Continue (`continue`)

Set up this tool

Continue is no longer actively maintained. agnostic-ai still writes its rules, skills, and MCP servers under .continue/, plus optional assistant files.

First rule

Install the client using the official setup guide, then open your project in it.

Select continue in agnostic-ai.yaml, then follow First rule to add the shared commit-prefix rule and sync it. With the default paths, it reaches .continue/rules/conventional-commits.md.

Agents become rule content by default. Optional assistant files are standalone configs, not automatically discovered subagents.

For existing files, check what import continue reads before syncing.

Verify

Run agnostic-ai sync --check and inspect .continue/rules/conventional-commits.md for the commit-prefix rule. Open the project in Continue. Find the rule in the rules picker, then ask for a commit subject for a small fix; it should use fix:.

Next, add a skill.

Output

.continue/rules/<name>.md
.continue/skills/<name>/SKILL.md       # one folder per skill, bundled assets included
.continue/mcpServers/<name>.yaml       # one per MCP entry
.continue/assistants/<name>.yaml       # one per agent, only when assistants-dir is set

Native mappings

Field mappings, discovery, and compatibility

Rule activation: a scoped rule matches its scope directory plus its globs or paths, and gets no alwaysApply. A rule with no directory scope keeps globs, alwaysApply, and description. A comma-separated globs string becomes an array, because Continue reads a string as one pattern. x-continue.regex works only without scope. See file-pattern limits for directory rules.
Skills: .continue/skills/<name>/SKILL.md and bundled files are copied unchanged. The IDE extension and cn read this folder and .claude/skills/. Continue requires name and description, and offers the other files on demand (loadMarkdownSkills.ts). It does not merge names across the two folders, so with the claude target each skill shows up twice.
- A skill has only name and description, and every skill is offered to the model, so none can be kept user-only. disable-model-invocation is dropped with a note, and commands are skipped. invokable belongs to prompts, not skills.
MCP: each file is a Continue block (name, version, schema: v1) with the server under an mcpServers: list. A flat single-server file does not load.
- Stdio servers get command/args/env/cwd. Remote servers get type/url/requestOptions, and env (stdio only) is dropped with a sync note.
- type: http becomes type: streamable-http, the only Streamable HTTP value Continue's schema accepts. sse and streamable-http are unchanged. headers moves to requestOptions.headers. import continue reverses both.
- Every transport keeps connectionTimeout (milliseconds). Remote requestOptions keeps timeout, verifySsl, caBundlePath, proxy, clientCertificate, and headers. An explicit native header wins a duplicate key. x-continue overrides each matching top-level option.
- No file is written, with a sync note, for type: ws (Continue has no websocket transport) or for an entry missing command (stdio) or url (remote). Either would make Continue reject the whole file.
Assistants: with outputs.continue.assistants-dir set, each agent also gets <dir>/<name>.yaml with name, version (default 0.0.1), schema: v1, and the body as one prompts: [{name, description, prompt}] entry, per Continue's schema (reference).
- Continue may not scan this directory. Its config docs describe one global ~/.continue/config.yaml and no project-level agent directory.
- Each file is a standalone config.yaml for cn --config <dir>/<name>.yaml or the IDE's config picker. It has no models or rules, so your defaults apply.
- The rule form (.continue/rules/agent-<name>.md) is written either way.

Config keys

Key	Default	Notes
`outputs.continue.rules-dir`	`.continue/rules`	One `.md` per rule and agent.
`outputs.continue.skills-dir`	`.continue/skills`
`outputs.continue.mcp-dir`	`.continue/mcpServers`
`outputs.continue.assistants-dir`	empty	opt-in

Import

agnostic-ai import continue reads .continue/rules/ and sorts each file into a spec kind by filename prefix. Native globs and regex values (strings or arrays, including empty arrays and patterns with commas) are kept under x-continue.

Scope: a subfolder named after a project directory sets the rule's scope. The rule then matches the scope directory plus its patterns. A scoped regex or scoped empty globs array is reported as unsupported. To filter by file only, omit scope and keep the source file outside any folder that sets scope.
Native activation: x-continue.globs and x-continue.regex keep the rule's activation exactly, as long as there is no portable scope. A rule in a subfolder stays in that folder, even when the folder names no project directory. An explicit scope switches to scope plus patterns, with its selector limits.
Skills: from .continue/skills/ with bundled files.
MCP: from .continue/mcpServers/: *.yaml blocks with one server, and .json files (read as JSONC) with an mcpServers map or a single server named after the file. A duplicate or unsafe name fails before any spec is written. Connection options survive import and sync.

MCP import replaces literal env and header values with ${NAME} references and tells you which variables to set. Continue's ${{ secrets.NAME }} comes back as ${NAME}. Sync writes Continue's secret syntax in stdio env and args and in remote url and requestOptions.headers, including x-continue overrides. The IDE reads secrets from a project .env, .continue/.env, or ~/.continue/.env file. The CLI also reads process environment variables. See Continue's secrets guide and secret resolution. Keep those files out of Git.

Skill rules from older versions

Sync removes the .continue/rules/skill-<name>.md files it wrote in older versions. Import still reads a skill-<name>.md rule as a skill.

Protected paths

Not enforced. This target takes no settings specs, so sync reports a spec with a protected block as unsupported. See protected-path alternatives.

Continue (continue)