VS Code SetupIntermediate

How to Run Copilot, Continue, and Cline Together Without Conflicts

Use multiple AI assistants in one VS Code window by stopping their autocomplete features from fighting each other.

8 minIntermediate

It is common to want Copilot for fast inline completions, Continue for flexible chat with your own models, and Cline for agent tasks. The catch is that more than one tool offering inline suggestions at once produces flickering ghost text and confusing accept behavior. This guide assigns one job to each so they cooperate.

What you need

Copilot, Continue, and Cline all installed
Each one signed in or connected to a model
About 6 minutes

Step 1: Decide who owns autocomplete

Only one extension should provide inline completions. Pick the one you prefer for that job; many people keep Copilot for completions because it is fast. Then disable autocomplete in the others so they stop competing for the same ghost text slot.

Why they clash

Inline completions in VS Code are a single shared surface. When two extensions push suggestions there, you see them flicker and Tab may accept the wrong one. Chat panels and agents do not have this problem because each has its own window.

Step 2: Turn off Continue autocomplete

If Copilot owns completions, remove the autocomplete role from your Continue config, or remove the autocomplete model entirely. Continue still handles chat and edit, which do not conflict with Copilot.

~/.continue/config.yaml

models:
  - name: Claude Sonnet
    provider: anthropic
    model: claude-sonnet-4-5
    apiKey: sk-ant-your-key
    roles:
      - chat
      - edit
      # autocomplete removed so Copilot owns inline suggestions

Step 3: Keep Cline to the agent panel

Cline does not provide inline completions at all, so it never fights Copilot. Just keep using its panel for multi-step tasks. The one thing to watch is approving Cline edits while Copilot is suggesting in the same file, so finish one before the other.

VS Code - three assistants

Activity Bar: [Copilot] [Continue] [Cline]

----------------------------------------

Editor -> Copilot inline completions

Side panel -> Continue chat + edit

Agent panel -> Cline tasks

Each tool occupies its own area of the window.

Step 4: Verify there is no flicker

Open a code file and type. You should see one clean stream of grey suggestions, not flickering. Open the Continue and Cline panels and confirm they work without affecting the inline text. If you still see double suggestions, check that no second extension has autocomplete enabled.

VS Code - clean completions

Explorer

server.js

1const express = require("express");

2const app = express();

3app.get("/health", (req, res) => res.send("ok"));

A single source of inline suggestions.

Cost awareness

Running three assistants can mean three bills if all use paid APIs. Point Continue at a local Ollama model and rely on Copilot's subscription for completions to keep your spend predictable.

Result

Copilot handles inline completions, Continue handles chat and edits with your chosen model, and Cline handles agent tasks. Each tool stays in its lane and the editor feels smooth instead of cluttered.