Continue.dev¶

Multi-editor AI assistant with local-first configuration and autocomplete.

Overview¶

Continue.dev provides:

Multi-editor - VS Code and JetBrains support
Autocomplete - Tab completion with local models
Chat - Inline and panel chat
Local-first - Native Ollama and local API support
Configurable - JSON-based configuration

Installation¶

VS Code¶

Open Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
Search "Continue"
Click Install

JetBrains¶

Open Settings → Plugins
Search "Continue"
Click Install

Via CLI¶

# VS Code
code --install-extension Continue.continue

Configuration¶

Config File Location¶

Platform	Path
macOS	`~/.continue/config.json`
Linux	`~/.continue/config.json`
Windows	`%USERPROFILE%\.continue\config.json`

Basic Configuration¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "DeepSeek Coder",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b"
    }
  ],
  "tabAutocompleteModel": {
    "title": "Autocomplete",
    "provider": "ollama",
    "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b"
  }
}

Full Configuration¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "DeepSeek Coder (Local)",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b",
      "apiBase": "http://localhost:11434"
    },
    {
      "title": "Llama 3.3 70B (Local)",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "llama3.3:70b",
      "apiBase": "http://localhost:11434"
    },
    {
      "title": "Fast Model",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "mistral:7b"
    }
  ],
  "tabAutocompleteModel": {
    "title": "Autocomplete",
    "provider": "ollama",
    "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b"
  },
  "embeddingsProvider": {
    "provider": "ollama",
    "model": "nomic-embed-text"
  },
  "customCommands": [
    {
      "name": "test",
      "description": "Write unit tests",
      "prompt": "Write unit tests for the selected code. Use the project's testing framework."
    }
  ],
  "contextProviders": [
    {
      "name": "code",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "docs",
      "params": {}
    }
  ]
}

Providers¶

Ollama¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "Local Ollama",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b",
      "apiBase": "http://localhost:11434"
    }
  ]
}

OpenAI-Compatible¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "Local llama.cpp",
      "provider": "openai",
      "model": "llama3.3",
      "apiBase": "http://localhost:8080/v1",
      "apiKey": "not-needed"
    }
  ]
}

LM Studio¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "LM Studio",
      "provider": "lmstudio",
      "model": "loaded-model"
    }
  ]
}

Remote Ollama¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "Remote Server",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "llama3.3:70b",
      "apiBase": "https://server.tailnet.ts.net"
    }
  ]
}

Features¶

Tab Autocomplete¶

Enable intelligent code completion:

{
  "tabAutocompleteModel": {
    "provider": "ollama",
    "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b"
  },
  "tabAutocompleteOptions": {
    "debounceDelay": 500,
    "maxPromptTokens": 1024
  }
}

Usage: - Type code - Wait for suggestion - Press Tab to accept

Chat¶

Open chat panel: - Ctrl+L (VS Code) - Click Continue icon in sidebar

Inline Editing¶

Select code and: - Ctrl+I for inline edit - Type instruction - Review and apply

Slash Commands¶

In chat:

Command	Action
`/edit`	Edit selected code
`/comment`	Add comments
`/test`	Generate tests
`/docs`	Generate documentation
`/share`	Share conversation

@ Mentions¶

Reference context:

Mention	Description
`@file`	Include file content
`@folder`	Include folder context
`@codebase`	Search codebase
`@docs`	Include documentation
`@terminal`	Include terminal output

Custom Commands¶

Define Commands¶

{
  "customCommands": [
    {
      "name": "review",
      "description": "Code review",
      "prompt": "Review this code for:\n- Bugs and errors\n- Performance issues\n- Security vulnerabilities\n- Code style"
    },
    {
      "name": "explain",
      "description": "Explain code",
      "prompt": "Explain what this code does in simple terms."
    },
    {
      "name": "optimize",
      "description": "Optimize code",
      "prompt": "Suggest optimizations for this code. Focus on performance and readability."
    }
  ]
}

Use Commands¶

In chat:

/review

/explain

/optimize

Context Providers¶

Built-in Providers¶

{
  "contextProviders": [
    {
      "name": "code",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "docs",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "terminal",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "open",
      "params": {}
    }
  ]
}

