Aider Config – Dotfiles Best Practices

A production-ready Aider configuration that balances privacy, automation, and developer experience. Sourced from mafrosis/dotfiles.

What This Configuration Does

Instructions

When a user provides this configuration file (typically `.aider.conf.yml` or when this skill is invoked):

1. **Create the configuration file** at the project root as `.aider.conf.yml` with the following content:

```yaml

analytics-disable: true

check-update: false

vim: true

env-file: na # ignore .env

read: [.aider.conventions]

dark-mode: true

Models

alias:

- gemini:openrouter/google/gemini-2.5-pro-preview

- deepseek:openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-r1-0528:free

- claude:openrouter/anthropic/claude-sonnet-4

- devstral:openrouter/mistralai/devstral-small:free

editor-model: devstral

Git

git: true

gitignore: false

auto-commits: true

attribute-commit-message-author: true

Linting and Testing

auto-lint: true

lint-cmd: make lint

auto-test: true

test-cmd: make test

```

2. **Verify prerequisites**:

- Confirm `Makefile` exists with `lint` and `test` targets

- If missing, ask the user: "This config expects `make lint` and `make test` commands. Should I create a basic Makefile template?"

3. **Optional: Create `.aider.conventions` file** if the user wants project-specific coding standards:

- Ask: "Would you like to define coding conventions in `.aider.conventions`?"

- If yes, create a template with common conventions (e.g., code style, naming patterns, testing requirements)

4. **Explain key settings**:

- **Model Aliases**: Shortcuts for OpenRouter models (requires `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` in environment)

- **editor-model**: Uses Devstral (free tier) for code editing operations

- **auto-commits**: Automatically commits changes with `--attribute-commit-message-author` flag

- **auto-lint/auto-test**: Runs after each change to catch issues early

5. **Environment Setup**:

- Remind user to set `OPENROUTER_API_KEY` environment variable

- Suggest adding to shell profile: `export OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-...`

Usage Examples

**Using model aliases:**

```bash

aider --model gemini # Uses Gemini 2.5 Pro via OpenRouter

aider --model deepseek # Uses DeepSeek R1 (free tier)

aider --model claude # Uses Claude Sonnet 4

```

**Automatic workflow:**

**Conventions file (optional):**

Create `.aider.conventions` with project-specific rules:

```

```

Important Notes