Continue

Continue is an open-source AI coding assistant extension for VS Code and all JetBrains IDEs.

Important: MCP tools are only available in Agent mode. They are not available in Chat or Edit modes. If Continue does not show IONOS tools, confirm you have switched to Agent mode before testing.

Prerequisites

• Continue extension installed in VS Code or a JetBrains IDE
• The ionoscloud-mcp binary built and available. For more information, see Quick Start
• An IONOS CLOUD API token. For least-privilege access, see Authentication to scope the token to only the tools you need.

Add the MCP server

Option A: Dedicated config file (recommended)

Create the directory ~/.continue/mcpServers/ if it does not exist, then create a file ionoscloud.json inside it. This is a single server object (not an array):

{
  "name": "ionoscloud",
  "command": "/usr/local/bin/ionoscloud-mcp",
  "env": {
    "IONOS_TOKEN": "your-api-token"
  }
}

To also enable Object Storage tools:

{
  "name": "ionoscloud",
  "command": "/usr/local/bin/ionoscloud-mcp",
  "env": {
    "IONOS_TOKEN": "your-api-token",
    "IONOS_S3_ACCESS_KEY": "your-access-key",
    "IONOS_S3_SECRET_KEY": "your-secret-key"
  }
}

Option B: Main config file

Add an mcpServers array to ~/.continue/config.json. Note the array format; this differs from Option A's single-object file:

{
  "mcpServers": [
    {
      "name": "ionoscloud",
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/ionoscloud-mcp",
      "env": {
        "IONOS_TOKEN": "your-api-token"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Verify the connection

1

Switch to Agent mode

Open Continue in your IDE and switch to Agent mode (not Chat or Edit). Agent mode is required for MCP tool access.

2

Test the connection

Type: List my IONOS CLOUD data centers.

Result: Continue calls list_datacenters and returns your data centers.

Note: All tools are registered at startup by default, so Compute Engine and Object Storage tools appear immediately. To reduce the startup tool count (for example, on clients with a tool-count cap), set IONOS_MCP_LOAD_MODE=lazy in the env block and call the ionos_load_compute_tools or ionos_load_objectstorage_tools sentinels on demand. For more information, see Selective Tool Loading.

For full Continue MCP documentation, see docs.continue.dev/customize/deep-dives/mcp.