--- title: Aider slug: aider url: "https://toolweight.com/options/aider" homepage: "https://aider.chat" categories: coding-agents last_verified: 2026-01-15 license: CC-BY-4.0 --- # Aider > Minimal terminal pair-programmer with a tree-sitter repo map and automatic git commits. Aider is the smallest serious harness here and still one of the sharpest ideas in the category: a tree-sitter repo map gives the model a symbol-level view of a codebase far larger than the context window, and every accepted change becomes a git commit you can undo. Architect mode splits a reasoning model from a cheaper editing model. It works with essentially any provider including local ones, but the release cadence has slowed and it has no MCP, no subagents and no PR path. ## Identity | | | | --- | --- | | Name | Aider | | Company | Aider | | One-liner | Minimal terminal pair-programmer with a tree-sitter repo map and automatic git commits. | | Site | https://aider.chat | | Docs | https://aider.chat/docs/ | | Repo | https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider | | Founded | 2023 | | Open source | Yes | | Licence | Apache-2.0 | | Compared in | 1 | ## Where it is compared ### [Coding agents](https://toolweight.com/compare/coding-agents) Ranked **#14 of 17** on default weights. | Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Surface | CLI | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://aider.chat/docs/ | - | | Default model | None, set by --model or environment keys | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Model breadth | any provider / router | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://aider.chat/docs/llms.html | - | | Repo indexing | AST / LSP repo map | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://aider.chat/docs/repomap.html | The tree-sitter repo map is the original good idea in this category, and still one of the cheapest ways to give a model a whole-codebase view. | | Plan mode | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Architect mode splits a reasoning model from an editing model, but there is no approve-the-plan gate. | | Checkpoint & undo | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Every accepted change is a git commit; /undo reverts it. | | Headless / CI | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Local models | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Where it stops | 3 | Inferred | - | - | With --test-cmd and --lint it runs the loop and fixes failures, then commits. No PR path. | | MCP | ○ | Community-reported | - | - | Long-standing gap; the tool predates MCP and development has slowed. | | Subagents | ○ | Community-reported | - | - | - | | Hooks | ○ | Community-reported | - | - | - | | Skills / commands | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Conventions files and built-in slash commands, but no reusable custom commands. | | Background agents | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - | | Opens PRs | ○ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Permissions | prompts every action | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Confirms edits and shell commands; --yes disables that entirely. No sandbox. | | BYOK | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Licence | Apache-2.0 | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider | - | | Pricing model | BYOK tokens only | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Entry price | $0 /seat/mo | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | Token markup | ○ | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - | | GitHub stars | 37,000 | Community-reported | - | - | Rounded. | | Terminal-Bench | - | Unknown | - | - | - | | Bench model | - | Unknown | - | - | - | | Positioning | AI pair programming in your terminal. | Vendor-claimed | - | https://aider.chat | - | | First release | 2023-05-01 | Community-reported | - | - | Approximate. | **Verdict.** Still the most auditable harness here, and the repo map is a better idea than much of what replaced it, but the project has visibly slowed while the category sprinted past on MCP, subagents and sandboxing. Pick it for minimalism, not for keeping up. ## Alternatives - [Amp](https://toolweight.com/options/amp), Sourcegraph's opinionated agent with no model picker and an ad-supported free tier. - [Claude Code](https://toolweight.com/options/claude-code), Anthropic's terminal-first agent, with IDE, web and GitHub Action surfaces. - [Cline](https://toolweight.com/options/cline), Open-source VS Code and JetBrains agent built around an explicit plan/act split. - [Codex CLI](https://toolweight.com/options/codex-cli), OpenAI's open-source Rust agent, with the strongest local sandboxing on this page. - [Cursor](https://toolweight.com/options/cursor), VS Code fork with a real codebase index, background cloud agents and a CLI. - [Devin](https://toolweight.com/options/devin), Fully delegated cloud engineer: file a task in Slack or the web app, get a PR back. - [DIY harness](https://toolweight.com/options/diy-harness), Your own loop over a model API with an agent SDK, the build-it-yourself reference point. - [Gemini CLI](https://toolweight.com/options/gemini-cli), Apache-2.0 terminal agent from Google with an unusually generous free tier. - [GitHub Copilot (Agent HQ)](https://toolweight.com/options/github-copilot), Copilot's coding agent plus a control plane for running third-party agents on your repos. - [Goose](https://toolweight.com/options/goose), Block's Apache-2.0 agent, MCP-native from the start, as both a CLI and a desktop app. - [Grok Build](https://toolweight.com/options/grok-build), xAI's coding harness, launched July 2026, on this page but not yet verified. - [Kilo Code](https://toolweight.com/options/kilo-code), Open-source VS Code agent in the Cline/Roo lineage, with an orchestrator mode and a CLI. ## Licence and attribution Data from toolweight (https://toolweight.com), licensed CC-BY-4.0. - Licence: [CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) - Canonical HTML: https://toolweight.com/options/aider - Machine-readable: https://toolweight.com/options/aider.md · https://toolweight.com/api/v1 · https://toolweight.com/mcp - toolweight takes no affiliate revenue and sells no placements. 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