99 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
99 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
---
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title: "How to Use Continue CLI (cn)"
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sidebarTitle: "Continue CLI (cn)"
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description: "Learn how to use Continue's command-line interface for context engineering, automated coding tasks, and headless development workflows with customizable models, rules, and tools"
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---
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`cn` is an open-source, modular coding agent for the command line.
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It provides a battle-tested agent loop so you can simply plug in your model, rules, and tools.
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## Quick Start
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<Info>
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Make sure you have [Node.js 18 or higher
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installed](https://nodejs.org/en/download/).
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</Info>
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```bash
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# Install
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npm i -g @continuedev/cli
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# Interactive mode
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cn
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# Headless mode
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cn -p "Generate a conventional commit name for the current git changes"
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```
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## How to Use Continue CLI - Basic Usage
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Out of the box, `cn` comes with tools that let it understand your codebase, edit files, run terminal commands, and more (if you approve). You can ask `cn` to:
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- Fix failing tests
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- Find something in the codebase
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- Execute a refactor
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- Write a new feature
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- And a lot more
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Use '@' to give it file context, or '/' to run slash commands.
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If you want to resume a previous conversation, run `cn --resume`.
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## How to Use Headless Mode (`-p` flag)
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In headless mode, `cn` will only output its final response, making it perfect for Unix Philosophy-style scripting and automation. For example, you could pipe your git diff into `cn` to generate a commit message, and write this to a file:
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```bash
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echo "$(git diff) Generate a conventional commit name for the current git changes" | cn -p > commit-message.txt
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```
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## How to Configure Continue CLI
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`cn` uses [`config.yaml`](/reference), the exact same configuration file as Continue. This means that you can log in to [Continue Mission Control](/mission-control) or use your existing local configuration.
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To switch between configurations, you can use the `/config` slash command in `cn`, or you can start it with the `--config` flag (e.g. `cn --config continuedev/default-cli-config` or `cn --config ~/.continue/config.yaml`).
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### How to Add Custom Models
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Learn how to add custom models [here](/customize/overview). Then, you can use the `/model` slash command to switch between them in `cn`.
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### How to Configure Rules
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`cn` supports [rules](/customize/deep-dives/rules) in the same way as the Continue IDE extensions. You can also use the `--rule` flag to manually include a rule from Mission Control. For example, `cn --rule nate/spanish` will tell `cn` to use [this rule](https://continue.dev/nate/spanish) to always speak in Spanish.
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### How to Configure Tools
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`cn` supports MCP tools, which can be configured in the [same way](/customize/deep-dives/mcp) as with the Continue IDE extensions.
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#### How to Set Tool Permissions
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`cn` includes a tool permission system to make sure you approve of the agent's actions. It will begin with minimal permissions but as you approve tool calls, it will add policies to `~/.continue/permissions.yaml` to remember your preferences.
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If you want to explicitly allow or deny tools for a single session, you can use the command line flags `--allow`, `--ask`, and `--exclude`. For example:
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```bash
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# Always allow the Write tool
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cn --allow Write()
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# Always ask before running curl
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cn --ask Bash(curl*)
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# Never use the Fetch tool
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cn --exclude Fetch
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```
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## API Key Authentication
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For automation in CI or other headless environments, you can use an API key to authenticate with Continue. First, obtain your personal API key [here](https://continue.dev/settings/api-keys). Then, set it as the `CONTINUE_API_KEY` environment variable. You can now use `cn -p` (headless mode) without needing to log in.
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If you wish to run an automation on behalf of your organization you can obtain an organization-scoped API key by going to [your organization's settings](https://continue.dev/settings/organizations) -> API Keys.
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## Troubleshooting
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Run `cn` with the `--verbose` flag to see more detailed logs. These will be output to `~/.continue/logs/cn.log`.
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If you have feedback on the beta, please [leave feedback in the GitHub discussion](https://github.com/continuedev/continue/discussions/7307).
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