Key fact: Continue’s site says Continue has joined Cursor, and that the open-source codebase remains freely available.
How we got it: continue.dev, read 2 October 2026. A GitHub “read-only” badge was not confirmed in that pass.
Checked:
Continue.dev with Local LLMs After the Cursor Acquisition — Still Worth It?
By LLM Hardware team · Methodology ·
Key facts
- Acquisition
- continue.dev says Continue has joined Cursor.
- Repo flag
- Code is described as still available.
- Chat model
- 27–32B Q4 wants 24 GB. 7B autocomplete fits 8 GB.
- Checked
- 2026-10-13
Checked 2026-10-13. Author: LLM Hardware team. This site does not store or show Amazon prices. Check current price on Amazon.
Citeable facts
Key fact: The extension can still target a local model. Hardware tiers match any other IDE assistant: 7B on 8 GB, 27–32B on 24 GB.
How we got it: Same VRAM formula as the Aider guide. docs.continue.dev documents Ollama and LM Studio providers; re-check those pages if a menu name moved.
Checked:
Key fact: This is not the long-term bet if you are choosing a platform to build on. It is a working local copilot you can still install.
How we got it: Editorial judgment from the acquisition notice, not a deprecation date. No deprecation date was on the homepage on 2 October 2026.
Checked:
Methodology — parameter math, quantization bytes, and the source list.
Continue is the open-source IDE copilot for VS Code and JetBrains. On 2 October 2026 the homepage said Continue has joined Cursor, thanked the community, and said the open-source codebase remains freely available. The GitHub project is continuedev/continue. This guide does not claim the repository is archived or read-only; that flag was not visible in the 2 October 2026 fetch. The company that was going to keep shipping a rival IDE agent has joined the company that ships Cursor. Treat new feature work as uncertain.
When it is still worth installing
Install it if you want autocomplete and chat inside the editor, pointed at a model on your machine, and you already live in VS Code or JetBrains. The provider docs to re-read are the Ollama guide and the LM Studio provider. If those URLs move, the intent is the same: Continue is a client. Ollama or LM Studio is the server. The GPU requirement does not change because Cursor bought the project.
Skip it as a foundation if you are about to build a team workflow on top of Continue’s config format. Aider and OpenHands are the local tools to start from in that case. Cursor itself, including Cloud Agents, is the commercial product the acquisition points at. Cloud Agents do not use your GPU.
The same memory tiers as any IDE assistant
Tab-complete wants low latency more than it wants a 70B model. A 7B that stays resident will feel better than a 32B that spills to RAM and stalls the keystroke. Chat-with-the-repo wants the larger model and a short file set. You can configure both, and you should not load both at once on 24 GB.
| Job in the IDE | Model | Q4 formula |
|---|---|---|
| Inline complete | K2-Horizon-7B | 6.2 GB. An 8 GB GPU is enough for the weights. |
| Chat over a few files | Qwen3.8-27B or K2-32B | 18.2 GB or 21.2 GB. 24 GB card. |
| Both at once | Do not add the two footprints | Swap, or buy 48 GB. The calculator is one model at a time. |
This page does not quote tokens per second for Continue. Once the weights fit, bandwidth sets speed, whichever editor extension sends the request.
Hardware, if you are staying local
A 24 GB card is the interesting purchase, not because Continue requires it, but because the chat model does. RTX 4090, catalog ASIN B0BG94PS2F. A Mac mini M5 Pro 24 GB (B0HGGHNQY6) covers the same fit with less noise. If you only want 7B autocomplete, do not buy either. An 8 GB GPU you already own is the whole story.
ASIN B0BG94PS2F. Amazon Associates link. The live price is on that page, not locked in here.
Related guides
Sources
A correction or a hardware question goes to the contact page.