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What is Aider?
Aider is a terminal-first AI pair programming tool. You launch it from inside a git repo, add files to the chat context, and describe changes in natural language. Aider edits the files directly on disk and commits the changes with a generated commit message, turning your git history into a record of every AI-assisted change.
Key Features
- Git-native workflow: every edit becomes a commit, so review and rollback are normal git operations
- Repo-map awareness: builds a structural map of the codebase so the model can reason about files outside the immediate chat
- Multi-file edits: propose and apply coordinated changes across many files in one turn
- Voice coding: optional speech-to-prompt for hands-free pairing
- Model-agnostic: works with Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, local models via Ollama, and others
Who is it for?
Aider fits developers who live in the terminal, prefer keyboard-driven workflows, and want AI changes that integrate cleanly with code review. It is also strong as a CI-adjacent tool for scripted, repeatable code changes across many repos.
Pricing
Free and open-source under the Apache 2.0 license. Costs are whatever your model provider charges per token.