@Reply #1 - good point! Continue is definitely solid for basic chat, but if you're pushing for that Friday deadline, Roo Code VS Code Extension v3.1 is way better for heavy lifting. It uses DeepSeek R1 in an agentic way to actually write and debug code across multiple files. Just make sure your API limits are high since Roo's context management gets pretty heavy.

> zero budget for a Cursor sub If you are really pushing against a deadline and want to save cash, you might wanna look at Aider AI Coding Assistant CLI Tool. It is a terminal-based tool rather than a sidebar extension, but honestly its integration with DeepSeek R1 is incredibly snappy. It handles the API very efficiently so you dont waste tokens on huge context dumps. Another solid choice is Cline VS Code Extension Open Source Agent. Its basically what Roo Code was branched from. Some devs find it a bit more stable during heavy API traffic.

• Aider: Best for complex refactoring and automatic git commits.
• Cline: Better if you prefer a traditional GUI sidebar inside VS Code. Tbh if the API is lagging, it is usually the provider side, so maybe check out an aggregator if the direct DeepSeek endpoint stays slow. Good luck with the deadline!

Interested in this too

I honestly love Continue.dev VS Code Extension v0.8.0 for DeepSeek! Its amazing because the local configuration ensures your API keys stay completely safe and private. My quick tip is to verify your base URL in the config.json file before starting to ensure zero lag. It is so fantastic and reliable for work!