Aider
AI pair programming in your terminal
Aider is a command-line tool that lets you pair program with LLMs to edit code in your local git repository. Unlike IDE plugins, Aider works directly with your files and git history. It is famous for its "Repository Map" technology which intelligently selects context, allowing it to solve complex multi-file tasks with higher accuracy than almost any other tool on the SWE-bench leaderboard.
Category
CLI Tool
Rating
Users
100K+
Platform Support
Pricing Plans
Free Plan
$0
Free & Open Source (Apache 2.0)
Pro Plan
BYOK (Bring Your Own Key): You pay API costs directly to OpenAI/Anthropic/DeepSeek
Enterprise Plan
定制
None (Self-hosted / Local)
Core Features
1 Core Features
Terminal Based
Runs in your CLI, compatible with any editor (Vim, Neovim, VS Code, JetBrains)
Git Integration
Automatically commits changes with descriptive messages; you can undo changes easily
Repository Map
Uses a compressed map of your codebase to fit massive context into the LLM window effectively
Multi-Model
Seamlessly switch between Claude 3.5 Sonnet, GPT-4o, DeepSeek, or local models via Ollama
2 Capabilities
Voice Coding
Speak to code directly in the terminal (supports various speech-to-text providers)
Architect Mode
Spend time "thinking" and planning before editing, increasing accuracy on hard tasks
3 Developer Experience
File Adding
Use "/add file.js" to explicitly bring files into the context
Linting & Fixing
Automatically runs linters/tests after edits and attempts to fix errors iteratively
Pros and Cons
Advantages
- Consistently ranks #1 or top-tier on SWE-bench (software engineering benchmarks)
- Git auto-commits create a perfect history of AI changes ("sensible undo")
- Works with ANY editor (it just edits files on disk)
- Repository Map provides superior context understanding compared to embeddings
- Completely open source and free (you only pay for API usage)
Disadvantages
- Command-line interface has a steeper learning curve than GUI tools
- No "inline autocomplete" (ghost text) - it is a chat/agent tool only
- Requires managing your own API keys
- Can be expensive if you use high-end models heavily without monitoring
Best For
Terminal power users and Vim/Neovim enthusiasts
Developers who want granular control over git history
Complex refactoring tasks involving many files
Users who want the absolute highest accuracy models (Claude 3.5 Sonnet) applied to local files
Tech Stack
Architecture
CLI Tool (Python)