What is it?
Continue.dev is an open-source AI code assistant that brings an extensible GitHub Copilot-style UX to VS Code and JetBrains. Essentially, it’s an LLM interface that connects your preferred model to your IDE, and gives you tooling to utilize that LLM via agents or context-based chat.
Continue.dev agent in VS Code editing files
What can I use it for?
We appreciate that Continue has all the perks of GitHub Copilot but with more flexibility/extensibility, and being entirely OSS. There are a few different “modes” that it has, and its performance varies strongly on which LLM you plug in.
- Code completion: Finish your functions/API calls with the correct syntax + logic
- Codebase chat: Ask questions about your code and get info/feedback customized to your particular setup
- Refactoring assistance: Get suggestions for improving code structure and patterns
- Debugging: Puzzle out bugs step-by-step in chat or agent mode
- Documentation: Automate doc generation with the context of a new feature
- Custom model integration: Use different AI models for different results
What we like about it
We like how customizable Continue is. It adapts to natural dev workflows and can be used in different ways for different development styles. If you like Copilot, you’ll probably find Continue has a better UX and is more intuitive.
Our biggest feedback to potential users: since Continue uses your existing LLM subscription, you’ll want to research how to best utilize that LLM for your desired dev tasks. The output quality depends heavily on which model you choose to use, so you’ll want to understand your LLM and prompt accordingly.
Continue.dev chat mode with refactoring suggestions based on current context
