Continue.dev

Unlike cloud-locked AI coding tools that tie users to a single model provider, Continue is built around radical flexibility supporting OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, DeepSeek, Amazon Bedrock, Azure, xAI, local Ollama models, and dozens of other providers, giving developers complete control over which AI powers their coding workflow.

Continue's four core interaction modes address different aspects of the development workflow. Autocomplete delivers real-time, context-aware code suggestions as the developer types completing functions, generating boilerplate, and suggesting next steps based on the surrounding codebase context.

Edit mode allows developers to highlight a code section and describe changes in natural language, with Continue modifying the selected code directly in the editor without requiring copy-paste from a chat interface.

The Chat mode provides a conversational coding assistant embedded directly in the IDE sidebar, where developers can ask questions about their codebase, get architectural guidance, debug complex issues, and request code generation for new features all with context automatically drawn from the open files, active project, and connected documentation.

This tight IDE integration means the AI always understands the actual code context rather than receiving decontextualized code snippets that require extensive background explanation.

Agent mode elevates Continue from a line-level assistant to a task-level autonomous executor capable of handling larger engineering tasks refactoring entire modules, implementing complete features across multiple files, running tests, reading error outputs, and iterating toward working code with minimal human steering.

This agentic capability positions Continue alongside dedicated AI engineering agents while keeping all work grounded in the developer's actual IDE environment and version control workflow.