Aider Configuration - benthamite/dotfiles

A carefully crafted Aider configuration with multi-model support, project-specific commit message rules for dotfiles and tlon projects, and global conventions.

Overview

This configuration provides:

Configuration Details

Active Model Setup

Currently configured to use:

Alternative Models (Commented)

The configuration includes ready-to-use presets for:

Commit Message Rules

Generates concise commit messages (≤70 characters) with project-specific logic:

1. **For `dotfiles` project** (files in `emacs/extras` or `emacs/extras/doc`):

- Format: `<filename-without-extension>: <lowercase description>`

- Example: `files-extras: refactor directory traversal logic`

2. **For `tlon` project** (files in project root or `doc` subdirectory):

- Format: `<extracted-module-name>: <description>`

- Extracts module name between `tlon-` and `.el`

- Example: For `tlon-tts.el` → `tts: add speech rate control`

- Documentation files use the same module name as their Elisp counterparts

3. **For all other projects**:

- Standard commit conventions apply

Additional Settings

Usage Instructions

1. Copy this configuration to your `.aider.conf.yaml` file in your project root or home directory

2. Ensure the global conventions file exists:

```bash

# Create if needed

touch ~/Dropbox/dotfiles/aider/global_conventions.md

```

3. Switch models by commenting/uncommenting the desired model block:

```yaml

# Comment out current model

# model: openrouter/anthropic/claude-opus-4.5

# edit-format: diff-fenced

# Uncomment desired model

model: openai/gpt-5.2

edit-format: diff-fenced

```

4. Start Aider in your project:

```bash

aider

```

5. Commit messages will automatically follow the project-specific rules based on your directory structure

Customization

Add Your Own Project Rules

Extend the `commit-prompt` section with additional project-specific logic:

```yaml

commit-prompt: |

Generate a concise commit message following these rules:

# ... existing rules ...

- If the current project is `my-project` and files are in `src/`, use format: `<module>: <description>`

- In all cases, the commit should not be longer than 70 characters.

```

Change Global Conventions Path

Update the `read` section to point to your conventions file:

```yaml

read:

- /path/to/your/conventions.md

```

Adjust Linting Behavior

Toggle auto-linting:

```yaml

auto-lint: false # Disable auto-linting

```

Notes