Continue is an open-source AI coding assistant for VS Code and JetBrains IDEs that gives developers flexible, privacy-respecting AI assistance without locking them into a single provider. Unlike GitHub Copilot or Cursor, Continue lets users connect any AI model — Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini, Llama, or locally-hosted models via Ollama — through a single unified interface. The extension supports four core interaction modes: Chat for conversational codebase Q&A, Autocomplete for inline code suggestions, Edit for natural-language file modifications, and Agent mode for multi-step autonomous tasks. Continue Hub provides a centralized platform where teams can share custom AI agents, configuration blocks, and prompt templates. Enterprise plans include a managed proxy layer that lets team members use API keys without ever seeing them, centralized allow/block lists for governance, and full local self-hosting options for air-gapped environments. The 2026 version introduced source-controlled AI checks that run on every pull request — developers define checks in Markdown files, and Continue enforces them as GitHub status checks with suggested fixes. With over 30,000 GitHub stars and an active open-source community, Continue has become a leading choice for developers who want powerful AI coding assistance with full model flexibility and data control.