Aider Configuration Template

A complete `.aider.conf.yml` configuration template showcasing all available Aider settings. Use this to customize Aider's behavior for AI-assisted pair programming in your project.

What This Does

Provides a fully documented configuration file template for Aider, covering:

Instructions

1. **Choose Your Placement**

- Place `.aider.conf.yml` in your home directory for global settings

- Or place it at the root of your git repository for project-specific configuration

2. **Configure API Keys** (choose one or more)

```yaml

openai-api-key: sk-...

anthropic-api-key: sk-ant-...

```

**Note:** For other API providers, use a `.env` file instead: https://aider.chat/docs/config/dotenv.html

3. **Select Your Model**

Uncomment and set to `true` for quick model selection:

```yaml

# opus: true # Claude 3 Opus

# sonnet: true # Claude 3.5 Sonnet

# 4o: true # GPT-4o

# mini: true # GPT-4o Mini

# deepseek: true # DeepSeek Coder

```

Or specify any model explicitly:

```yaml

model: claude-3-5-sonnet-20240620

```

4. **Customize Git Behavior**

```yaml

auto-commits: true # Auto-commit LLM changes

dirty-commits: true # Allow commits in dirty repos

attribute-author: true # Credit aider in git author

show-diffs: true # Show diffs before committing

```

5. **Configure Linting & Testing**

```yaml

auto-lint: true

lint-cmd:

- "python: flake8 --select=E,W"

- "javascript: eslint"

auto-test: false

test-cmd: pytest tests/

```

6. **Adjust Output Styling**

```yaml

dark-mode: true # For dark terminal backgrounds

# light-mode: true # For light terminal backgrounds

user-input-color: "#00cc00"

assistant-output-color: "#0088ff"

code-theme: monokai # Or: default, solarized-dark, solarized-light

```

7. **Set Context Window**

```yaml

map-tokens: 1024 # Tokens for repo map (0 to disable)

max-chat-history-tokens: 4096 # Limit chat history size

```

8. **Enable Advanced Features**

```yaml

cache-prompts: true # Enable prompt caching

suggest-shell-commands: true # Get shell command suggestions

restore-chat-history: true # Resume previous conversations

```

9. **Run Aider**

```bash

aider

```

Configuration will be automatically loaded from `.aider.conf.yml`

Common Configuration Patterns

Minimal Setup (Claude Sonnet)

```yaml

anthropic-api-key: sk-ant-...

sonnet: true

auto-commits: true

dark-mode: true

```

Python Development with Linting

```yaml

openai-api-key: sk-...

4o: true

auto-lint: true

lint-cmd: "python: ruff check --fix"

auto-test: true

test-cmd: pytest

map-tokens: 2048

```

Custom Model Configuration

```yaml

model: deepseek/deepseek-coder-33b-instruct

openai-api-base: https://api.deepseek.com/v1

model-settings-file: .aider.model.settings.yml

cache-prompts: true

```

Team Project Settings

```yaml

sonnet: true

gitignore: true

attribute-commit-message-committer: true

auto-commits: true

show-diffs: true

lint-cmd:

- "python: black . && ruff check"

- "typescript: prettier --write . && eslint --fix"

```

Key Settings Reference

| Setting | Purpose | Default |

|---------|---------|---------|

| `model` | Specify LLM model | (depends on flags) |

| `auto-commits` | Auto-commit LLM changes | `true` |

| `auto-lint` | Run linters after changes | `true` |

| `map-tokens` | Tokens for repo context | `1024` |

| `dark-mode` | Dark terminal colors | `false` |

| `stream` | Stream LLM responses | `true` |

| `git` | Enable git integration | `true` |

| `cache-prompts` | Cache prompts for speed | `false` |

Notes

References