Handle blocked telemetry better

[rossigee]

Improve telemetry handling in Continue CLI

Description

When running the CLI in a network that can't reach the telemetry endpoints, it produces lots of DNS/network related stacktraces during operation.

This PR enhances the telemetry system in the Continue CLI by addressing issues with blocked telemetry and providing unified control over telemetry settings.

Changes Made

1. Handle Blocked Telemetry Detection

• Added DNS resolution checking for app.posthog.com to detect when telemetry is blocked by network configurations
• Considers telemetry blocked when DNS resolves to invalid addresses (e.g., 0.0.0.0, 127.x.x.x)
• Displays a warning message when telemetry appears blocked, with instructions to disable using CONTINUE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=0
• Added comprehensive tests for DNS resolution scenarios

2. Unified Telemetry Control

• Introduced CONTINUE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED environment variable to control both PostHog and OpenTelemetry telemetry
• Maintains backward compatibility with existing variables:
  • CONTINUE_ALLOW_ANONYMOUS_TELEMETRY (PostHog)
  • CONTINUE_CLI_ENABLE_TELEMETRY (OpenTelemetry)
• Updated warning messages to reference the new unified variable

Motivation

• Blocked Telemetry: Users in corporate environments or with restrictive networks may have telemetry blocked, leading to confusion about why telemetry isn't working. This change provides clear feedback and control.
• Unified Control: Having separate variables for different telemetry types was confusing. A single variable simplifies user experience.

Testing

• Added unit tests for DNS resolution detection, including edge cases like invalid addresses
• Verified backward compatibility with existing environment variables
• Tested telemetry enable/disable logic

Breaking Changes

None - all changes are backward compatible.

---

Summary by cubic

Improve telemetry handling in the Continue CLI to avoid noisy DNS/network errors when telemetry is blocked, and add a single env var to control all telemetry.

• New Features
  • Detect blocked PostHog via DNS for app.posthog.com; treat 0.0.0.0 and 127.x.x.x as blocked, skip telemetry, and show a single warning with CONTINUE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=0 guidance.
  • Add CONTINUE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED to control both PostHog and OpenTelemetry; keep CONTINUE_ALLOW_ANONYMOUS_TELEMETRY and CONTINUE_CLI_ENABLE_TELEMETRY for backward compatibility.
  • Add unit tests for DNS resolution outcomes and reduce noisy logs when offline or blocked.

[cubic-dev-ai]

1 issue found across 3 files

Prompt for AI agents (all 1 issues)

Understand the root cause of the following 1 issues and fix them.


<file name="extensions/cli/src/telemetry/telemetryService.ts">

<violation number="1" location="extensions/cli/src/telemetry/telemetryService.ts:83">
CONTINUE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=&quot;false&quot; still enables telemetry because the code falls back to the legacy flag instead of honoring the new value.</violation>
</file>

_{React with 👍 or 👎 to teach cubic. Mention @cubic-dev-ai to give feedback, ask questions, or re-run the review.}

[cubic-dev-ai]

CONTINUE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED="false" still enables telemetry because the code falls back to the legacy flag instead of honoring the new value.

Prompt for AI agents

Address the following comment on extensions/cli/src/telemetry/telemetryService.ts at line 83:

<comment>CONTINUE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=&quot;false&quot; still enables telemetry because the code falls back to the legacy flag instead of honoring the new value.</comment>

<file context>
@@ -71,8 +71,19 @@ class TelemetryService {
+      telemetryEnabled = true;
+    } else {
+      // Fall back to legacy variable for backward compatibility
+      telemetryEnabled = process.env.CONTINUE_CLI_ENABLE_TELEMETRY !== &quot;0&quot;;
+    }
+
</file context>

[RomneyDa]

// Fall back to the legacy variable for backward compatibility

@rossigee we recently split CONTINUE_ALLOW_ANONYMOUS_TELEMETRY and CONTINUE_CLI_ENABLE_TELEMETRY intentionally, because they needed to be independently configurable

#8126

CONTINUE_CLI_ENABLE_TELEMETRY is for OTEL, CONTINUE_ALLOW_ANONYMOUS_TELEMETRY is for posthog. Could you clarify reasons to merge? I think the no internet updates would be great