Aider AI pair programming in the terminal

Category: Terminal AI pair programmer
Platform: macOS, Windows, Linux
Pricing: Free (open source) / bring your own API keys
Install: python -m pip install aider-install then aider-install
Languages: 100+ (Python, JavaScript, Rust, Go, C++, PHP, HTML, CSS, and more)
Models: Claude, DeepSeek, OpenAI family, and many others, including local models

Aider is a mature terminal workflow for pair programming with LLMs against your real codebase. It builds a map of the project, proposes edits in place, and can commit with sensible messages so you can diff, revert, and review with normal git tools.

Source: aider.chat

Why It Stands Out

Aider has been in the terminal-LLM space for years with a focus on practical repo work: not just chat, but applied patches, tests, and git history you control. It is widely used (tens of thousands of GitHub stars and millions of installs) and documented for day-to-day engineering workflows.

Getting Started

Install via pip, cd into your project, then run aider with your chosen model and API key. Providers, configuration, and editor integration are documented on aider.chat.

Key Capabilities

Codebase map: helps the model reason across larger trees than a single file.
Git-native workflow: automatic commits with readable messages; undo with familiar git commands.
IDE-friendly: run from the terminal beside your editor; drive changes from comments in code.
Rich context: attach images and web pages for screenshots, specs, or reference docs.
Lint and test hooks: optional automation so the agent can fix failures from your toolchain.
Flexible models: optimized paths for major APIs, plus support for local and alternate providers.