Getting Started with Continue.dev and SOTA AI Agent

Eric

Introduction to Continue.dev

Continue.dev is a powerful AI coding assistant that integrates directly into your IDE. It helps developers write better code faster by providing intelligent suggestions, debugging help, and automated refactoring.

Continue.dev IDE integration screenshot

Continue.dev IDE integration screenshot2

Installation Guide

  1. Install Continue.dev extension:

    • Available for VS Code, JetBrains IDEs (PhpStorm, WebStorm, etc.)
    • Install from your IDE’s marketplace or Continue.dev website

  2. Configure your AI providers:

    • Continue.dev supports multiple AI backends
    • We recommend using our pre-configured SOTA AI agent

Using the SOTA AI Agent

Our pre-configured agent combines:

  • Chat: OpenAI o3 Alternative (cost-effective, o3 Alternative)
  • Apply: Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B (powerful for code generation)
  • Other roles like edit, autocomplete, etc.: Choose your preferred options

To use it:

  1. Get a Free Continue.dev account: https://hub.continue.dev/
  2. Visit SOTA AI Agent on Continue.dev Hub
  3. Click “Install Agent”

API Key Setup

For full functionality, set these environment variables:

# In your shell configuration or .env file
export SOTA_AI_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY="your_openrouter_key_here"

For hosted agents, configure your secrets at:
Continue.dev Secrets Manager

API key configuration screenshot

Key Features

  1. Smart Code Completion:

    • Context-aware suggestions
    • Multi-line completions

  2. Interactive Chat:

    • Ask coding questions
    • Get explanations for complex code

  3. Code Refactoring:

    • Automated improvements
    • Style consistency

Troubleshooting: Encoding Issues

Some users report garbled text or apply functionality errors. The solution is ensuring UTF-8 encoding:

1. Update Continue.dev

  • Ensure you’re running the latest version
  • Check for updates in your IDE’s plugin manager

2. Configure IDE Encoding (PhpStorm example)

  1. Go to File > Settings > Editor > File Encodings

  2. Set:

    • Global Encoding: UTF-8
    • Project Encoding: UTF-8
    • Default encoding for properties files: UTF-8

  3. Check “Transparent native-to-ascii conversion”

    Encoding settings screenshot

  4. Force PhpStorm to use UTF-8:

    • Close PhpStorm and navigate to the bin folder in its installation directory
    • Edit phpstorm64.vmoptions (or phpstorm.vmoptions)
    • Add this line at the end of the file: 
      -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8
    • Save the file and restart PhpStorm

3. System Locale Settings

  • Linux:

    sudo apt-get install locales
sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales  # Select en_US.UTF-8 or zh_CN.UTF-8

  • Windows (Chinese version example):

    • Control Panel > Region > Administrative > Change system locale
    • Check “Beta: Use Unicode UTF-8”

Encoding settings screenshot

Conclusion

The SOTA AI agent for Continue.dev offers a cost-effective way to boost your productivity. With proper setup (including UTF-8 encoding), you’ll get smooth AI-assisted coding experience.

Try it today and experience the difference!

Get Started with SOTA AI Agent

GET SOTA-AI KEY

GET OPENROUTER KEY