Documentation Provider¶

Index project docs:

{
  "contextProviders": [
    {
      "name": "docs",
      "params": {
        "sites": [
          {
            "title": "Project Docs",
            "startUrl": "https://docs.example.com",
            "rootUrl": "https://docs.example.com"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Embeddings¶

Local Embeddings¶

{
  "embeddingsProvider": {
    "provider": "ollama",
    "model": "nomic-embed-text"
  }
}

Codebase Indexing¶

Enable codebase search:

{
  "contextProviders": [
    {
      "name": "codebase",
      "params": {
        "nRetrieve": 10,
        "nFinal": 5
      }
    }
  ]
}

Usage in chat:

@codebase How is authentication implemented?

Model Settings¶

Per-Model Configuration¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "Coding Model",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b",
      "contextLength": 16384,
      "completionOptions": {
        "temperature": 0.3,
        "topP": 0.95,
        "maxTokens": 2048
      },
      "systemMessage": "You are a senior software engineer..."
    }
  ]
}

Template Override¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "Custom Template",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b",
      "template": "deepseek"
    }
  ]
}

Keyboard Shortcuts¶

VS Code¶

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+L`	Open chat
`Ctrl+I`	Inline edit
`Tab`	Accept autocomplete
`Ctrl+Shift+L`	Add to chat
`Ctrl+Shift+R`	Reject all

JetBrains¶

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+J`	Open chat
`Ctrl+Shift+J`	Inline edit
`Tab`	Accept autocomplete

Troubleshooting¶

No Autocomplete¶

# Verify Ollama is running
curl http://localhost:11434/

# Check model is pulled
ollama list

# Verify config
cat ~/.continue/config.json

Chat Not Working¶

Check model configuration
Verify API base URL

Test with curl:

curl http://localhost:11434/v1/chat/completions \
  -d '{"model":"deepseek-coder-v2:16b","messages":[{"role":"user","content":"Hi"}]}'

Slow Performance¶

Use faster model for autocomplete
Reduce context length
Check GPU utilization

Context Issues¶

Use @file to explicitly include files
Check .continueignore for excluded patterns
Reduce codebase index size

.continueignore¶

Create .continueignore in project:

node_modules/
dist/
build/
.git/
*.log
*.min.js

Comparison with Alternatives¶

Feature	Continue	Cline	Aider
Editor	VS Code, JetBrains	VS Code	CLI
Autocomplete	Yes	No	No
Local models	Yes	Yes	Yes
Codebase search	Yes	Limited	Yes
Custom commands	Yes	No	No

Multi-Provider Configuration¶

Configure multiple providers with fallback support.

Local + Cloud Hybrid¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "Local Qwen (Primary)",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "qwen2.5-coder:32b",
      "apiBase": "http://localhost:11434"
    },
    {
      "title": "Claude (Fallback)",
      "provider": "anthropic",
      "model": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
      "apiKey": "${env:ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}"
    },
    {
      "title": "Local Fast (Quick Tasks)",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "codestral:22b"
    }
  ],
  "tabAutocompleteModel": {
    "title": "Local Autocomplete",
    "provider": "ollama",
    "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b"
  }
}

Remote Ollama Server¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "Remote GPU Server",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "qwen2.5-coder:32b",
      "apiBase": "http://gpu-server.tailnet.ts.net:11434"
    }
  ]
}

Multiple Local Providers¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "Ollama - DeepSeek",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b"
    },
    {
      "title": "LM Studio - Llama",
      "provider": "lmstudio",
      "model": "llama-3.3-70b"
    },
    {
      "title": "llama.cpp Server",
      "provider": "openai",
      "model": "codestral",
      "apiBase": "http://localhost:8080/v1",
      "apiKey": "not-needed"
    }
  ]
}

Ollama Integration Examples¶

Basic Ollama Setup¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "DeepSeek Coder",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b",
      "contextLength": 16384,
      "completionOptions": {
        "temperature": 0.2,
        "topP": 0.9,
        "maxTokens": 4096
      }
    }
  ]
}

