Aider Configuration Template

A complete `.aider.conf.yaml` configuration file template that documents all available Aider settings. Use this as a starting point to customize Aider's behavior for your projects.

Instructions

This skill provides a comprehensive Aider configuration template. Follow these steps to use it:

1. **Understand the Configuration Structure**: Review the template below which includes all valid Aider configuration entries organized by category (Main, Model Settings, History Files, Output Settings, Git Settings, etc.)

2. **Create Your Configuration File**: Place the configuration file in one of these locations:

- Project root: `.aider.conf.yaml` (recommended for project-specific settings)

- Home directory: `~/.aider.conf.yaml` (for global defaults)

- Custom location specified via `--config` flag

3. **Customize Settings**: Uncomment and set values for options you want to enable. Key categories include:

- **API Keys**: OpenAI and Anthropic keys (other providers use `.env` file)

- **Model Selection**: Choose between GPT-4, Claude Opus, Sonnet, etc.

- **Git Integration**: Auto-commits, dirty commits, commit message attribution

- **Output Formatting**: Colors, themes, streaming responses

- **Linting & Testing**: Automatic lint/test execution after changes

4. **Security Best Practices**:

- Store API keys in `.env` files rather than config (supports all providers)

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

- Use `env-file` option to specify custom env file location

5. **Model Configuration**: Customize model behavior with:

- `--model`: Primary chat model

- `--weak-model`: Model for commit messages and summarization

- `--map-tokens`: Control repo map size (default: 1024)

- `--edit-format`: Specify LLM edit format

6. **Git Workflow Options**:

- `auto-commits: true`: Automatically commit LLM changes

- `dirty-commits: true`: Allow commits when repo is dirty

- `attribute-author: true`: Credit aider in git author name

- `show-diffs: true`: Display diffs before committing

7. **Development Workflow**:

