#aider

38 items tagged #aider.

GUIDE 2026-05-11

Aider chat history compression: keeping long sessions affordable

Every Aider turn re-sends the full chat history. After 30+ turns that history can cost more than the code change itself. Here is how to control it.

Owner · 5 min #aider #chat-history

GUIDE 2026-05-11

.aider.conf.yml recipes that actually pay off

Aider reads a YAML config file on every run. Five flags deserve permanent homes there; one common candidate will silently break your workflow if your repo has pre-commit hooks.

Owner · 6 min #aider #config

GUIDE 2026-05-11

Pulling a GitHub issue into Aider: from URL to first commit

How to feed a GitHub issue directly into Aider, ask for a plan, execute, and close the issue with a properly tagged commit — and which issue types to avoid.

Owner · 6 min #aider #github

GUIDE 2026-05-11

Aider's --lint-cmd and --test-cmd: closing the AI-feedback loop

Aider's --lint-cmd and --test-cmd flags run your linter and tests after every edit, feed failures back to the model, and attempt a fix — a real loop with real cost implications.

Owner · 6 min #aider #lint

GUIDE 2026-05-11

Aider voice mode: dictating prompts when typing is the bottleneck

Aider's voice mode lets you speak prompts instead of typing them, using Whisper for transcription. Here's when it speeds up the loop and when it quietly wrecks it.

Owner · 4 min #aider #voice-mode

GUIDE 2026-05-11

Aider's --weak-model: the second model that pays for itself

Aider uses a cheap secondary model for commit messages, summaries, and name suggestions. Here's what that flag does, when it helps, and when to turn it off.

Owner · 5 min #aider #weak-model

GUIDE 2026-05-11

Aider's web UI: useful, narrow, not a replacement

Aider ships a browser-based GUI alongside its CLI. Here's what it adds, what it skips, and the one situation where it actually earns its keep.

Owner · 4 min #aider #web-ui

BLOG 2026-05-09

BYOK vs subscription: when bring-your-own-key actually saves money

Cline, Aider, and Continue let you pay per token instead of per seat. The math looks great on paper. The math also turns against you faster than most developers expect.

Owner · 6 min #pricing #byok

GUIDE 2026-05-05

Aider for incremental refactoring: a terminal workflow that actually scales

Aider's git-native approach makes it better than IDE-based tools for large refactors that span dozens of files. Here's the workflow I use.

Owner · 9 min #aider #refactoring

GUIDE 2026-05-02

Aider's CONVENTIONS.md: keeping the model on script across a session

A single CONVENTIONS.md file in your repo, loaded into every Aider session, drops the rate of style-mismatch fixes from common to rare. Here's what to put in it.

Owner · 6 min #aider #conventions

GUIDE 2026-04-30

Aider with Claude Haiku for cheap, fast iteration

Most Aider tutorials assume you're using Sonnet for everything. For 60% of tasks, Haiku is fast enough and an order of magnitude cheaper. Here's the model-routing setup.

Owner · 6 min #aider #claude

GUIDE 2026-04-28

Aider's architect mode: when the slower, more expensive workflow is worth it

Architect mode runs two model calls per turn: a strong model plans, a cheaper model edits. The math works for some tasks and not others. Here's the decision rule.

Owner · 7 min #aider #architect-mode

NEWS 2026-04-24

Aider continues its day-one model support pattern with Haiku 3.5

Anthropic released Claude 3.5 Haiku; Aider supported it the same day. The pattern is now consistent enough to be a feature, not an accident.

Owner · 4 min #aider #models

GUIDE 2026-04-21

Aider in a monorepo: scoping context to one package without losing the cross-package picture

Aider's --subtree-only flag is necessary but not sufficient. Here's the four-file pattern for keeping aider focused on one package while still letting it see shared types.

Owner · 8 min #aider #monorepo

CASE STUDY 2026-04-17

Aider on a jQuery → React migration: 8 weeks, 23k lines, what actually happened

I migrated an internal admin tool from jQuery to React using Aider as the primary tool for the mechanical parts. Here's the breakdown of what worked, what didn't, and the cost.

Owner · 13 min #aider #react

GUIDE 2026-04-16

Aider with pre-commit hooks: making the linter the model's feedback loop

Aider's auto-commit feature can run pre-commit hooks. Configured well, this means the linter rejects bad suggestions before they reach your branch. Configured badly, it loops forever.

Owner · 6 min #aider #pre-commit

GUIDE 2026-04-12

Aider auto-commits with conventional commits: making the messages useful

Aider's auto-commit messages are generic by default. With three lines in your config and a brief instruction in CONVENTIONS.md, they become genuinely informative.

Owner · 4 min #aider #git

NEWS 2026-04-09

Aider 0.60 ships smarter architect mode and per-task model routing

Aider's latest release improves architect mode (planner + editor model split) and adds per-task model routing rules. Useful for cost-conscious heavy users.

Owner · 4 min #aider #release

GUIDE 2026-04-07

Aider with Llama 3.1 70B via Groq: 600 tok/s changes how you work

Groq serves Llama 3.1 at speeds that change the interactive feel of aider. Cost is comparable to GPT-4o-mini; the experience is closer to a much pricier model.

