# Continue VS Code Extension

This is the Continue VS Code Extension. Its primary jobs are

1. Implement the IDE side of the Continue IDE protocol, allowing a Continue server to interact natively in an IDE. This happens in `src/continueIdeClient.ts`.
2. Open the Continue React app in a side panel. The React app's source code lives in the `react-app` directory. The panel is opened by the `continue.openContinueGUI` command, as defined in `src/commands.ts`.
3. Run a Continue server in the background, which connects to both the IDE protocol and the React app. The server is launched in `src/activation/environmentSetup.ts` by calling Python code that lives in `server/` (unless extension settings define a server URL other than localhost:65432, in which case the extension will just connect to that).

## Setting up for development

1. Clone this repo
2. `cd extension`
3. `npm run package`

   > If NPM is not installed, you can use `brew install node` on Mac, or see the [installation page](https://docs.npmjs.com/downloading-and-installing-node-js-and-npm) for other platforms, or more detailed instructions.

4. Open a VS Code window with `/extension` as the workspace root (_this is important, development mode will not work otherwise_)
5. Open any `.ts` file in the workspace, then press F5 and select "VS Code Extension Development" to begin debugging.

## Notes

- We require vscode engine `^1.67.0` and use `@types/vscode` version `1.67.0` because this is the earliest version that doesn't break any of the APIs we are using. If you go back to `1.66.0`, then it will break `vscode.window.tabGroups`.