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What is MCP

MCP stands for “Model Context Provider” and it is a tool that gives the AI useful information from outside its knowledge - like allowing it to browse the web - so it can respond in a smarter, more helpful way.

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<aside> ☝

Next to MCP, Continue has other built-in context providers, like docs, discord, codebase, and more. In this page you can see instructions how to set up and use a MCP server, and the Docs context provider. To get more information about all of the context providers, visit https://docs.continue.dev/customize/custom-providers#built-in-context-providers

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Table of Contents

MCP

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To set up the MCP server with Continue.ai, you have to have the Continue VSCode extension installed. If you haven’t yet, follow the instructions here: Continue VS Code Integration

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Prerequisites

1. You have to have Node.js installed on your computer.

   Download and install Node.js from this site: https://nodejs.org/en/download

   Important: During the installation, check the box that asks if additional libraries should be installed

2. You have to have a “Agent”-mode ready model set up, e.g. “gpt-4o” from openai (NOT azure)

Setup in VSCode

Global Setup (in the config file)

To set up the MCP Server globally, you need to access the config file. This is the same config file where you add new models. To access it click on the model selection in the chat, then add new model and lastly on “config file”

In the config file, add the following entry:

mcpServers:
  - name: Browser search
    command: npx
    args:
      - "@playwright/mcp@latest"

This allows the model to browse the web, when prompted to do so.

Full example configuration:

name: Local Assistant
version: 1.0.0
schema: v1
models: 
  - name: OpenAI 4o
    provider: openai
    model: gpt-4o
    apiBase: "<https://litellm.sph-prod.ethz.ch/v1>"
    apiKey: [yourKey]
    roles: 
      - chat
      - edit
      
  - name: Claude 3.5 Sonnet
    provider: anthropic
    model: claude-3-5-sonnet
    apiBase: <https://litellm.sph-prod.ethz.ch/v1>
    apiKey: [yourKey]
    roles:
      - apply
  
  - name: azure_ai/cohere-rerank-v3-english
    provider: openai
    model: azure_ai/cohere-rerank-v3-english
    apiBase: "<https://litellm.sph-prod.ethz.ch/v1>" 
    apiKey: [yourKey]
    roles: 
      - rerank

####################################
# <---- Here is the new entry -----> 
mcpServers:
  - name: Browser search
    command: npx
    args:
      - "@playwright/mcp@latest"
# <-------------------------------->
####################################

# Information about this below
docs:
  - name: Continue Docs
    startUrl: <https://docs.continue.dev>

context:
  - provider: code
  - provider: docs
  - provider: diff
  - provider: terminal
  - provider: problems
  - provider: folder
  - provider: codebase