Continue

Continue is an open-source AI coding assistant shipped as VS Code and JetBrains extensions. It stores each MCP server in its own file under .continue/mcpServers/ rather than merging them into one big config - a small but important detail when you mix multiple servers.

See MCP Client Setup for the cross-client overview.

Config file

Continue picks up every JSON or YAML file dropped into:

.continue/mcpServers/

ctxo init writes a single file: .continue/mcpServers/ctxo.json. To add another MCP server later, drop another file next to it - do not edit ctxo.json to fit two servers in.

The matching rules file is .continue/rules/ctxo.md (the Continue v1 rules system reads every .md under .continue/rules/).

Configuration

.continue/mcpServers/ctxo.json:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ctxo": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ctxo/cli"]
    }
  }
}

This is the same mcpServers schema Cursor / Claude Code use. Continue's docs state explicitly that you can copy JSON config files from those tools straight into .continue/mcpServers/ and they work as-is.

Verify

Reload the Continue extension (VS Code: Continue: Reload from the command palette).
Open the MCP view in the Continue sidebar.
ctxo should appear as a green-status server with 14 tools listed underneath, plus the ctxo://status resource.

Smoke test, asked in the Continue chat:

Read the ctxo://status resource and tell me when the index was last built.

Using Ctxo tools

Continue exposes MCP tools to the agent on every turn. Combined with the ctxo-rules in .continue/rules/ctxo.md, the model gets pushed toward:

Calling get_pr_impact when you ask for a PR review.
Calling get_context_for_task with the right taskType for bugfixes, features, refactors, or understanding.
Preferring search_symbols / get_ranked_context over native file grep.

You can also @-mention tools directly in chat (@ctxo get_blast_radius symbol=...) when you want to force a specific call.

Tips

One file per server. If you already had an .continue/mcpServers/ directory before running ctxo init, your other server files stay untouched. Continue auto-discovers all of them.
YAML works too. Continue accepts .continue/mcpServers/ctxo.yaml with the same shape. Stick with JSON unless you have a strong preference - it matches what every other client uses.
Rules vs MCP config are separate concerns. The MCP file tells Continue which tools exist; the rules file in .continue/rules/ctxo.md tells it when to use them. You need both for the agent to call Ctxo proactively.
Disabled state. To temporarily turn Ctxo off, rename ctxo.json to ctxo.json.disabled (or move it out of the directory). No schema flag - Continue discovers by filename.

Continue ​

Config file ​

Configuration ​

Verify ​

Using Ctxo tools ​

Tips ​

Next steps ​