Aider Advanced Configuration

A comprehensive Aider configuration file that sets up AI pair programming with OpenAI's o1-preview model, architect edit format, GPT-4o editor model, automatic linting, and VI editing mode.

What This Does

This configuration creates a `.aider.conf.yml` file in your project root with optimized settings for AI-assisted development:

Instructions

1. **Verify Aider is installed**

- Check that you have Aider installed and available in your PATH

- If not, install via: `pip install aider-chat`

2. **Check for existing configuration**

- Look for existing `.aider.conf.yml` in project root, home directory, or git root

- Back up any existing configuration before proceeding

3. **Create the configuration file**

- Create `.aider.conf.yml` in your project root directory

- Copy the configuration content provided by the user

4. **Set up API keys**

- Ensure `OPENAI_API_KEY` is set in your environment or `.env` file

- Note: Only OpenAI and Anthropic API keys can be in the YAML config

- For other providers, use a `.env` file in your git root

5. **Review and customize settings**

- Check the `read:` section - update to reference your actual documentation files

- Review `vim: true` - change to `false` if you prefer standard editing mode

- Verify `auto-lint: true` is appropriate for your workflow

- Confirm o1-preview model is available in your OpenAI account

6. **Test the configuration**

- Run `aider` in your project directory

- Verify the configuration loads without errors

- Confirm o1-preview model is active

- Test basic chat interaction

7. **Optional: Add to .gitignore**

- The config automatically adds `.aider*` files to `.gitignore`

- Consider whether to commit `.aider.conf.yml` to version control (typically yes for team consistency)

8. **Configure lint commands (if needed)**

- If using auto-lint, ensure linters are installed (flake8, eslint, etc.)

- Add custom lint commands using the `lint-cmd` option for your languages

Key Features Enabled

**Model Configuration:**

**Code Quality:**

**UX Enhancements:**

**Privacy:**

Examples

**Basic usage with this config:**

```bash

Start aider in your project

aider

Add files to work with

/add src/main.py

Chat with AI using o1-preview

> Add error handling to the main function

Aider will use architect mode and auto-lint after changes

```

**Override config for one session:**

```bash

Use different model temporarily

aider --4o

Disable auto-lint for this session

aider --no-auto-lint

```

**Multi-file editing:**

```bash

Add multiple files

aider --file src/main.py --file src/utils.py --read docs/API.md

```

Important Notes

Customization Options

**Switch to different model:**

```yaml

Change from o1-preview to sonnet

o1-preview: false

sonnet: true

```

**Disable VI mode:**

```yaml

vim: false

```

**Add test automation:**

```yaml

test-cmd: pytest tests/

auto-test: true

```

**Configure language-specific linting:**

```yaml

lint-cmd:

- "python: flake8 --max-line-length=100"

- "javascript: eslint --fix"

```