- Use `--lint` with `lint-cmd` for automatic code quality checks

- Enable `auto-test: true` with `test-cmd` for continuous testing

- Set `--message` or `--message-file` for non-interactive use

Template

```yaml

##########################################################

Sample .aider.conf.yaml

This file lists *all* the valid configuration entries.

Place in your home dir, or at the root of your git repo.

##########################################################

Note: You can only put OpenAI and Anthropic API keys in the yaml

config file. Keys for all APIs can be stored in a .env file

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

##########

options:

show this help message and exit

#help:

#######

Main:

Specify the OpenAI API key

#openai-api-key:

Specify the Anthropic API key

#anthropic-api-key:

Specify the model to use for the main chat

#model:

Use claude-3-opus-20240229 model for the main chat

#opus: false

Use claude-3-5-sonnet-20240620 model for the main chat

#sonnet: false

Use gpt-4-0613 model for the main chat

#4: false

Use gpt-4o model for the main chat

#4o: false

Use gpt-4-1106-preview model for the main chat

#4-turbo: false

Use gpt-3.5-turbo model for the main chat

#35turbo: false

#################

Model Settings:

List known models which match the (partial) MODEL name

#models:

Specify the api base url

#openai-api-base:

Specify the api_type

#openai-api-type:

Specify the api_version

#openai-api-version:

Specify the deployment_id

#openai-api-deployment-id:

Specify the OpenAI organization ID

#openai-organization-id:

Specify a file with aider model settings for unknown models

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

Specify a file with context window and costs for unknown models

#model-metadata-file: .aider.model.metadata.json

Verify the SSL cert when connecting to models (default: True)

#verify-ssl: true

Specify what edit format the LLM should use (default depends on model)

#edit-format:

Specify the model to use for commit messages and chat history summarization (default depends on --model)

#weak-model:

Only work with models that have meta-data available (default: True)

#show-model-warnings: true

Max number of tokens to use for repo map, use 0 to disable (default: 1024)

#map-tokens: 1024

Maximum number of tokens to use for chat history. If not specified, uses the model's max_chat_history_tokens.

#max-chat-history-tokens:

Specify the .env file to load (default: .env in git root)

#env-file: .env

################

History Files:

Specify the chat input history file (default: .aider.input.history)

#input-history-file: .aider.input.history

Specify the chat history file (default: .aider.chat.history.md)

#chat-history-file: .aider.chat.history.md

Restore the previous chat history messages (default: False)

#restore-chat-history: false

Log the conversation with the LLM to this file (for example, .aider.llm.history)

#llm-history-file:

##################

Output Settings:

Use colors suitable for a dark terminal background (default: False)

#dark-mode: false

Use colors suitable for a light terminal background (default: False)

#light-mode: false

Enable/disable pretty, colorized output (default: True)

#pretty: true

Enable/disable streaming responses (default: True)

#stream: true

Set the color for user input (default: #00cc00)

#user-input-color: #00cc00

Set the color for tool output (default: None)

#tool-output-color:

Set the color for tool error messages (default: red)

#tool-error-color: #FF2222

Set the color for assistant output (default: #0088ff)

#assistant-output-color: #0088ff

Set the markdown code theme (default: default, other options include monokai, solarized-dark, solarized-light)

#code-theme: default

Show diffs when committing changes (default: False)

#show-diffs: false

###############

Git Settings:

Enable/disable looking for a git repo (default: True)

#git: true

Enable/disable adding .aider* to .gitignore (default: True)

#gitignore: true

Specify the aider ignore file (default: .aiderignore in git root)

#aiderignore: .aiderignore

Enable/disable auto commit of LLM changes (default: True)

#auto-commits: true

Enable/disable commits when repo is found dirty (default: True)

#dirty-commits: true

Attribute aider code changes in the git author name (default: True)

#attribute-author: true

Attribute aider commits in the git committer name (default: True)

#attribute-committer: true

Prefix commit messages with 'aider: ' (default: False)

#attribute-commit-message: false

Perform a dry run without modifying files (default: False)

#dry-run: false

########################

Fixing and committing:

Commit all pending changes with a suitable commit message, then exit

#commit: false

Lint and fix provided files, or dirty files if none provided

#lint: false

Specify lint commands to run for different languages, eg: "python: flake8 --select=..." (can be used multiple times)

#lint-cmd:

Enable/disable automatic linting after changes (default: True)

#auto-lint: true

Specify command to run tests

#test-cmd:

Enable/disable automatic testing after changes (default: False)

#auto-test: false

Run tests and fix problems found

#test: false

#################

Other Settings:

Use VI editing mode in the terminal (default: False)

#vim: false

Specify the language for voice using ISO 639-1 code (default: auto)

#voice-language: en

Show the version number and exit

#version:

Check for updates and return status in the exit code

#check-update: false

Skips checking for the update when the program runs

#skip-check-update: false

Apply the changes from the given file instead of running the chat (debug)

#apply:

Always say yes to every confirmation

#yes: false

Enable verbose output

#verbose: false

Print the repo map and exit (debug)

#show-repo-map: false

Print the system prompts and exit (debug)

#show-prompts: false

Do all startup activities then exit before accepting user input (debug)

#exit: false

Specify a single message to send the LLM, process reply then exit (disables chat mode)

#message:

Specify a file containing the message to send the LLM, process reply, then exit (disables chat mode)

#message-file:

Specify the encoding for input and output (default: utf-8)

#encoding: utf-8

Specify the config file (default: search for .aider.conf.yml in git root, cwd or home directory)

#config:

Run aider in your browser

#gui: false

```

Common Configuration Examples

**Python project with automatic linting:**

```yaml

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

auto-lint: true

```

**Dark mode with custom colors:**

```yaml

dark-mode: true

user-input-color: "#00ff00"

assistant-output-color: "#00aaff"

code-theme: monokai

```

**Non-interactive commit mode:**

```yaml

auto-commits: true

attribute-commit-message: true

yes: true

```

Notes