Continue · Independent

Continue

Continue is a free, open-source add-on that puts an AI coding assistant inside the app where you write code. It works in VS Code (Microsoft's free code editor) and in JetBrains apps such as IntelliJ and PyCharm (paid editors popular with professional programmers). Point it at a local model through Ollama and it can chat about your code, edit files, and fill in lines as you type, without sending your code to the cloud.

✓ Last verified October 15, 2026 from official sources

Pricing

Free and open source (Apache 2.0). With local models through Ollama there is no usage fee.

Best for

People who write code and want the AI to stay on their computer
Anyone who wants local tab autocomplete (VS Code chat with a local model does not fill in lines as you type)

Privacy · Skill

With Ollama, your code and prompts stay on your machine. Skill level: Intermediate.

What it's great at

Private chat and edits on your code, with the model running on your machine through Ollama
Local tab autocomplete as you type (something VS Code chat with a local model does not do)
Working offline after you download a model

What it can do

Chat, edit and agent modes inside your editor
Tab autocomplete with a small local model such as qwen2.5-coder:1.5b
Autodetects models you already have in Ollama
Works offline once the model is downloaded

Example tasks to try

Highlight a function and ask: "Add error handling and a unit test."
Start typing a function name and let autocomplete finish the line.

Start in 5 minutes

Install Ollama from ollama.com/download (needs about 8GB of RAM; 16GB+ is more comfortable) and start it
In a terminal, download a small coding model for autocomplete: "ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:1.5b"
CommandPaste this into Terminal (Mac) or PowerShell (Windows).
```
ollama pull qwen2.5-coder:1.5b
```
In VS Code, open Extensions, search "Continue", and install the Continue extension
Open the Continue panel, open the model dropdown, and pick Autodetect so it uses your Ollama models
Optional: pull a larger chat model, for example "ollama pull mistral:latest", then select it for Chat
CommandPaste this into Terminal (Mac) or PowerShell (Windows).
```
ollama pull mistral:latest
```

Go to Continue's official page →

Watch out for

If you see "model requires more system memory", pull a smaller model or raise your machine's available RAM. Continue's Ollama guide asks for at least 8GB of RAM and 10GB of free disk space.

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Local AI agents guide (VS Code, OpenClaw, Hermes)

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Official sources

Prices change often. Confirm on the vendor's page before you buy. We're independent, and no vendor pays for placement.