The 'models' field should be a non-empty array

[siom79]

Before submitting your bug report

• [X] I believe this is a bug. I'll try to join the Continue Discord for questions
• [X] I'm not able to find an open issue that reports the same bug
• [X] I've seen the troubleshooting guide on the Continue Docs

Relevant environment info

- OS: Fedora 39
- Continue version: 0.8.53
- IDE version: 1.94.2
- Model: custom model
- config.json:

{
  "models": [

  ],
  "slashCommands": [
    {
      "name": "edit",
      "description": "Edit selected code"
    },
    {
      "name": "comment",
      "description": "Write comments for the selected code"
    },
    {
      "name": "share",
      "description": "Export this session as markdown"
    },
    {
      "name": "cmd",
      "description": "Generate a shell command"
    }
  ],
  "customCommands": [
    {
      "name": "test",
      "prompt": "Write a comprehensive set of unit tests for the selected code. It should setup, run tests that check for correctness including important edge cases, and teardown. Ensure that the tests are complete and sophisticated. Give the tests just as chat output, don't edit any file.",
      "description": "Write unit tests for highlighted code"
    }
  ],
  "contextProviders": [
    {
      "name": "diff",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "open",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "terminal",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "problems",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "codebase",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "code",
      "params": {}
    },
    {
      "name": "docs",
      "params": {}
    }
  ],
  "tabAutocompleteModel": {
    "title": "Starcoder 3b",
    "provider": "ollama",
    "model": "starcoder2:3b"
  },
  "allowAnonymousTelemetry": false,
  "embeddingsProvider": {
    "provider": "ollama",
    "model": "nomic-embed-text"
  },
  "docs": []
}

Description

We are using a custom model (inside config.ts) and no model inside config.json. This leads to the error message Error in config.json: The 'models' field should be a non-empty array. in the "web view developer tools" in VS code. The list of models to select from is empty and the custom model can no longer be used.

To reproduce

1. Provide a custom model inside config.ts.
2. Remove all models from config.json.

Log output

ERR [Extension Host] Error handling webview message: {
  "msg": {
    "messageId": "e01a726a-dd31-478d-9a8c-bab47ac3641a",
    "messageType": "context/loadSubmenuItems",
    "data": {
      "title": "docs"
    }
  }
}

Error in config.json: The 'models' field should be a non-empty array.