Continue.dev
dev is an open-source AI coding assistant that plugs into editors like VS Code and JetBrains IDEs, letting developers connect any language model — cloud or self-hosted — for chat, autocomplete, and agentic code editing.
Definition
Continue.dev is an open-source AI coding assistant that plugs into editors like VS Code and JetBrains IDEs, letting developers connect any language model — cloud or self-hosted — for chat, autocomplete, and agentic code editing.
Overview
Continue.dev differentiates itself from proprietary AI coding tools by being open source and model-agnostic: rather than shipping with a single fixed model, it lets developers configure which large language model powers each feature, whether that's a hosted API from Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google, or a self-hosted open-weight model served through Ollama or a similar local inference server. This matters for teams with data-privacy requirements, cost constraints, or a preference for open-weight models, since Continue can be pointed entirely at infrastructure the organization controls. The extension provides the now-standard set of AI coding features — inline autocomplete, a chat sidebar for asking questions about the codebase, and "edit" or "agent" modes for making targeted or multi-file changes — built on top of a configurable context system that can pull in open files, retrieved documentation, terminal output, or custom context providers defined via its configuration file. Because Continue is open source, its context-retrieval and prompting logic is inspectable and extensible, and developers or organizations can build custom context providers, slash commands, or tools tailored to their own codebase and workflows. Continue.dev is often positioned as the open-source, customizable alternative to closed tools like GitHub Copilot or Cursor, appealing particularly to engineering teams that want to standardize on a specific model provider, run assistants against private/on-prem model deployments, or avoid vendor lock-in on the underlying AI model powering their coding assistant.
Key Features
- Open-source VS Code and JetBrains extension for AI-assisted coding
- Model-agnostic — supports Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and self-hosted/local models
- Inline autocomplete, chat sidebar, and agentic multi-file edit modes
- Configurable via a JSON/YAML config file for models, context providers, and commands
- Extensible context system for pulling in docs, terminal output, or custom sources
- Can be pointed entirely at self-hosted or on-prem model infrastructure
- Community-driven development with public roadmap and plugin ecosystem
- No vendor lock-in to a single model provider
Use Cases
Alternatives
History
Continue is an open-source AI code assistant for Visual Studio Code and JetBrains IDEs, offering autocomplete, chat, and inline editing backed by large language models. It is developed by Continue Dev, Inc., a San Francisco company founded in June 2023 by Ty Dunn and Nate Sesti, which went through Y Combinator's Summer 2023 batch. Released under the Apache 2.0 license, Continue's distinguishing feature is model and provider flexibility: developers choose which models to use and where they run, from cloud providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google to locally hosted models via Ollama, LM Studio, and llama.cpp. It became one of the most widely adopted open-source alternatives to GitHub Copilot and Cursor.
Sources
- Continue — official documentation · as of 2026-07-17
- Continue on GitHub — continuedev/continue · as of 2026-07-17