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Posted on • Originally published at apivai.com

How to Use Continue.dev with a Cheap OpenAI-Compatible API

#continuedev #tutorial #ide

Use Continue.dev with a cheap OpenAI-compatible API

Continue.dev is a popular open-source AI assistant for VS Code and JetBrains. Like most modern AI coding tools, it speaks the OpenAI-compatible API format — so you don't have to pay official list price. Point it at a cheaper compatible provider and everything works unchanged.

This guide shows the exact Continue config to use an OpenAI-compatible gateway like APIVAI.

Why it works

Continue lets you define any model with a provider: "openai" block and a custom apiBase. That's all it takes to route through a discount gateway — the requests are standard OpenAI chat completions.

Configure Continue

Open your Continue config (~/.continue/config.json, or the YAML config in newer versions) and add a model:

{
  "models": [
    {
      "title": "APIVAI - Claude Sonnet",
      "provider": "openai",
      "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
      "apiBase": "https://api.apivai.com/v1",
      "apiKey": "sk-your-apivai-key"
    }
  ]
}
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That's it. Reload Continue and the model appears in the dropdown. Send a message to confirm it streams.

Pick a model that exists

Model availability varies, so list what's available first instead of guessing:

curl -s https://api.apivai.com/v1/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $APIVAI_API_KEY"
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Use a model name from that response for the model field.

Things to verify

  • Streaming — Continue streams responses; make sure your provider passes real SSE chunks so output appears token by token.
  • Model name — must match one the provider serves (avoids model_not_found).
  • Context window — pick a model whose context fits your codebase chunks.

Why APIVAI

APIVAI is OpenAI- and Anthropic-compatible, covers Claude and GPT models behind one key, and is priced at a fraction of official list. Pay-as-you-go with crypto, USDT, or Alipay, no VPN required — handy if you can't or don't want to use a card.

Get started

Grab a key, drop the config block above into Continue with a model from /v1/models, and start coding at a fraction of the cost — no code changes, same workflow.

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