Aider Configuration Template

Complete configuration reference for Aider, the AI pair programming tool. This template includes all valid configuration entries that can be placed in `.aider.conf.yml` at your home directory or git repository root.

What This Configuration Does

Provides a comprehensive template showing every available Aider configuration option, including:

Instructions

When a user requests help with Aider configuration:

1. **Identify the specific configuration needs** by asking:

- Which AI model/provider are they using?

- What aspects of Aider do they want to customize?

- Are they working in a team with shared settings?

2. **Create a focused configuration file** by:

- Starting with the essential settings (model, API keys)

- Adding only the options relevant to their use case

- Including helpful comments explaining each setting

- Removing unused options to keep it clean

3. **Provide the configuration with context**:

- Show where to place the file (`.aider.conf.yml` in project root or home directory)

- Explain how to set API keys securely (prefer `.env` file for all providers)

- Highlight any deprecated options and suggest alternatives

4. **Common configuration patterns**:

**Minimal setup (Anthropic Claude)**:

```yaml

model: claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219

auto-commits: true

dark-mode: true

```

**OpenAI with custom settings**:

```yaml

model: gpt-4o

openai-api-base: https://custom-endpoint.com

cache-prompts: true

map-tokens: 2048

```

**Team project with linting**:

```yaml

model: claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219

auto-commits: true

auto-lint: true

lint-cmd:

- "python: ruff check --fix"

- "javascript: eslint --fix"

git-commit-verify: false

```

**Multi-model setup with architect mode**:

```yaml

model: claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219

weak-model: claude-3-5-haiku-20241022

architect: true

cache-prompts: true

```

5. **Security reminders**:

- Never commit API keys to git repositories

- Use `.env` file for sensitive credentials (supports all providers)

- Add `.aider*` files to `.gitignore` (enabled by default)

- Use `--set-env` for environment-specific API settings

6. **Key sections to explain**:

- **Main model**: Primary AI model for code changes

- **Weak model**: Faster model for commit messages and summaries

- **Editor model**: Model for specific editor tasks

- **Cache settings**: Enable prompt caching to reduce API costs

- **Repomap settings**: Control context window usage

- **Git settings**: Customize commit behavior and attribution

- **Output settings**: Customize colors and formatting

7. **Common customizations**:

- Dark/light mode for terminal colors

- Auto-commit and dirty-commit behavior

- Lint commands for automatic code quality checks

- Test commands for automatic testing

- Map tokens for repository context sizing

- Stream vs batch response display

Example Usage

**User request**: "Help me configure Aider for my Python project with Claude Sonnet"

**Response**:

```yaml

.aider.conf.yml

Place in your project root

Main model for code changes

model: claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219

Enable prompt caching (saves API costs on repeated context)

cache-prompts: true

Automatically commit LLM changes with descriptive messages

auto-commits: true

Automatically run linting after changes

auto-lint: true

lint-cmd:

- "python: ruff check --fix"

Use colors for dark terminal

dark-mode: true

Repository map tokens (context window for codebase understanding)

map-tokens: 2048

Git settings

attribute-author: true

dirty-commits: true

```

Then add your Anthropic API key to `.env` in your project root:

```

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-...

```

This configuration enables automatic commits, linting with Ruff, and uses prompt caching to reduce costs.

Important Notes