Model-Specific Settings¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "Qwen Coder (Precise)",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "qwen2.5-coder:32b",
      "completionOptions": {
        "temperature": 0.1,
        "topP": 0.95,
        "frequencyPenalty": 0.1
      },
      "systemMessage": "You are an expert software engineer. Write clean, efficient code."
    },
    {
      "title": "Llama (Creative)",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "llama3.3:70b",
      "completionOptions": {
        "temperature": 0.7,
        "topP": 0.9
      }
    }
  ]
}

Autocomplete with Local Models¶

{
  "tabAutocompleteModel": {
    "title": "Fast Autocomplete",
    "provider": "ollama",
    "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b",
    "completionOptions": {
      "temperature": 0.0,
      "maxTokens": 256
    }
  },
  "tabAutocompleteOptions": {
    "debounceDelay": 300,
    "maxPromptTokens": 1024,
    "multilineCompletions": "always"
  }
}

Custom Slash Commands¶

Define Custom Commands¶

{
  "customCommands": [
    {
      "name": "test",
      "description": "Generate unit tests",
      "prompt": "Write comprehensive unit tests for the selected code. Use the project's testing framework. Include edge cases and error scenarios."
    },
    {
      "name": "review",
      "description": "Code review",
      "prompt": "Review this code for:\n- Bugs and potential errors\n- Performance issues\n- Security vulnerabilities\n- Code style and readability\n- Suggestions for improvement"
    },
    {
      "name": "refactor",
      "description": "Suggest refactoring",
      "prompt": "Analyze this code and suggest refactoring opportunities:\n- Extract methods/functions\n- Reduce complexity\n- Improve naming\n- Apply design patterns where appropriate"
    },
    {
      "name": "docs",
      "description": "Generate documentation",
      "prompt": "Generate comprehensive documentation for this code including:\n- Function/class description\n- Parameters and return values\n- Usage examples\n- Any important notes or caveats"
    },
    {
      "name": "security",
      "description": "Security audit",
      "prompt": "Perform a security audit of this code. Check for:\n- Input validation issues\n- Injection vulnerabilities\n- Authentication/authorization problems\n- Data exposure risks\n- OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities"
    },
    {
      "name": "perf",
      "description": "Performance analysis",
      "prompt": "Analyze this code for performance issues:\n- Time complexity\n- Space complexity\n- Database query optimization\n- Caching opportunities\n- Async/parallel processing potential"
    }
  ]
}

Language-Specific Commands¶

{
  "customCommands": [
    {
      "name": "pytest",
      "description": "Generate pytest tests",
      "prompt": "Generate pytest test cases for this Python code. Use fixtures where appropriate, parametrize test cases, and include both happy path and error scenarios."
    },
    {
      "name": "types",
      "description": "Add TypeScript types",
      "prompt": "Add comprehensive TypeScript types to this code. Use interfaces for objects, enums where appropriate, and generic types when needed."
    },
    {
      "name": "hook",
      "description": "Convert to React hook",
      "prompt": "Convert this logic into a reusable React hook. Follow React hooks best practices, handle cleanup properly, and include TypeScript types."
    }
  ]
}

Context Providers Setup¶

Built-in Providers¶

{
  "contextProviders": [
    {
      "name": "code",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "docs",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "diff",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "terminal",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "problems",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "folder",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "codebase",
      "params": {
        "nRetrieve": 25,
        "nFinal": 10,
        "useReranking": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

Documentation Provider¶

Index external documentation:

{
  "contextProviders": [
    {
      "name": "docs",
      "params": {
        "sites": [
          {
            "title": "React Docs",
            "startUrl": "https://react.dev/reference",
            "rootUrl": "https://react.dev"
          },
          {
            "title": "FastAPI",
            "startUrl": "https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/",
            "rootUrl": "https://fastapi.tiangolo.com"
          },
          {
            "title": "Project Wiki",
            "startUrl": "https://wiki.internal.company.com/project",
            "rootUrl": "https://wiki.internal.company.com"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

Codebase Indexing¶

{
  "embeddingsProvider": {
    "provider": "ollama",
    "model": "nomic-embed-text"
  },
  "contextProviders": [
    {
      "name": "codebase",
      "params": {
        "nRetrieve": 50,
        "nFinal": 10,
        "useReranking": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

Usage in chat:

@codebase How is authentication implemented in this project?

