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Continue (VS Code Extension)

Continue is an open-source AI code assistant for Visual Studio Code. Because it speaks the Model Context Protocol (MCP), Continue can discover and call the tools you publish through MCP Gateway - no plug-in code required.

🧰 Key Features

  • ✨ AI-powered completions, edits & chat
  • 🔌 MCP integration - dynamic tool list pulled from your gateway
  • 🏗 Bring-your-own model - local Ollama, OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.
  • 🧠 Context-aware - reads your workspace to craft better replies

🛠 Installation

  1. Install "Continue": Ctrl ⇧ X → search Continue → Install
  2. Open config: Ctrl ⇧ P → "Continue: Open Config" → edits ~/.continue/config.json

🔗 Connecting Continue to MCP Gateway

There are two ways to attach Continue to a gateway:

Transport When to use Snippet
SSE (HTTP) Remote / SSL / no local process <-- see Option A>
Stdio wrapper Local dev, no SSE, or auth-header issues <-- see Option B>

For both options you still need a JWT or Basic auth if the gateway is protected.

Option A - Direct SSE

// ~/.continue/config.json
{
  "experimental": {
    "modelContextProtocolServer": {
      "transport": {
        "type": "sse",
        "url": "http://localhost:4444/servers/UUID_OF_SERVER_1/sse",
        "headers": {
          "Authorization": "Bearer ${env:MCP_AUTH}"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Generate a token:

export MCP_AUTH=$(python3 -m mcpgateway.utils.create_jwt_token -u admin@example.com --secret my-test-key)

Option B - Local stdio bridge (mcpgateway.wrapper)

  1. Install the wrapper (pipx keeps it isolated):
pipx install --include-deps mcp-contextforge-gateway
  1. Config in Continue:
{
  "experimental": {
    "modelContextProtocolServer": {
      "transport": {
        "type": "stdio",
        "command": "python3",
        "args": ["-m", "mcpgateway.wrapper"],
        "env": {
          "MCP_SERVER_URL": "http://localhost:4444/servers/UUID_OF_SERVER_1",
          "MCP_AUTH": "Bearer ${env:MCP_AUTH}",
          "MCP_TOOL_CALL_TIMEOUT": "120"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

If you prefer Docker:
replace "command": "python3" with "command": "docker" and use the same container arguments shown in the Copilot docs.

🧪 Using Gateway Tools

Once VS Code restarts:

  1. Open Continue Chat (⌥ C on macOS / Alt C on Windows/Linux)
  2. Click Tools - your gateway's tools should appear
  3. Chat naturally:
Run hello_world with name = "Alice"

The wrapper/Gateway executes and streams the JSON result back to Continue.

📝 Tips

  • SSE vs stdio - SSE is simpler in prod, stdio is great for offline or header-free environments.
  • Multiple servers - add more blocks under "servers" if you run staging vs prod.
  • Custom instructions - Continue's Custom Instructions pane lets you steer tool use.

📚 Resources