Continue CLI Guide

Continue’s cn terminal agent for interactive coding and headless workflows.

Last verified: 2026-09-22 · How we verify

Coding agentContinuemacOSWindowsLinux

Suitable workflows

Developers connecting Continue configurations to terminal work and CI scripts.

Headless mode excludes tools that require approval unless you explicitly allow them.

Agent workflowCLI surfaceMCPBring your own key

This is an evidence-based shortlist, not an exhaustive feature inventory. Omitted capabilities have not been checked for this record.

See official pricing

Account configuration or model-provider usage. The cost of metered usage or an external agent can be separate from the subscription.

Continue-configured models or a directly supplied Anthropic API key.

Verified families: Claude.

The shell installer bundles its runtime; the npm installation path requires Node.js 20+.

Installation command · macOS / Linux

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/continuedev/continue/main/extensions/cli/scripts/install.sh | bash

Open your project folder in a terminal, then run:

cn

Use cn login for a Continue account, or configure the supported direct API-key path.

Set allow, ask and exclude policies in ~/.continue/permissions.yaml; avoid granting every tool for routine automation.

Start with a read-only project summary, then grant only the tools needed for a focused change.

This example asks for a project summary. Tool permissions still apply; a prompt is not a sandbox.

cn -p "Summarize the project structure without modifying files." --readonly

Cline’s terminal agent for interactive work, headless tasks and configurable providers.

Anthropic’s coding agent for terminal and editor workflows.

An open-source coding agent with a terminal UI and configurable model providers.

Open a small, familiar project and confirm that your essential language tooling works.
Give the agent one bounded change with an observable acceptance criterion.
Review the diff, run the project’s checks and compare the result with your current workflow.
Inspect usage after the task. Estimate a month of similar work, including any separate model or agent bill.