Getting authentication or connection errors from Continue? A focused troubleshooting guide to fixing API keys, provider config, and network issues for iOS developers.
You ask Continue a question and instead of an answer you get an error. Common forms include authentication failures, unauthorized responses, timeouts, or a generic connection error.
Because Continue connects to a model provider you choose, these errors almost always live at the boundary between Continue and that provider. The extension itself is rarely the culprit.
The good news is that these are among the most fixable issues. Most trace back to a bad key, a wrong model name, or a network problem.
Work through the sections below in order. Each isolates one link in the chain from your editor to the model.
Start with the credential. Confirm you pasted the full API key with no extra spaces, quotes, or line breaks.
Make sure the key belongs to the provider you configured. Mixing a key from one provider into another provider's configuration produces exactly this kind of authentication failure.
Check that the key is still valid and active on the provider's dashboard. Keys can be revoked, expired, or disabled, and any of those will cause an unauthorized error.
If you recently rotated keys, update Continue with the new one. A stale key left in the config is a frequent and easy-to-miss cause.
Continue needs both the correct provider and an exact model identifier. A typo in either will break the request.
Open your configuration and compare the model name against the provider's official list. Model identifiers are precise strings, and even a small mismatch will fail.
Confirm your account actually has access to that model. Some models require specific plans, tiers, or approvals on the provider side.
The Continue docs show the configuration format for each supported provider. Match your config to that reference exactly rather than guessing key names.
An authentication error is not always about the key. Providers also reject requests when an account is out of credit or over a rate limit.
Log into your provider's dashboard and check your balance, plan, and usage limits. A depleted balance or unpaid invoice stops requests cold.
Look for rate-limit messages specifically. If you are sending many requests quickly, you may be throttled temporarily rather than blocked permanently.
Resolve any billing issue on the provider side, then retry in Continue. This class of problem cannot be fixed in the extension config.
For hosted models, Continue must reach the provider over the network. Corporate proxies, VPNs, and firewalls can block that traffic.
Test your general connectivity, and if you are on a managed network, ask whether the provider's domain is allowed. Blocked outbound requests show up as timeouts or connection errors.
If you use a proxy, make sure your environment is configured so the request can route through it. Continue's docs and your provider's docs cover proxy considerations.
Temporarily testing on a different network can quickly confirm whether the block is environmental. If it works elsewhere, the fix is a network policy, not your config.
If you configured a local model, the failure mode is different. Continue must reach your local runner at the address in your config.
Confirm the local service is running. A stopped runner produces connection-refused style errors even though no cloud is involved.
Check that the endpoint and port in Continue match what your runner actually uses. A mismatch here is the most common local-model connection problem.
Restart the runner and reload Continue after any change. Local services sometimes need a fresh start to accept connections cleanly.
Continue surfaces errors in its output and log panels. The exact wording usually points straight at the cause.
An unauthorized or 401-style message points to the key or account. A timeout or refused connection points to the network or a stopped local service.
Copy the full error text before searching. Providers and Continue both document common error codes, and matching the exact message shortens the hunt.
Do not guess when the log is telling you plainly. Reading the real error first saves you from changing settings that were never the problem.
Sometimes the fault is not on your side at all. Hosted providers occasionally have outages or degraded service, and during those windows even a perfect configuration returns errors.
Check your provider's status page before assuming your key or config is wrong. A brief incident on their end explains sudden failures that were working minutes earlier.
Region and endpoint settings can also matter for some providers. If your account or organization is tied to a specific region, confirm that Continue is pointed at the endpoint your account expects.
When the provider is healthy and the region is correct, return to the earlier checks with confidence that the problem is local. Ruling out the provider first prevents you from endlessly re-editing a configuration that was never the issue.
Most connection errors become tractable once you picture the chain of links between your editor and the model. The request travels from Continue, through your network, to a provider, which validates your key and account before answering.
Each error type tends to map to a specific link. An unauthorized response points at the key or account, a timeout points at the network, and a model-not-found error points at the identifier in your config.
Thinking in terms of that chain keeps your debugging orderly. Instead of changing several settings at once, you test one link, confirm or rule it out, and move to the next.
This mindset also explains why the extension itself is rarely at fault. Continue is the piece asking the question, but the answer depends on links it does not control, which is exactly why the fix almost always lives at one of those boundaries.
Once you identify the failing link, apply the specific fix: correct the key, fix the model name, top up credits, adjust the network, or restart the local runner.
Test with a single simple provider before restoring a complex multi-model setup. Isolating one variable confirms the fix without noise.
To prevent recurrence, store keys carefully and update them promptly when rotated. Keep your configuration aligned with the provider's current model list.
And remember the boundary of the tool. Even a perfectly connected model still does not build or ship your app — Xcode and the Apple Developer Program handle that regardless of your provider setup.
That almost always means an invalid, expired, or wrong-provider API key, or an account without access to the configured model. Verify the key on the provider's dashboard and confirm it matches the configured provider.
Timeouts usually indicate a network problem or, for local models, a stopped runner. Check connectivity, any proxy or firewall, and that your local service is running at the configured address.
Rarely. Because Continue connects to a provider you choose, these errors almost always come from the key, model name, billing, network, or local endpoint rather than the extension itself.
Open Continue's output or log panel in VS Code. The message usually names the cause, such as unauthorized, rate limited, or connection refused.
Yes. Providers reject requests when an account is out of credit, unpaid, or over a rate limit. Check your provider dashboard and resolve billing there, then retry.