Aider Configuration

Configure Aider AI pair programmer for your development workflow. This skill helps you create and customize `.aider.conf.yml` files with optimal settings for model selection, git integration, output formatting, and automation features.

What This Skill Does

Generates or modifies Aider configuration files (`.aider.conf.yml`) with comprehensive settings for:

Instructions

When a user requests Aider configuration:

1. **Understand Requirements**

- Ask which AI model they want to use (Sonnet, GPT-4o, custom, etc.)

- Determine if they want auto-commits enabled or disabled

- Check preferences for dark/light mode and terminal colors

- Ask about linting/testing integration needs

- Determine if VI mode is desired

2. **Locate or Create Configuration**

- Check for existing `.aider.conf.yml` in git root, current directory, or home directory

- If exists, read current settings before modifying

- If creating new, place in git repository root or home directory based on user preference

3. **Configure Core Settings**

- Set model selection (e.g., `sonnet: true` for Claude 3.5 Sonnet)

- Configure `auto-commits: false` if user wants manual control, `true` for automatic commits

- Set `dark-mode: true` or `light-mode: true` based on terminal preference

- Configure `vim: true` if user prefers VI keybindings

4. **Configure Advanced Features**

- Set `map-tokens` for repo context (default 1024, use 0 to disable)

- Configure `auto-lint: true` and `lint-cmd` for automatic code quality checks

- Set `auto-test: true` and `test-cmd` if test automation is desired

- Configure `cache-prompts: true` for faster responses with repeated prompts

- Set `max-chat-history-tokens` to control conversation context size

5. **Git Integration**

- Set `gitignore: true` to auto-add `.aider*` files to `.gitignore`

- Configure `attribute-author: true` to mark AI changes in git author

- Set `dirty-commits: true` to allow commits when repo has uncommitted changes

- Specify `.aiderignore` file location if needed

6. **Output Customization**

- Set terminal colors: `user-input-color`, `assistant-output-color`, `tool-error-color`

- Configure `code-theme` (default, monokai, solarized-dark, solarized-light)

- Set `stream: true` for real-time response streaming

- Configure `show-diffs: true` to display diffs when committing

7. **API and Model Settings**

- Note: Only OpenAI and Anthropic keys can go in YAML (use `.env` for others)

- Configure `openai-api-base` for custom endpoints

- Set `model-settings-file` and `model-metadata-file` for custom models

- Configure `weak-model` for commit messages and summarization

8. **Write Configuration File**

- Generate clean YAML with only non-default settings

- Include comments for important options

- Validate YAML syntax

- Place in appropriate location

Example Configurations

Minimal Configuration (Claude Sonnet, Manual Commits, Dark Mode)

```yaml

Main model

sonnet: true

Git settings

auto-commits: false

Terminal

dark-mode: true

vim: true

```

Full-Featured Configuration (Auto-lint, Auto-test, Custom Colors)

```yaml

Model

model: claude-3-5-sonnet-20240620

weak-model: gpt-4o-mini

Repository mapping

map-tokens: 2048

cache-prompts: true

Git

auto-commits: true

attribute-author: true

gitignore: true

Linting and testing

auto-lint: true

lint-cmd:

- "python: ruff check --fix"

- "javascript: eslint --fix"

auto-test: true

test-cmd: pytest

Output

dark-mode: true

stream: true

code-theme: monokai

user-input-color: "#00ff00"

assistant-output-color: "#00aaff"

Terminal

vim: true

```

Important Notes

Constraints