CLI: onboarding prompts even when ~/.continue/config.yaml already exists

Start by reading extensions/cli/src/onboarding.ts, especially runOnboardingFlow and initializeWithOnboarding, then compare their behavior with the fallback in extensions/cli/src/configLoader.ts:128. Reproduce with a valid ~/.continue/config.yaml and no auth files; done means plain cn skips onboarding and a successful --config invocation has the stated lasting effect.

Summary

The Continue CLI (cn) prompts the user to log in or enter an Anthropic API key on every startup, even when ~/.continue/config.yaml already contains a complete, working configuration (e.g. a local LLM that needs no API key). The IntelliJ plugin has no equivalent gate and simply uses the config it finds.

Repro

1. Fresh ~/.continue/ containing only a valid config.yaml for a local LLM (no auth.json, no .onboarding_complete, no CONTINUE_API_KEY).
2. Run cn.
3. Greeted with:

   How do you want to get started?
   1. ⏩ Log in with Continue
   2. 🔑 Enter your Anthropic API key
   

4. Neither option is desired — the user already has a working config.

Reproduces on multiple machines.

Cause

extensions/cli/src/onboarding.ts:138 (initializeWithOnboarding) runs before config resolution. runOnboardingFlow short-circuits on:

• --config <path> (line 55-57)
• CONTINUE_USE_BEDROCK=1 (line 60-65)
• non-TTY / NODE_ENV=test / CI=true / VITEST=true / GITHUB_ACTIONS=true (line 68-86)
• ~/.continue/.onboarding_complete flag (line 161)

It does not check whether ~/.continue/config.yaml already exists, even though extensions/cli/src/configLoader.ts:128 will happily load it when loadAuthConfig() returns null.

Compounding the problem: passing --config <path> once does not mark onboarding complete. runOnboardingFlow returns false when configPath is provided (line 56), so markOnboardingComplete() at line 165 is skipped. Every plain cn invocation re-prompts.

Expected behaviour

Parity with the IntelliJ plugin and with the existing configLoader.ts:128 fallback: when ~/.continue/config.yaml exists and the user is unauthenticated (no auth.json, no CONTINUE_API_KEY), treat them as already configured and skip onboarding.

Bonus fix: --config <path> should also mark onboarding complete after a successful load, so a one-time --config invocation has lasting effect.

Workaround

touch ~/.continue/.onboarding_complete

Confirmed working. After this, plain cn falls through to ~/.continue/config.yaml via the unauthenticated branch in configLoader.ts.

Proposed fix

In runOnboardingFlow, between the --config short-circuit and the option prompt, add:

const defaultConfigPath = path.join(env.continueHome, "config.yaml");
if (fs.existsSync(defaultConfigPath)) {
  return false; // Existing config — no onboarding needed.
}

…and in initializeWithOnboarding, mark onboarding complete after a successful --config load too.