> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://continuum-three-olive.vercel.app/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# What is Continuum?
> A control surface for coding agents. Run sessions on Mac, Windows, Linux, a VPS or the terminal, watch quota and spend live, and steer it from your phone.
Continuum is **a control surface for coding agents**. It splits cleanly in two:
* **Hosts** run the agents. A host has your code on disk, your provider CLIs
installed, and a local daemon that supervises every session. That's the macOS
app, the Windows and Linux desktop apps, the `continuum` CLI, a VPS, a
Tailscale box, or a machine Continuum provisions for you.
* **Remotes** steer them. iPhone, Apple Watch, Android, and the web app hold no
code and no provider credentials — they connect to a host and drive it.
One machine can be both: install the Mac or desktop app and it is a host you're
already sitting at. Everything speaks the same wire protocol, so a session you
start in a browser tab is the same session your Watch can approve.
## The three jobs
1. **Run and control coding-agent sessions.** Claude Code, Codex,
Antigravity/Gemini, Cursor, Grok, OpenCode-connected models (OpenRouter,
Z.ai Coding), and Continuum's own [hosted models](/docs/features/hosted-inference)
— in isolated git worktrees, with plan review, diffs, PRs, and terminals.
Pick **Auto** instead of a model and Continuum routes the work across your
connected providers itself. This is the [Code tab](/docs/surfaces/code), and it's
the center of the product.
2. **Show live quota and spend.** Session windows, weekly caps, reset timers,
and historical `$ / token` analytics by provider, day, and repo. This is the
[Usage tab](/docs/surfaces/usage).
3. **Follow you off the desk.** Sign in on your phone, watch, or a browser and
every session is there: approve a plan, send a follow-up, star the better
answer, merge a PR. End-to-end encrypted between your devices.
Continuum shipped a **Chat** tab and a **Cowork** tab earlier in its life. Both
are hidden by default as of 2026-07-30 while the product focuses on Code. The
docs for those surfaces are still here — see [Chat](/docs/surfaces/chat) — but you
won't find the tabs in a current build.
## What it costs
Every client is free: Mac, Windows, Linux, CLI, iPhone, Watch, Android, web.
You bring the provider subscriptions you already pay for, and Continuum drives
each provider through its own official CLI, so the work lands on your
**flat-rate subscription** rather than a metered API key. You can sign in
**more than one account per provider** and run them side by side — see
[multi-account](/docs/features/multi-account).
If you'd rather not bring keys at all, **Continuum-hosted inference** is the one
paid add-on: a monthly plan with a weekly inference budget, starting at \$25/mo.
A set of free hosted models is included on every plan — the model picker's
Continuum rail splits them into **Included in Free** and frontier models — so
you can get a real answer before connecting anything. See
[hosted inference](/docs/features/hosted-inference).
## The shape of the thing
A host runs an HTTP/WebSocket daemon (default port `21731`, WebSocket on the
next port up) and the provider CLIs as child processes. Remotes connect to it
over an end-to-end encrypted relay — the relay forwards sealed bytes and cannot
read them.
```text theme={"dark"}
┌─ Hosts · where the agents actually run ──────────────────────┐
│ macOS app · Windows desktop · Linux desktop · CLI │
│ VPS · Tailscale box · your AWS or Railway account │
│ Continuum-provisioned cloud runners │
│ │
│ each runs: local daemon (HTTP 21731 / WS 21732) │
│ provider CLIs - claude · codex · gemini │
│ cursor-agent · grok · opencode │
└──────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┘
│ end-to-end encrypted relay
┌─ Remotes ────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────┐
│ where you steer from: iPhone · Apple Watch · Android · │
│ continuumcode.ai/app │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```
Devices find each other by account: sign in with the same email everywhere and
your hosts show up in the device list, no QR codes — see
[pairing](/docs/pairing) and [remote devices](/docs/features/remote-devices). When you
want a wall of agents instead of one, the Code sidebar's **Spawn** button opens
a grid of interactive CLI terminals — see [spawn mode](/docs/features/spawn-mode).
Continuum is **local-first**. Code, transcripts, analytics, and provider
credentials live on your hosts; remotes hold a token and a view. The
[privacy doc](/docs/privacy) enumerates exactly what can leave your machines and
why.
## Pick a path
Install on any platform, light up your first gauge, and run your first
session in five minutes.
Per-platform requirements, installers, and how each client updates itself.
Sign in with the same email on each device and approve it once. No QR code.
The same workbench outside Apple's world, with its own bundled daemon.
The full control plane in a browser tab — nothing to install.
`continuum` drives the same sessions from a shell, a script, or CI.
Sessions, worktrees, plans, diffs, and PRs — where the work happens.
What Continuum needs from each CLI, and what lights up when it finds it.