Developers, Ditch the Black Box: Welcome to Continue

With the rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) as a primary coding assistant, the need for developer transparency and control over these tools has become paramount, leading to the development of Continue, a modular AI software development system. Unlike opaque, closed-source LLMs, Continue offers open-source IDE extensions for VSCode and JetBrains, enabling developers to interact directly with their code without repetitive copy-pasting from services like ChatGPT. It provides powerful context management tools, allowing users to reference files or perform Google searches within the editor, and supports privacy-conscious coding by storing data locally. Continue enhances its utility by using LanceDB for fast codebase retrieval and SQLite for database operations, facilitating ease of customization through slash commands, context sources, system message templates, and tools. This approach ensures that developers can understand and influence the AI's output while maintaining ownership and privacy of their data, ultimately making the AI smarter and more helpful over time.