Set Up Canopy with VS Code + Continue

Continue is an open-source AI coding assistant for VS Code and JetBrains. It supports MCP servers as context providers. This guide covers adding Canopy to Continue in VS Code.

Prerequisites

Canopy installed and on your PATH (canopy --version returns a version string)
At least one repo indexed (canopy index /path/to/repo)
VS Code installed with the Continue extension (version 0.8.x or later)

If you haven’t installed Canopy yet, see Install Canopy.

Add Canopy to Continue’s config

Continue’s configuration lives at ~/.continue/config.json (user-global) or .continue/config.json in the workspace root (project-local). The project-local file takes precedence when it exists.

Project-local
User-global

Create .continue/config.json in your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "canopy",
      "command": "canopy",
      "args": ["serve", ".", "--watch"]
    }
  ]
}

This file can be committed to the repo so all team members get Canopy automatically.

Edit ~/.continue/config.json to add Canopy to the mcpServers array:

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "canopy",
      "command": "canopy",
      "args": ["serve", "/absolute/path/to/your/repo", "--watch"]
    }
  ]
}

If ~/.continue/config.json doesn’t exist yet, create it with this content. If it already exists (from a prior Continue setup), add Canopy to the existing mcpServers array.

Reload Continue

After editing the config, reload VS Code (Ctrl+Shift+P → “Developer: Reload Window”) or restart VS Code. Continue loads MCP server configs at startup.

Verify the connection

Open the Continue sidebar (click the Continue icon in the VS Code activity bar or press Ctrl+L). Ask:

What MCP tools do you have from canopy?

Expected response lists Canopy’s 21 tools. If Continue is connected to Canopy, you’ll see tools like canopy_prepare, canopy_search, canopy_trace_dependents, and the rest of the catalog.

Test with a structural query:

Use canopy_find_cycles to check if there are any circular dependencies in this repo.

Continue calls canopy_find_cycles and returns any circular dependency chains found.

Using Canopy tools in Continue

Continue’s MCP integration requires you to explicitly ask for tool use in most configurations. Suggested prompts:

“Before we refactor this file, call canopy_prepare on src/payments/index.ts.”
“Use canopy_trace_dependents to find everything that imports utils/format.ts.”
“Run canopy_health_check and summarize the findings.”

Custom slash command (optional)

Add a slash command to Continue’s config for a one-key Canopy prepare:

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "canopy",
      "command": "canopy",
      "args": ["serve", ".", "--watch"]
    }
  ],
  "slashCommands": [
    {
      "name": "prepare",
      "description": "Run canopy_prepare on the current file before editing",
      "prompt": "Call canopy_prepare on {{{ input }}} and summarize: dependents count, health findings, and the GO/CAUTION/STOP assessment."
    }
  ]
}

Use it with /prepare src/payments/index.ts in the Continue input.

Common pitfalls

Continue doesn’t show MCP tools Continue’s MCP support requires version 0.8.x or later. Run “Continue: Check for Updates” in the VS Code command palette and update if needed.

Config file not found Continue looks for ~/.continue/config.json by default. If you’ve configured Continue to use a different config path via VS Code settings, check continue.configFile in your VS Code settings.

PATH issues on VS Code VS Code on macOS may not inherit your terminal’s PATH. Use the absolute path to canopy in the config:

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "canopy",
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/canopy",
      "args": ["serve", ".", "--watch"]
    }
  ]
}