Aider Configuration for Mac

A professionally configured Aider setup optimized for Mac development environments, featuring smart model aliases, custom color theming, and streamlined git workflows.

What This Configuration Provides

Instructions

1. **Locate or create your Aider configuration file**:

- For user-wide config: `~/.aider.conf.yml`

- For project-specific config: Place `.aider.conf.yml` at your git repository root

2. **Copy the configuration content** from the source to your chosen location.

3. **Key configuration highlights**:

**Model Management:**

- Default model set to `smart` (o3-mini)

- Use `/model fast` to switch to gpt-4o-mini for quicker responses

- Use `/model smart` to return to o3-mini for complex tasks

**Git Behavior:**

- Auto-commits **disabled** — you control when changes are committed

- `show-diffs: true` — review changes before committing

- `git-commit-verify: true` — runs pre-commit hooks

- `attribute-committer: false` — commits appear under your name, not "aider"

**Terminal Experience:**

- VI editing mode enabled (set `vim: false` if you prefer standard mode)

- Notifications enabled — bell rings when LLM finishes

- Custom color scheme optimized for dark terminals

4. **Set your API keys** (not stored in this config file):

- Create a `.env` file in your project root or home directory

- Add: `OPENAI_API_KEY=your_key_here` and/or `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_key_here`

- See: https://aider.chat/docs/config/dotenv.html

5. **Customize further** (optional):

- Adjust colors to match your terminal theme

- Change model aliases to your preferred models

- Toggle `vim: false` if you don't use VI keybindings

- Set `auto-commits: true` if you prefer automatic git commits

Usage Examples

**Start Aider with this configuration:**

```bash

aider

```

**Switch between models mid-session:**

```

/model fast # Switch to gpt-4o-mini

/model smart # Switch back to o3-mini

```

**Review changes before committing:**

Important Notes