Continue.dev — AI Coding Tool Guide

Open-source AI code assistant. Local model support, custom slash commands, configuration, and integration with Ollama, LM Studio, and cloud APIs.

continuedevopen-sourcelocal-modelsollamavscode

Continue.dev

Continue.dev is the leading open-source AI code assistant. It's a VS Code/JetBrains extension that connects to any model — local (Ollama, LM Studio) or cloud (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini).

What Makes Continue.dev Different

  • Fully open-source — MIT license, inspect/modify everything
  • Local models — Use Ollama or LM Studio for offline coding
  • Custom slash commands — Create project-specific AI workflows
  • Model flexibility — Switch between local and cloud models in the same session

Getting Started

Install from continue.dev, then configure ~/.continue/config.json:

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "Claude Sonnet 4",
      "provider": "anthropic",
      "model": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514",
      "apiKey": "${ANTHROPIC_API_KEY}"
    },
    {
      "title": "Llama 4 (Local)",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "model": "llama4"
    }
  ],
  "tabAutocompleteModel": {
    "title": "Starcoder2",
    "provider": "ollama",
    "model": "starcoder2:3b"
  }
}

Custom Slash Commands

~/.continue/config.ts:

export function modifyConfig(config: Config): Config {
  config.slashCommands = [
    {
      name: "review",
      description: "Code review with project standards",
      prompt: `Review this code against our standards:
      - TypeScript strict mode, no any types
      - Server components unless interactivity needed
      - Error boundaries on route segments
      Return a list of violations and suggested fixes.`
    },
    {
      name: "explain",
      description: "Explain selected code",
      prompt: "Explain this code at a senior engineer level. Cover: architecture decisions, patterns used, potential issues."
    }
  ];
  return config;
}

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