Continue

Overview

Integrate CodeAlive with Continue - the first client to offer full support for all MCP features (Resources, Prompts, Tools, and Sampling). Continue is an open-source platform that lets you build custom AI code agents with any model, without vendor lock-in.

Quick install: Run npx @codealive/installer to automatically configure CodeAlive for Continue. See the Installation Guide for details.

Prerequisites

Continue extension installed in VS Code or JetBrains IDE
CodeAlive account with API key (Sign up here)
Indexed repositories in your CodeAlive dashboard

Configuring Continue with CodeAlive

Install Continue

Follow the installation steps above for your IDE

Open Continue Config

Access Continue configuration:VS Code:

Click Continue icon in sidebar
Click gear icon → “Open config.json”

JetBrains:

Open Continue panel
Settings → Configuration

Add CodeAlive MCP

Continue has full MCP support. Create or edit ~/.continue/config.yaml:

mcpServers:
  - name: CodeAlive
    type: streamable-http
    url: https://mcp.codealive.ai/api
    requestOptions:
      headers:
        Authorization: "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"

Replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with your actual CodeAlive API key.

Continue maps MCP features to its existing capabilities:

Resources → Context sources
Prompts → Slash commands
Tools → Tool integrations
Sampling → Model configurations

Restart IDE

Restart your IDE to load the new configuration

Verify Integration

Type @codealive in Continue chat to test:

“@codealive what repositories are available?”
“@codealive find authentication code”

Configuration Options

Docker Setup (STDIO)

For local deployment or enhanced privacy:

mcpServers:
  - name: CodeAlive
    type: stdio
    command: docker
    args:
      - run
      - --rm
      - -i
      - -e
      - CODEALIVE_API_KEY=YOUR_API_KEY_HERE
      - ghcr.io/codealive-ai/codealive-mcp:main

Usage Patterns

Context Provider
Slash Commands
Auto-Context

Use @codealive to add context to your prompts:

@codealive find the user authentication flow
Then explain how to add OAuth support

Create custom slash commands:

{
  "slashCommands": [
    {
      "name": "search",
      "description": "Search codebase with CodeAlive",
      "run": "@codealive search for {{{input}}}"
    },
    {
      "name": "explain",
      "description": "Explain code with context",
      "run": "@codealive explain {{{input}}}"
    }
  ]
}

Automatically include CodeAlive context:

{
  "contextProviders": [
    {
      "name": "codealive",
      "provider": "mcp",
      "autoInclude": true,
      "config": {
        "serverUrl": "https://mcp.codealive.ai/api",
        "headers": {
          "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Advanced Features

Custom Models with CodeAlive

Configure Continue to use CodeAlive with different models:

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "GPT-4 with CodeAlive",
      "model": "gpt-4",
      "provider": "openai",
      "contextProviders": ["codealive"]
    },
    {
      "title": "Claude with CodeAlive",
      "model": "claude-3-opus",
      "provider": "anthropic",
      "contextProviders": ["codealive"]
    },
    {
      "title": "Local Ollama with CodeAlive",
      "model": "codellama",
      "provider": "ollama",
      "contextProviders": ["codealive"]
    }
  ]
}

Repository Filtering

Limit CodeAlive searches to specific repositories:

{
  "contextProviders": [
    {
      "name": "codealive-backend",
      "provider": "mcp",
      "config": {
        "serverUrl": "https://mcp.codealive.ai/api",
        "headers": {
          "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
        },
        "filters": {
          "repositories": ["backend", "api"]
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Custom Prompts

Create templates that leverage CodeAlive:

{
  "customPrompts": [
    {
      "name": "Code Review",
      "prompt": "@codealive find similar code to:\n\n{{{input}}}\n\nReview for best practices and suggest improvements"
    },
    {
      "name": "Test Generation",
      "prompt": "@codealive analyze:\n\n{{{input}}}\n\nGenerate comprehensive unit tests"
    }
  ]
}

IDE-Specific Setup

VS Code

Additional VS Code settings:

{
  "continue.telemetry": false,
  "continue.enableTabAutocomplete": true,
  "continue.contextProviders.codealive.enabled": true
}

JetBrains

JetBrains-specific configuration:

{
  "jetbrains": {
    "enabled": true,
    "port": 65432
  },
  "mcpServers": {
    "codealive": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.codealive.ai/api",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Vim/Neovim

For Neovim with Continue:

-- In your Neovim config
require('continue').setup({
  mcp_servers = {
    codealive = {
      type = 'http',
      url = 'https://mcp.codealive.ai/api',
      headers = {
        Authorization = 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY'
      }
    }
  }
})

Troubleshooting

@codealive not recognized

Solutions:

Check config.json syntax is valid
Restart IDE completely
Verify contextProviders section exists
Check Continue logs for errors

No context returned

Solutions:

Verify API key is valid
Check repositories are indexed
Test MCP server URL directly
Review Continue debug output

Slow performance

Solutions:

Use more specific queries
Limit repository scope
Consider Docker deployment
Check network latency

For more solutions, see the Troubleshooting Guide.

Best Practices

Context Usage

Use @codealive for large context needs, reducing token usage

Model Selection

Pair faster models with CodeAlive for better performance

Caching

Enable Continue’s cache for repeated queries

Privacy

Use Docker or self-hosted for sensitive code

Instruct Your Agent

Connecting CodeAlive makes its tools available, but the agent may still default to its built-in search. For reliable results, add a short instruction in the agent’s native format telling it to prefer semantic_search and grep_search when exploring indexed code. See Instructing Coding Agents.

Getting Started

Features

Model Context Protocol

Agent Skills & Plugins

Instructing Agents

Overview

Prerequisites

Configuring Continue with CodeAlive

Configuration Options

Docker Setup (STDIO)

Usage Patterns

Advanced Features

Custom Models with CodeAlive

Repository Filtering

Custom Prompts

IDE-Specific Setup

Troubleshooting

Best Practices

Context Usage

Model Selection

Caching

Privacy

Instruct Your Agent

​Overview

​Prerequisites

​Configuring Continue with CodeAlive

​Configuration Options

​Docker Setup (STDIO)

​Usage Patterns

​Advanced Features

​Custom Models with CodeAlive

​Repository Filtering

​Custom Prompts

​IDE-Specific Setup

​Troubleshooting

​Best Practices

Context Usage

Model Selection

Caching

Privacy

​Related Resources

​Instruct Your Agent

Overview

Prerequisites

Configuring Continue with CodeAlive

Configuration Options

Docker Setup (STDIO)

Usage Patterns

Advanced Features

Custom Models with CodeAlive

Repository Filtering

Custom Prompts

IDE-Specific Setup

Troubleshooting

Best Practices

Related Resources

Instruct Your Agent