How to Build a Private AI Code Assistant with Continue and Ollama

Sending your proprietary code to a cloud-based AI is a major security risk for many companies. By combining Continue (the IDE extension) and Ollama (the model runner), you can have a powerful AI coding assistant that works entirely offline.

Local Autocomplete and Chat

With Ollama, you can host models like StarCoder2 or Llama 3 locally. Continue then connects to these models to provide "Copilot-like" features—including inline code completion and a chat sidebar that understands your current file. Because everything happens on your machine, your code never leaves your network.

Customizing Your Context

Continue allows you to index your entire local codebase. You can ask it to "refactor this function to match the pattern used in `auth_service.py`," and it will use your own code as the context. This personalized, secure assistant becomes more valuable as your project grows, all without a single monthly subscription fee.