate your requests in Cline.

## Step 2: Choose a Model & Get the Endpoint

MegaNova AI offers a variety of OpenAI-compatible inference endpoints. For Cline, you can pick:

- **Best general-purpose model:** `meganova-ai/manta-pro-1.0`
- **Lightweight alternative for smaller workloads:** `meganova-ai/manta-flash-1.0`

Now, grab the [endpoint](https://console.meganova.ai/serverless?utm%5Fsource=blog&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=blog%5Fai%5Flaunch&utm%5Fcontent=body%5Flink):

![](https://blog.meganova.ai/content/images/2025/10/image-34.png)

📌 You’ll need two things:

- **Model name:** `meganova-ai/manta-flash-1.0`
- **Endpoint URL:** `https://inference.meganova.ai/v1/chat/completions`

> **Note*: *Free Manta and DeepSeek models* requires adding payment card for verification *(no charge)* or deposit $10 for free access.*

## Step 3: Configure Cline in VS Code

1. Install the [Cline Extension](https://cline.bot/?ref=blog.meganova.ai) from the VS Code Marketplace.

![](https://blog.meganova.ai/content/images/2025/10/image-35.png)

1. Open **Cline** → **Settings** and enter the following:

![](https://blog.meganova.ai/content/images/2025/10/image-36.png)

- **API Provider:** OpenAI Compatible.
- **Base URL:** `https://inference.meganova.ai/v1`
- **Model:** Paste your model name (e.g., `meganova-ai/manta-flash-1.0`).
- **API Key:** Paste your MegaNova AI key from Step 1.

That’s it — your Cline instance is now connected to MegaNova AI.

## Step 4: Test with a Prompt

Open any file in VS Code and try prompts like:

- “Summarize the following Python code”
- “Write a commit message for this change”
- “Explain what this function does”
- “Generate a quick project summary”

![](https://blog.meganova.ai/content/images/2025/10/image-37.png)

Cline will process the request via MegaNova AI’s inference API and generate results directly in your IDE.

## Step 5: Track Your Usage

You can track:

- [**Daily free credits**](https://console.meganova.ai/profile?utm%5Fsource=blog&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=blog%5Fmn%5Flaunch&utm%5Fcontent=body%5Flink) (auto-renew every 24h).

![](https://blog.meganova.ai/content/images/2025/10/image-39.png)

- **Extra usage charges** if you exceed your daily limit.
- **Model performance stats:**

![](https://blog.meganova.ai/content/images/2025/10/image-38.png)

👉 Check your MegaNova AI dashboard to stay on top of credits and usage.

## Why Use MegaNova AI with Cline?

- ✅ **Free Tier Available:** experiment without spending money.
- ✅ **OpenAI-compatible API:** plug-and-play with most dev tools.
- ✅ **Reliable models:** benefit from the powerful Manta models which optimized for coding and reasoning, available in both free and paid formats.
- ✅ **Model Variety:** access not only Manta but also multiple families (reasoning, multimodal, text, image, video and more), giving devs flexibility for different workflows.
- ✅ **No backend setup:** everything runs serverlessly in the cloud.
- ✅ **Developer-Friendly Docs & SDKs:** prebuilt examples, SDKs, and cURL compatibility reduce integration time.
- ✅ **Global Reliability:** designed for low latency & high availability, important for real-time AI assistants inside IDEs.

With this setup, you essentially get a personal coding assistant inside VS Code, powered by scalable AI infrastructure.

## Conclusion

Integrating **Cline** with **MegaNova AI** is one of the simplest ways to bring a powerful AI assistant into your VS Code workflow. With **free Manta APIs**, developers can start experimenting immediately without setup hassles or hidden costs.

Whether you’re summarizing code, generating commit messages, or exploring new project ideas, this setup gives you an efficient, **cost-effective AI** workflow. As your needs grow, MegaNova AI also makes it easy to scale into GPU-backed workloads — ensuring that your AI assistant evolves with you.

### What’s Next?

[**Sign up**](https://console.meganova.ai/register?referral=e0602d28&utm%5Fsource=blog&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=blog%5Fmn%5Flaunch&utm%5Fcontent=body%5Flink&ref=blog.meganova.ai) and explore now.

🔍 **Learn more:** Visit [**our blog**](https://blog.meganova.ai/?utm%5Fsource=blog&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=blog%5Fmn%5Flaunch&utm%5Fcontent=body%5Flink) and [**documents**](https://docs.meganova.ai/?utm%5Fsource=blog&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=blog%5Fmn%5Flaunch&utm%5Fcontent=body%5Flink) for more insights or schedule a demo to optimize your search solutions.

📬 **Get in touch**: Join our [Discord community](https://discord.com/invite/QBTnGurDw4?utm%5Fsource=blog&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=blog%5Fai%5Flaunch&utm%5Fcontent=body%5Flink) for help or [Contact Us](https://www.meganova.ai/contact-us?utm%5Fsource=blog&utm%5Fmedium=referral&utm%5Fcampaign=blog%5Fmn%5Flaunch&utm%5Fcontent=body%5Flink).

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