Block Types

Models

Models are blocks that let you specify Large Language Models (LLMs) and other deep learning models to be used for various roles in the open-source IDE extension like Chat, Autocomplete, Edit, Embed, Rerank, etc. You can explore available models on the hub.

Continue supports many model providers, including Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama, Amazon Bedrock, Azure, xAI, DeepSeek, and more. Models can have one or more of the following roles depending on its capabilities, including chat, edit, apply, autocomplete, embed, and rerank. Read more about roles here. View models in the YAML Reference for more details.

Context

Context blocks define a context provider which can be referenced in Chat with @ to pull in data from external sources such as files and folders, a URL, Jira or Confluence, and Github issues, among others. Explore context provider blocks on the hub.

Learn more about context providers here, and check out this guide to creating your own custom context provider. The config.yaml spec for context can be found here.

Docs

Docs are blocks that point to documentation sites, which will be indexed locally and then can be referenced as context using @Docs in Chat. Explore docs on the hub.

Learn more in the @Docs deep dive, and view docs in the YAML Reference for more details.

MCP Servers

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a standard way of building and sharing tools for language models. MCP Servers can be defined in mcpServers blocks. Explore MCP Servers on the hub.

Learn more in the Tools deep dive, and view mcpServers in the YAML Reference for more details.

Rules

Rules blocks are instructions that your custom AI code assistant will always keep in mind - the contents of rules are inserted into the system message for all Chat requests. Explore rules on the hub.

Learn more in the rules deep dive, and view rules in the YAML Reference for more details.

Prompts

Prompts blocks are pre-written, reusable prompts that can be referenced at any time during chat. They are especially useful as context for repetitive and/or complex tasks. Explore prompts on the hub.

Prompt blocks have the same syntax as prompt files. There are two important differences between prompt blocks and prompt files:

1. Prompt blocks are stored within config.yaml rather than .continue/prompts in project directory and
2. Prompt blocks only show up as slash commands in Chat, not under the @Prompt Files context provider

The config.yaml spec for prompts can be found here.

Data

Data blocks allow you send your development data to custom destinations of your choice. Development data can be used for a variety of purposes, including analyzing usage, gathering insights, or fine-tuning models. You can read more about development data here. Explore data block examples here.

Data destinations are configured in thedata section of config.yaml.