Aider
Open-source CLI coding agent that pair-programs in your terminal and commits to git automatically.
Aider is an open-source CLI coding agent that pair-programs in your terminal and commits to git automatically. Fully open source under Apache 2.0; no vendor lock-in.
What it does well
- Fully open source under Apache 2.0; no vendor lock-in.
- Bring-your-own-key for OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, DeepSeek, and local Ollama models.
- Every accepted change is committed to git with a generated message.
Where it falls short
- No GUI — command-line only; no inline-edit overlay like Cursor.
- Cost depends entirely on the underlying provider's token pricing.
Tagged
- Self-hostable
- Bring Your Own Key
- Supports Claude
- Supports GPT
- Supports Gemini
- Supports Local Models
- CLI
- Multi-file Edits
- Git Integration
- Terminal Execution
- Free
- Open Source
Compared with similar things
Picked by shared tags inside the AI Coding Agents.
- 01Freemium →OpenHands
Open-source autonomous coding agent platform, formerly OpenDevin, by All Hands AI.
- 02Free →Cline
Open-source autonomous coding agent for VS Code, formerly known as Claude Dev.
- 03Free →Open WebUI
Self-hostable web UI for Ollama and OpenAI-compatible endpoints — feels like ChatGPT, runs on your own server.
- 04Freemium →Skyvern
LLM-powered browser automation that handles forms, captchas, and multi-page flows reliably.
- 05Free →Stagehand
Browserbase's library for building reliable AI agents on top of Playwright with structured actions.
- 06Freemium →LangGraph
LangChain's graph-based framework for building stateful multi-agent applications.
Concepts you should know
- AI agent
An LLM-powered program that pursues a goal over multiple steps by calling tools, observing results, and replanning. Agents differ from single-turn chatbots in that they can take real actions (run shell commands, edit files, hit APIs) and iterate without human intervention between steps.
- Coding agent
An AI agent specialised for software-engineering tasks. Exposes file editing, terminal execution, code search, and git operations as tools and pursues multi-step coding goals like "add a /signup route with tests".
- Context window
The maximum number of tokens an LLM can attend to in a single inference call — both the prompt and the generated output count against it. As of 2026, frontier models range from 200k tokens (GPT-5) to 1M+ tokens (Gemini 2.5, Claude Sonnet 4.6 with 1M extension).
- Multi-file edit
A single agent action that modifies several files in one logical change — for example, renaming a function across imports, refactoring a component and its tests together, or applying a codemod. Distinguishes modern coding agents from per-file autocompletion.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Aider?
- Aider is an open-source CLI coding agent that pair-programs in your terminal and commits to git automatically.
- Is Aider free?
- Aider is free to use. There is no paid tier as of the last index update.
- What platforms does Aider support?
- Aider runs on mac, win, linux, cli.
- What category does Aider belong to?
- Aider is in the AI Coding Agents category — Autonomous agents that write, edit, run, and review code. Includes CLI agents, agentic IDE add-ons, and code-review bots.
- What are the downsides of Aider?
- No GUI — command-line only; no inline-edit overlay like Cursor. Cost depends entirely on the underlying provider's token pricing.