Owner · 5 min #aider #groq

GUIDE 2026-04-05

TDD with aider: writing the test first and letting the model fill in the implementation

Aider's edit format is well-suited to test-driven development. Write the failing test, ask aider to make it pass, review the diff. The structure produces better code than letting aider write both.

Owner · 5 min #aider #tdd

GUIDE 2026-04-04

Aider's --watch mode: live coding with AI suggestions in your editor of choice

Aider --watch lets you keep coding in your normal editor and trigger Aider edits via AI! comments. The setup takes ten minutes and changes how Aider fits into a workflow.

Owner · 6 min #aider #workflow

GUIDE 2026-04-01

Aider with Jupyter notebooks: working with .ipynb files without breaking the metadata

Notebooks are JSON, not code. Aider can edit them, but the experience needs configuration. Here's the setup for serious notebook work.

Owner · 5 min #aider #jupyter

GUIDE 2026-03-28

Aider during a git rebase: managing AI commits when history is in flux

Aider's auto-commits and an active rebase don't naturally cooperate. Three patterns keep them from fighting.

Owner · 4 min #aider #git

CASE STUDY 2026-03-21

Aider migrating a Go microservice from net/http to chi: a 4-day diary

An old Go service used raw net/http for routing. We needed to migrate to go-chi. With Aider, the migration took 4 days and produced cleaner output than I'd have written by hand.

Owner · 9 min #aider #go

GUIDE 2026-03-18

Aider on a Go codebase: idioms, error handling, and the gotchas

Aider works well on Go projects but has a few quirks worth knowing about. Error handling style, struct embedding, and interface satisfaction are where it most often produces almost-right code.

Owner · 8 min #aider #go

CASE STUDY 2026-03-16

Aider on a Go gRPC service: protobuf-driven development at speed

Building a Go gRPC service with Aider and Buf. The protobuf-first workflow fits aider's strengths better than freeform code generation does.

Editor · 8 min #aider #go

NEWS 2026-03-12

Aider 0.70 adds explicit per-step model routing and architect mode improvements

Aider's architect mode gets more configurable. You can now specify different models for planning, editing, and tool use, with cost optimization built in.

Owner · 4 min #aider #release

GUIDE 2026-03-05

Aider's /run command for shell integration: when to let the model see your output

Aider's /run command pipes shell output into the model's context. Powerful for debugging; risky if you don't know what the command produces.

Owner · 4 min #aider #shell

CASE STUDY 2026-02-24

Aider on embedded C firmware: a story of patience and skepticism

Used aider on a microcontroller project. The agent loop is uniquely poor fit for embedded development; the autocomplete-style use was useful.

Editor · 6 min #aider #embedded

CASE STUDY 2026-02-08

Aider on a Rust CLI tool: when small projects fit AI tools well

Built a small CLI tool in Rust with aider. The constraints of Rust were less painful than on a larger project; small CLIs hit a sweet spot.

Editor · 5 min #aider #rust

NEWS 2026-02-06

Aider 0.71 ships with day-zero Claude 3.7 support

Aider's 0.71 release includes immediate support for Anthropic's Claude 3.7 family plus refinements to the architect mode workflow.

Owner · 3 min #aider #claude

GUIDE 2026-01-29

Aider on multi-language projects: TypeScript frontend, Python backend, shared types

Working in a polyglot codebase with aider. Per-language config, cross-language type sync, and the patterns that keep things sane.

Owner · 4 min #aider #polyglot

CASE STUDY 2026-01-18

Aider for modernizing 200 bash scripts: when shell work fits AI tools

Modernized a legacy collection of operations scripts using aider. Bash isn't glamorous but the work shape suited AI assistance.

Editor · 5 min #aider #bash

GUIDE 2026-01-13

Aider with Makefile-driven projects: integrating with non-standard build flows

Aider's auto-test feature wraps any shell command. For projects with custom Makefile-driven builds, the integration is straightforward but has gotchas.

Owner · 4 min #aider #makefiles

CASE STUDY 2026-01-04

Aider for Python tooling modernization: from setup.py to pyproject.toml

Migrating 30 internal Python tools from setup.py to modern pyproject.toml with uv. Aider was useful for the mechanical translation.

Editor · 4 min #aider #python

NEWS 2025-12-30

Aider 0.72 brings o3-mini integration for the architect role

Aider's latest release adds smooth integration with OpenAI's o3-mini for the architect mode planning step.

Owner · 3 min #aider #openai

GUIDE 2025-12-27

Aider on Python projects using Poetry: dependency management awareness

Poetry's lock file and dependency model has specific patterns. Aider works with Poetry but a few configurations help.

Owner · 3 min #aider #python

CASE STUDY 2025-12-20

Rewriting a CLI tool from Python to Rust with aider: a port study

Ported a 2000-line Python CLI to Rust over a long weekend. Aider helped most with the mechanical parts; idioms required human judgment.

Editor · 4 min #aider #rust