/continue-fix-volatile-msg

name: continue-fix-volatile-msg
description: Ladder-aware Continue Anthropic caching — verify the rolling ladder on the wire, then enable it by default and add TTL coverage.
target_harness: Continue
target_repo: continuedev/continue
target_files:
  - packages/openai-adapters/src/apis/Anthropic.ts
  - core/llm/llms/Bedrock.ts
target_commit: main (AnthropicUtils.ts addCacheControlToLastTwoUserMessages verified 2026-08-28)
estimated_savings: avoids a harmful "fix"; default-on + TTL are the real wins

Continue: the "volatile message" is a rolling ladder — verify, don't rip out

> **REANALYZED 2026-08-28.** The previous version of this skill > renamed `addCacheControlToLastTwoUserMessages` to a "last stable > message" variant. Direct source recon shows Continue ships the same > documented rolling read/write ladder as Cline/Roo (the helper name > persists in `packages/openai-adapters/src/apis/AnthropicUtils.ts`). > Applying the old diff would remove a working cache write point.

Target

`packages/openai-adapters/src/apis/AnthropicUtils.ts` (helper) and its callers in the Anthropic adapter; `core/llm/llms/Bedrock.ts` (`_addCachingToLastTwoUserMessages`, `cachePoint` shape) for the Bedrock path.

What Continue actually does

Same two-breakpoint ladder as Cline/Roo: current user turn = write point, previous user turn = read point. See [cline-fix-volatile-msg](../cline-fix-volatile-msg/SKILL.md) for the full explanation and the 3-turn wire test. Continue's distinct problem is not the ladder — it's that caching is **gated behind config and off by default**, so most users get nothing at all, and no TTL extension exists for long sessions.

Step 1 — verify the ladder on the wire (before any change)

Same 3-turn capture as the Cline skill. Continue gates the whole caching path behind `cacheBehavior` config — if the capture shows zero cache fields in the request at all, fix the config first (next step) and re-capture before judging the ladder.

Step 2 — default-on (the actual money fix)

Continue's `cacheBehavior` config defaults leave Anthropic caching off for most installs. See [continue-enable-defaults](../continue-enable-defaults/SKILL.md) — that skill remains the primary win for this harness. The ladder should be verified *after* defaults are on, never instead.

Step 3 — Bedrock path: verify the cachePoint translation

Continue's Bedrock adapter re-implements caching with `cachePoint` (not `cache_control` — gotcha 12). Two checks before trusting it:

1. The `cachePoint` placement mirrors the ladder (write point on the current turn, read point on the previous) — same 3-turn wire test through the Bedrock envelope, reading `cacheReadInputTokenCount`/`cacheWriteInputTokenCount`. 2. The Bedrock model ID in use actually supports cache points (gotcha 13 — the AWS support matrix drifts; verify, don't assume).

Verify (whole skill)

After default-on: request bodies contain `cache_control` on the ladder positions; 3-turn capture shows the write@N → read@N+1 pattern; Bedrock capture shows the same through `cachePoint`.

Background

• [docs/gotchas.md](../../docs/gotchas.md) #12 (cachePoint), #17

(relay field-stripping), #18 (the ladder test).

• Full audit: [audits/continue.md](../../audits/continue.md).