Aider AI Coding Assistant

Configure Aider with sensible defaults for AI-powered pair programming. This skill sets up Aider with optimized settings for model selection, git integration, output styling, and development workflow automation.

What This Skill Does

Sets up a comprehensive Aider configuration file (`.aider.conf.yml`) with:

Instructions

When the user wants to configure Aider or create an `.aider.conf.yml` file:

1. **Determine Configuration Location**

- Ask user where to place the config: home directory (`~/.aider.conf.yml`) or project root (`.aider.conf.yml`)

- Project root configs override home directory settings

2. **Core Configuration Sections**

**Model Settings:**

- Set `model` to specify the main chat model (e.g., `anthropic/claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219`)

- Configure `weak-model` for commit messages and summarization

- Configure `editor-model` for editor tasks

- Set `edit-format` if needed (default depends on model)

**API Keys and Environment:**

- Document that API keys should go in `.env` file (more secure than YAML)

- Use `set-env` for API-specific environment variables

- Configure `openai-api-base` for custom API endpoints

**Git Integration:**

- `auto-commits: false` - disable automatic commits (require manual approval)

- `subtree-only: true` - only consider files in current git subtree

- `attribute-author: false` - don't modify git author name

- `attribute-committer: false` - don't modify git committer name

- `dirty-commits: true` - allow commits when repo has uncommitted changes

- `gitignore: true` - automatically add `.aider*` files to `.gitignore`

**Output and Display:**

- `dark-mode: true` - optimize colors for dark terminals

- Custom color palette:

- `user-input-color: "#A7C080"` (green)

- `tool-output-color: "#7FBBB3"` (cyan)

- `tool-error-color: "#E67E80"` (red)

- `tool-warning-color: "#DBBC7F"` (yellow)

- `assistant-output-color: "#83B6AF"` (blue)

- `completion-menu-color: "#D3C6AA"` (light)

- `completion-menu-bg-color: "#2D353B"` (dark)

- `code-theme: github-dark` - syntax highlighting theme

**Repo Mapping:**

- `map-tokens` - number of tokens for repo map (use 0 to disable)

- `map-refresh: auto` - automatic repo map refresh

- `map-multiplier-no-files: 2` - increase map size when no files specified

**Linting and Testing:**

- `auto-lint: true` - automatically lint after changes

- `lint-cmd` - specify lint commands per language

- `auto-test: false` - don't automatically run tests

- `test-cmd` - command to run tests when requested

**Editor Integration:**

- `editor: nvim` - specify editor for `/editor` command

- `vim: false` - use default key bindings (not VI mode)

3. **Create Configuration File**

- Create `.aider.conf.yml` with YAML format

- Include comprehensive comments for each section

- List all configuration options with defaults

- Mark deprecated options clearly

4. **Additional Setup**

- Create `.env` file for API keys if needed

- Create `.aiderignore` file to exclude paths

- Explain how to override settings per-project

5. **Usage Examples**

Show user how to:

- Launch with specific model: `aider --model anthropic/claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219`

- Add files to chat: `aider file1.py file2.py`

- Use read-only files: `aider --read docs.md --file code.py`

- Lint and fix: `aider --lint`

- Run tests: `aider --test`

- Generate commit message: `aider --commit`

Configuration Best Practices

Important Notes

Example Project Setup

For a Python project with linting and testing:

```yaml

model: anthropic/claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219

auto-commits: false

auto-lint: true

lint-cmd:

- "python: ruff check --fix"

- "python: black"

test-cmd: pytest

subtree-only: true

dark-mode: true

code-theme: github-dark

editor: nvim

```