Aider Configuration for PDF Extraction Project

This skill configures Aider, an AI pair programming tool, with optimized settings for development workflows. The configuration uses Claude Sonnet as the main model and customizes git, output, and interaction settings.

Configuration Overview

This Aider configuration file (`.aider.conf.yml`) sets up:

Instructions

When a user asks to configure Aider for their project, follow these steps:

1. **Verify Aider Installation**

- Check if Aider is installed: `which aider` or `aider --version`

- If not installed, inform the user they need to install it first

2. **Locate or Create Configuration File**

- Check if `.aider.conf.yml` exists in the git root directory

- If it doesn't exist, you'll create a new one

3. **Generate Configuration File**

- Create or update `.aider.conf.yml` in the project root with the following key settings:

```yaml

Main model configuration

sonnet: true

Git settings

auto-commits: false

Interaction settings

suggest-shell-commands: false

detect-urls: false

Editor integration

editor: code

```

4. **Explain Key Configuration Choices**

- **`sonnet: true`**: Uses Claude 3.5 Sonnet as the main model for code generation and chat

- **`auto-commits: false`**: Disables automatic git commits, giving you control over when changes are committed

- **`suggest-shell-commands: false`**: Prevents Aider from suggesting shell commands automatically

- **`detect-urls: false`**: Disables automatic URL detection in chat

- **`editor: code`**: Sets VS Code as the default editor for the `/editor` command

5. **Optional Customizations**

Ask the user if they want to customize:

- **Model selection**: Other options include `opus`, `haiku`, `4o`, `mini`, `deepseek`

- **Git behavior**: `dirty-commits`, `attribute-author`, `show-diffs`

- **Testing**: `test-cmd`, `auto-test` for automatic test execution

- **Linting**: `lint-cmd`, `auto-lint` for code quality checks

- **Color scheme**: `dark-mode` or `light-mode` settings

6. **Add API Keys (if needed)**

- Remind user that API keys should be stored in `.env` file, not in `.aider.conf.yml`

- Only OpenAI and Anthropic keys can be in the YAML file, but `.env` is recommended for security

7. **Create .aiderignore File (optional)**

- If the user wants to exclude certain files from Aider's context, create `.aiderignore`

- Common exclusions: `node_modules/`, `dist/`, `*.log`, `.env`

8. **Test Configuration**

- Suggest the user run `aider` to verify the configuration loads correctly

- Check for any configuration errors or warnings

Example Usage

**User**: "Set up Aider for my Python project with automatic linting"

**Assistant Actions**:

1. Create `.aider.conf.yml` with base configuration

2. Add Python-specific linting:

```yaml

sonnet: true

auto-commits: false

suggest-shell-commands: false

detect-urls: false

editor: code

Python linting

lint-cmd:

- "python: ruff check --fix"

auto-lint: true

```

3. Explain that Ruff will automatically check and fix code after each change

Important Notes

Constraints