Database Context Provider¶

{
  "contextProviders": [
    {
      "name": "database",
      "params": {
        "connections": [
          {
            "name": "dev-db",
            "connectionString": "postgresql://user:pass@localhost/dev"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

URL Context Provider¶

{
  "contextProviders": [
    {
      "name": "url",
      "params": {}
    }
  ]
}

Usage:

@url https://api.example.com/openapi.json
Generate a TypeScript client from this OpenAPI spec

Advanced Configuration¶

Per-Workspace Config¶

Create .continue/config.json in workspace root:

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "Project Model",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "qwen2.5-coder:32b"
    }
  ],
  "customCommands": [
    {
      "name": "django",
      "description": "Django patterns",
      "prompt": "Follow Django best practices. Use class-based views, proper model design, and Django REST framework patterns."
    }
  ]
}

System Messages¶

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "Senior Engineer",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "qwen2.5-coder:32b",
      "systemMessage": "You are a senior software engineer with expertise in Python, TypeScript, and cloud architecture. You write clean, maintainable code with comprehensive error handling. You always consider security implications and performance optimization."
    }
  ]
}

Proxy Configuration¶

{
  "requestOptions": {
    "proxy": "http://proxy.company.com:8080",
    "timeout": 30000,
    "verifySsl": true
  }
}

Troubleshooting¶

Autocomplete Not Working¶

# Verify Ollama is serving
curl http://localhost:11434/api/tags

# Check model is loaded
ollama ps

# Test generation
curl http://localhost:11434/api/generate -d '{
  "model": "deepseek-coder-v2:16b",
  "prompt": "def hello():"
}'

High Latency¶

Use quantized models (q4_K_M)
Reduce contextLength
Lower maxTokens in completionOptions
Use faster model for autocomplete

Embeddings Not Working¶

# Pull embedding model
ollama pull nomic-embed-text

# Test embeddings
curl http://localhost:11434/api/embeddings -d '{
  "model": "nomic-embed-text",
  "prompt": "test text"
}'

Config Not Loading¶

# Check config location
ls -la ~/.continue/

# Validate JSON
cat ~/.continue/config.json | python -m json.tool

Continue.dev¶

Overview¶

Installation¶

VS Code¶

JetBrains¶

Via CLI¶

Configuration¶

Config File Location¶

Basic Configuration¶

Full Configuration¶

Providers¶

Ollama¶

OpenAI-Compatible¶

LM Studio¶

Remote Ollama¶

Features¶

Tab Autocomplete¶

Chat¶

Inline Editing¶

Slash Commands¶

@ Mentions¶

Custom Commands¶

Define Commands¶

Use Commands¶

Context Providers¶

Built-in Providers¶

Documentation Provider¶

Embeddings¶

Local Embeddings¶

Codebase Indexing¶

Model Settings¶

Per-Model Configuration¶

Template Override¶

Keyboard Shortcuts¶

VS Code¶

JetBrains¶

Troubleshooting¶

No Autocomplete¶

Chat Not Working¶

Slow Performance¶

Context Issues¶

.continueignore¶

Comparison with Alternatives¶

Multi-Provider Configuration¶

Local + Cloud Hybrid¶

Remote Ollama Server¶

Multiple Local Providers¶

Ollama Integration Examples¶

Basic Ollama Setup¶

Model-Specific Settings¶

Autocomplete with Local Models¶

Custom Slash Commands¶

Define Custom Commands¶

Language-Specific Commands¶

Context Providers Setup¶

Built-in Providers¶

Documentation Provider¶

Codebase Indexing¶

Database Context Provider¶

URL Context Provider¶

Advanced Configuration¶

Per-Workspace Config¶

System Messages¶

Proxy Configuration¶

Troubleshooting¶

Autocomplete Not Working¶

High Latency¶

Embeddings Not Working¶

Config Not Loading¶

See Also¶