systemMessage in config.yaml is not applied to the prompt

[lisyoen]

Before submitting your bug report

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

Relevant environment info

- OS: Windows 10 Enterprise
- Continue version:
- IDE version: 1.0.10
- Model: Local LLM
- config:
  
name: Local Assistant
version: 1.0.0
schema: v1
models:
  - name: "Qwen/QwQ-32B"
    model: "Qwen/QwQ-32B"
    systemMessage: "Answer in Korean"
    provider: "openai"
    apiKey: "{API Key}"
    apiBase: "http://{localllmIP}:4000/v1"
    contextLength: 30000
    capabilities:
      - tool_use
    roles: [chat, edit, apply]
context:
  - provider: code
  - provider: docs
  - provider: diff
  - provider: terminal
  - provider: problems
  - provider: folder
  - provider: codebase
data:
  - name: "logs"
    schema: "0.2.0"
    events: ["autocomplete"]
    destination: "file:///d:/tmp/continue_logs/"
mcpServers:
  - name: Filesystem
    type: stdio
    command: cmd
    args: ["/c", "npx","-y", "@modelContextProtocol/server-filesystem", "d:/test"]
  - name: op_sharp
    type: stdio
    command: python
    args: [ "C:/Users/user/.continue/mcp/test_log.py"]
  - name: op-test
    type: stdio
    command: mcp
    args: ["-dev", "C:/Users/user/.continue/mcp/test_log.py"]

  OR link to assistant in Continue hub:

Description

The systemMessage field in config.yaml is not being applied to the prompt as expected.
This issue appears to have started after a recent update.

To reproduce

1. Set the systemMessage in config.yaml to "Answer in Korean".
2. Send "Hello" via the chat.
3. The response is still in English.

Log output

No relevant logs are generated.

[lisyoen]

This is a critical issue. The systemMessage is not applied in any official release, including the latest version 1.0.10 and even back to 1.0.1. A prompt resolution is needed.

Yes it was a problem in the past too. @Patrick-Erichsen can I work on this?

If you have any input on how to move forward, please let me know

[Patrick-Erichsen]

@lisyoen the correct config here is the following:

chatOptions:
  baseSystemMessage: test

See https://docs.continue.dev/reference#models for details.