Continue
⏩ Source-controlled AI checks, enforceable in CI. Powered by the open-source Continue CLI
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What is Continue?
Continue is an open-source AI coding assistant built for VS Code and JetBrains, designed to help developers code faster with intelligent autocomplete, targeted edits, chat-based code help, and agent-driven multi-step tasks. Its core workflow is centered inside the IDE, so you can ask questions, refactor code, generate tests, and make changes without switching contexts.
The product emphasizes flexible coding assistance rather than a single fixed workflow. Autocomplete suggests inline code as you type, Edit mode applies natural-language instructions to selected code, Chat mode answers questions and analyzes code, and Agent mode can read files, modify code, run commands, and handle longer tasks. It also supports project documentation indexing through an @docs context provider so the assistant can use your docs while coding.
Continue is also built for customization. Users can configure models, rules, prompts, slash commands, tools, and even custom MCP servers, and they can manage settings through local YAML, JSON, or TypeScript config files. The docs also describe a GitHub pull request checks product that runs AI review checks on PRs using markdown-defined prompts, extending the platform beyond the editor into code review workflows.
It is aimed at developers and teams who want AI help directly in their coding environment, especially those who care about control, extensibility, and working with their own codebase and documentation. The documentation highlights use cases like refactoring, debugging, documentation lookup, test generation, custom workflows, and PR review automation.
Continue pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
The website describes Continue as open-source and does not present a traditional pricing page for the IDE assistant itself. The documentation focuses on the product being free to use in open-source editor extensions, with configuration and model choice left to the user. The docs also mention a separate check workflow at continue.dev/check for running AI checks on pull requests, but they do not list paid tiers, plan names, or explicit subscription prices on the pages reviewed.
Continue pros
- Open-source editor integrations
- Available for VS Code
- Available for JetBrains
- Inline AI autocomplete
- Natural-language code edits
- Chat inside the IDE
- Agent mode for multi-step tasks
- Can read and modify files
- Can run terminal commands
- Supports code review workflows
- Indexes project documentation
- Local doc embeddings
- Pre-indexed docs for popular tools
- Custom slash commands
- Prompt templates support
- Rules for consistent behavior
- Custom tools via MCP servers
- Configurable with YAML or JSON
- Advanced TypeScript config option
- Workspace-level and user-level config support
Continue cons
- Agent changes still need review
- Docs are not automatically re-indexed
- Some advanced config is probably unnecessary
- Configuration can be spread across multiple file types
- Tool availability depends on mode
- Chat mode has no tools included
- Plan mode is read-only only
- Setup requires installation and sign-in
- Docs indexing is limited to static sites or markdown pages
- Pull request checks require a repo-based workflow
Frequently asked questions about Continue
What is Continue?
Continue is an AI coding assistant that runs inside VS Code and JetBrains. It gives developers autocomplete, edit assistance, chat, and agent mode so they can work on code without leaving the IDE.
What can Autocomplete do?
Autocomplete provides intelligent inline code suggestions as you type. The docs show that it works best when the code has clear function names, comments, or type annotations that give the model context.
How does Edit mode work?
Edit mode lets you highlight a section of code and give natural-language instructions for a targeted change. The docs describe it as useful for refactoring, adding documentation, fixing bugs, and converting between languages or frameworks.
What is Chat mode for?
Chat mode is an interactive assistant inside the IDE that can analyze code, answer questions, and help you think through solutions. It is presented as useful for debugging, code reviews, learning concepts, and brainstorming.
What makes Agent mode different?
Agent mode is the most autonomous mode. According to the docs, it can read files, create and edit files, run terminal commands, and handle complex multi-step tasks while explaining what it is doing.
Does Continue support project documentation?
Yes. The @docs context provider lets you index documentation sites or GitHub markdown pages so the assistant can use that content while you code. The docs say it crawls the site, generates embeddings, stores them locally, and then makes the indexed content available in chat.
Can Continue be customized?
Yes. The documentation says you can customize models, rules, prompts, tools, slash commands, and agent behavior. It also supports custom tools through MCP servers and configuration through local files or the Hub.
How do I configure Continue?
The docs say configuration can be managed from the Continue sidebar and stored locally in files like config.yaml, config.json, .continuerc.json, or config.ts. Saving changes from the IDE refreshes Continue automatically.
Does Continue support code review checks?
Yes. The website describes a workflow where Continue runs AI checks on every pull request using markdown files in .continue/checks/. Each check appears as a GitHub status check and can suggest a fix when something fails.
Does Continue automatically re-index docs?
No. The documentation explicitly says docs are not automatically re-indexed. If you need updated indexing, you can force a re-index with the Continue: Docs Force Re-Index command.