Aider Configuration: Black Metal Theme

A comprehensive Aider configuration featuring a dark Dracula-inspired color scheme, Neovim integration, vim keybindings, and a manual git workflow optimized for developer control.

Configuration Overview

This skill configures Aider with the following settings:

Theme & Visual Styling

**Black Metal color scheme**: Dracula-inspired palette with high contrast

**User/Assistant/Tool output**: Light text (`#f8f8f2`) on dark backgrounds

**Error highlighting**: Bright red (`#ff5555`) for visibility

**Completion menu**: Terminal-based autocomplete with subtle highlighting

**Code syntax**: Monokai theme for markdown code blocks

Editor & Input

**Editor**: Neovim (`nvim`)

**Vim mode**: Enabled for vi-style navigation and editing

**Multiline**: Disabled (single-line input, pairs well with vim mode)

**Shell suggestions**: Disabled for cleaner interface

**Chat history**: Not restored between sessions (fresh start each time)

Git Workflow

**Auto-commits**: Disabled — you commit manually when ready

**Attribution**: Disabled for both author and committer

**Diff display**: Hidden by default (less noise during edits)

Performance & Behavior

**Streaming**: Disabled for complete responses

**Model warnings**: Hidden

**Auto-lint/test**: Disabled — run manually when needed

**Prompt caching**: Enabled with 12 keepalive pings for efficiency

**Update checks**: Disabled

Edit Format

**Default**: `whole` (entire file rewriting)

Alternatives: `diff`, `udiff`, `diff-fenced` (comment out and uncomment as needed)

Instructions for AI Agent

When the user invokes this skill:

1. Create or update the Aider configuration file at `~/.aider.conf.yml` (or `.aider.conf.yml` in the project directory for project-specific overrides).

2. Write the following configuration:

```yaml

Aider Configuration File

edit-format: whole # options; diff, whole, udiff, diff-fenced

architect: false

Theme: Black Metal

Main text colors

user-input-color: "#f8f8f2"

assistant-output-color: "#f8f8f2"

tool-output-color: "#f8f8f2"

tool-error-color: "#ff5555"

tool-warning-color: "#f8f8f2"

Completion menu colors (terminal-based)

completion-menu-color: "#f8f8f2"

completion-menu-bg-color: "#282a36"

completion-menu-current-color: "#f8f8f2"

completion-menu-current-bg-color: "#44475a"

Code theme for markdown syntax highlighting

code-theme: "monokai"

Editor Configuration

editor: nvim

Streaming

stream: false

show-model-warnings: false

Git Settings

auto-commits: false

no-attribute-author: true

no-attribute-committer: true

show-diffs: false

Input Mode

suggest-shell-commands: false

vim: true

multiline: false

restore-chat-history: false

Disable automatic linting/testing

auto-lint: false

auto-test: false

Cache Settings

cache-prompts: true

cache-keepalive-pings: 12

check-update: false

```

3. Confirm the file location and inform the user that Aider will use these settings on next launch.

Customization Notes

**Theme colors**: Modify hex values under "Theme: Black Metal" to match your terminal palette

**Editor**: Change `editor: nvim` to `vim`, `code`, `emacs`, etc.

**Edit format**: Uncomment the `edit-format` line and change to `diff` or `udiff` for incremental edits instead of whole-file rewrites

**Git workflow**: Set `auto-commits: true` if you prefer automatic git commits for each change

**Multiline**: Set `multiline: true` if you prefer multi-line input prompts

Requirements

Aider CLI installed ([aider.chat](https://aider.chat))

Neovim (`nvim`) installed if using default editor setting

Git repository initialized (if using git features)

Usage Example

After applying this configuration:

```bash

Launch Aider in any project

aider

Aider will use Black Metal theme, vim mode, and manual git workflow

Make changes, then commit manually when ready:

git add .

git commit -m "your message"

```

Aider Theme: Black Metal