Aider

Aider is an AI pair programming tool that lets you collaborate with Large Language Models (LLMs) directly in your terminal. It works with your existing codebase, allowing you to make complex code changes across multiple files through natural language requests.

Main Features

AI Pair Programming in Your Terminal

Aider creates a chat interface in your terminal where you can discuss code changes with AI models like Claude 3.7 Sonnet, DeepSeek V3, OpenAI’s o1, o3-mini, and GPT-4o. Simply describe what you want to change or add, and Aider will implement the modifications directly to your files.

Git Integration

Aider automatically commits changes with sensible commit messages after each successful code modification. This creates a safe environment for experimentation since you can easily review and revert changes if needed.

Multi-file Support

Unlike some code assistants that work on single files, Aider can understand and modify multiple files simultaneously, implementing complex changes that span across your codebase.

Repository Mapping

Aider creates a map of your entire git repository, which helps it understand larger codebases. This enables the AI to navigate complex projects and make appropriate changes even when working with extensive code structures.

Voice-to-Code

Speak with Aider about your code using voice commands. Request new features, describe bugs, or suggest improvements verbally, and Aider will implement the changes to your codebase.

Wide Language Support

Aider works with over 100 programming languages including Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Rust, Go, Ruby, C++, PHP, HTML, CSS, and many more.

Context from Images and Web Pages

Add images and web pages to the chat to provide visual context. This is particularly useful for UI development, referencing documentation, or showing examples of what you want to implement.

Use Cases

1. Feature Development

   • Implement new features by simply describing them
   • Scaffold new projects quickly
   • Generate boilerplate code for common patterns

2. Code Refactoring

   • Restructure existing code without changing functionality
   • Convert between different programming paradigms
   • Modernize legacy code

3. Bug Fixing

   • Identify and fix bugs by pasting error messages
   • Test case generation and implementation
   • Debugging complex issues

4. Documentation Generation

   • Create or update documentation for your code
   • Generate comments and docstrings
   • Create README files and user guides

5. Learning Programming

   • Experiment with new languages and frameworks
   • Get explanations and examples in your codebase
   • Learn best practices through practical examples

Pricing

Aider itself is free and open-source. The only costs involved are from the LLM API provider you choose to use:

• Free Options: You can use Aider with free or cheaper models like open-source models through Ollama
• Paid APIs: Using premium models like Claude 3.7 Sonnet, GPT-4o, or DeepSeek will incur costs based on the respective API provider’s pricing

Getting Started

# Install Aider
python -m pip install aider-install
aider-install

# Change directory into your project
cd /path/to/your/project

# Start Aider with your preferred model
# Example with Claude 3.7 Sonnet
aider --model sonnet --api-key anthropic=your-key-here

# Example with GPT-4o
aider --model gpt-4o --api-key openai=your-key-here

Once started, you can ask Aider to make changes to your code using natural language. For example:

• “Add a login feature to our Flask application”
• “Fix this bug where the user profile doesn’t update”
• “Refactor this function to use async/await instead of callbacks”
• “Create a test suite for the authentication module”

Community and Development

Aider is an open-source project with an active community on GitHub and Discord. The tool is constantly improving, with frequent releases adding support for new models and features. Most remarkably, Aider writes approximately 70-80% of its own code in each new release using a bootstrapped process.