Chat Role
Chat model role
A "chat model" is an LLM that is trained to respond in a conversational format. Because they should be able to answer general questions and generate complex code, the best chat models are typically large, often 405B+ parameters.
In Continue, these models are used for normal Chat. The selected chat model will also be used for Edit and Apply if no
edit or apply models are specified, respectively.Recommended Chat models
| Model role | Best open models | Best closed models | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chat Edit | Closed and open models have similar performance |
Best overall experience
For the best overall Chat experience, you will want to use a 400B+ parameter model or one of the frontier models.
Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 4 from Anthropic
Our current top recommendations are Claude Opus 4.6 and Claude Sonnet 4 from Anthropic.
name: My Config
version: 0.0.1
schema: v1
models:
- name: Claude Opus 4.6
provider: anthropic
model: claude-opus-4-6
apiKey: <YOUR_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY>
Gemma from Google DeepMind
If you prefer to use an open-weight model, then the Gemma family of Models from Google DeepMind is a good choice. You will need to decide if you use it through a SaaS model provider, e.g. Together, or self-host it, e.g. Ollama.
name: My Config
version: 0.0.1
schema: v1
models:
- name: "Gemma 4"
provider: "ollama"
model: "gemma4"
GPT-5.1 from OpenAI
If you prefer to use a model from OpenAI, then we recommend GPT-5.1.
name: My Config
version: 0.0.1
schema: v1
models:
- name: GPT-5.1
provider: openai
model: gpt-5.1
apiKey: <YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY>
Grok-4 from xAI
If you prefer to use a model from xAI, then we recommend Grok-4.
name: My Config
version: 0.0.1
schema: v1
models:
- name: Grok-4.1
provider: xAI
model: grok-4-1-fast-non-reasoning
apiKey: <YOUR_XAI_API_KEY>
Gemini 3.1 Pro from Google
If you prefer to use a model from Google, then we recommend Gemini 3.1 Pro.
name: My Config
version: 0.0.1
schema: v1
models:
- name: Gemini 3.1 Pro
provider: gemini
model: gemini-3.1-pro-preview
apiKey: <YOUR_GEMINI_API_KEY>
Local, Offline Experience
For the best local, offline Chat experience, you will want to use a model that is large but fast enough on your machine.
Llama 3.1 8B
If your local machine can run an 8B parameter model, then we recommend running Llama 3.1 8B on your machine (e.g. using Ollama or LM Studio).
name: My Config
version: 0.0.1
schema: v1
models:
- name: Llama 3.1 8B
provider: ollama
model: llama3.1:8b
DeepSeek Coder 2 16B
If your local machine can run a 16B parameter model, then we recommend running DeepSeek Coder 2 16B (e.g. using Ollama or LM Studio).
name: My Config
version: 0.0.1
schema: v1
models:
- name: DeepSeek Coder 2 16B
provider: ollama
model: deepseek-coder-v2:16b
Other experiences
There are many more models and providers you can use with Chat beyond those mentioned above. Read more here