What Continue is, and the notice you should read first
Continue is an open-source AI coding assistant that runs as a VS Code extension, a JetBrains plugin, and a CLI. For most of its life its pitch was configurability: bring your own model, wire up autocomplete and chat and edit and agent modes, and define the whole thing in a config file rather than accept a vendor’s defaults.
The first thing to know in 2026 is that the project has wound down. The README states plainly, as of 2026-06, that the continuedev/continue repository is no longer actively maintained and is read-only for all users, after a final 2.0.0 release of the VS Code extension, CLI, and JetBrains plugin. That final release pulled out anonymous telemetry and authentication and squashed remaining bugs. So this page is less “here is a tool to adopt” and more “here is what Continue was, what the final build still does, and where to go now.”
The model: autocomplete, chat, edit, agent
What made Continue distinct was that it covered four interaction modes in one extension rather than picking one. Autocomplete offered inline, Copilot-style suggestions as you typed. Chat answered questions in a side panel with your codebase as context. Edit applied a targeted change to a selection. Agent went further and could run commands and tool calls to carry out a multi-step task. You chose the model behind each, which is why teams that wanted to run a local or self-hosted model, instead of a closed cloud assistant, reached for it.
Install
The final 2.0.0 build is still installable. For VS Code, install Continue from the Marketplace (publisher Continue.continue) or from the Open VSX registry. The CLI ships on npm:
npm install -g @continuedev/cliFor JetBrains, the README now recommends using the CLI instead of the JetBrains plugin, which tells you something about where the plugin’s reliability ended up. Configuration lives in ~/.continue/, as either config.json or config.yaml.
Configuration as code
The reason to study Continue even now is its config model. Rather than a settings panel, you declare models, context providers, and tools in a file you can check into version control and share across a team. A models block lists providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama, and others), contextProviders decide what gets pulled into the model’s view (open files, docs, custom sources), and tools register the functions an agent may call. Later versions added named assistants so one config could hold several model-and-tool combinations. If you are designing your own assistant config format, this is a worked example to read.
What “no longer maintained” means for you
A read-only repo with a final release is usable but frozen. New model families released after the final build will not be added, open issues will not be triaged, and security fixes will not arrive. The tracker carried real friction before the freeze that will now stay unfixed: plaintext API keys stored in the config file with no secret management, autocomplete that could slow the editor on large files, flaky terminal commands for the agent in WSL and remote setups, and long-standing requests like Neovim support that were never built.
None of that makes the final build unusable for a controlled, offline-friendly setup today. It does mean you should not start a new long-term dependency on it. If you want an actively developed assistant with the same bring-your-own-model philosophy, the alternatives below are where the work moved.
continue versus the active alternatives
| Continue | cline | Aider | OpenHands | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stars | 33,704 | 63,353 | 46,274 | 77,254 |
| Status | read-only, final 2.0.0 | active, weekly releases | active | active, daily pushes |
| Surface | VS Code, JetBrains, CLI | VS Code, JetBrains, CLI | terminal | Docker app, CLI, cloud |
| Strength | config-as-code, four modes | reviewed edits with checkpoints | git-native commits | sandboxed autonomy |
Counts are from GitHub as of June 2026. cline is the closest active match for an IDE agent with full model choice. Aider is the terminal, git-native option. OpenHands runs the agent in a sandbox for hands-off tasks. All three are under active development, which is the deciding factor if you are choosing today.
The star curve
The star history reflects an early mover. Continue was among the first open-source coding assistants, created in 2023, and accumulated stars steadily through the assistant wave. The curve flattening rather than spiking late is consistent with a project that matured and then wound down rather than one that went viral at the end.
Gotchas that still apply
If you do run the final build, two things are worth setting up around. First, API keys sit in plaintext in your config file, so keep that file out of any shared or committed location and treat it like a secret. Second, the agent’s terminal execution was unreliable outside a plain local shell, so do not rely on it in WSL, remote, or code-server environments. For autocomplete on a large repository, expect some editor lag and consider a lighter model.
Related
For the active IDE agent successor in spirit, see cline. For terminal-first, git-native work, see Aider. For a sandboxed autonomous agent, see OpenHands. Another open-source agent to compare is opencode. For what is climbing now, see LLM tooling, the daily digest, and the weekly report.
FAQ
Is Continue still maintained? No. As of 2026-06 the README states the repository is no longer actively maintained and is read-only, after a final 2.0.0 release. You can still install that build, but no new fixes or model support will arrive.
Can I still install Continue? Yes. The final 2.0.0 VS Code extension, JetBrains plugin, and CLI remain available from the Marketplace, Open VSX, and npm. It just will not be updated.
Continue vs cline, which should I pick today? For new work, cline, because it is actively developed and covers the IDE-agent use case Continue served. Continue is frozen at a final release; cline ships weekly.
Is it safe to store my API key in Continue’s config? The key is stored in plaintext in ~/.continue/config.json, with no built-in secret management. Keep that file private and never commit it.
Does Continue support Neovim? No. Neovim support was the most-requested feature for years and was never built, and the project is now read-only, so it will not be.