Open-source AI pair programming CLI. The only tool in the coding CLI category with a fully verifiable, independent download number: 191,828/week PyPI installs, 5.7M lifetime, 15B tokens/week (homepage stat). Multi-model, git-native, no vendor lock-in. v0.86.2 released 2026-02-12.
91/100
Trust
42K+ ↑11%
Stars
4
Evidence
137.0 MB
Repo size
Videos
Reviews, tutorials, and comparisons from the community.
My aider AI dev setup
Aider is SUPER Powerful BUT...
I Let Aider AI Refactor My App
Repo health
2d ago
Last push
1,444
Open issues
4,052
Forks
180
Contributors
Editorial verdict
#7 coding CLI — strong verification story (191K PyPI/week, 5.7M lifetime), but Codex CLI at 2.49M npm/week and Gemini CLI at 678K/week have overtaken Aider's download rank. Category pressure is real: HN thread 'Claude Code with Sonnet 4 is so good I have stopped using Aider' (#44154020). Best for Python devs who want fine-grained model control and git-native workflow. v0.86.2 (2026-02-12) is 5 weeks behind competitors shipping daily.
Source
GitHub: Aider-AI/aider
Docs: aider.chat
Public evidence
The only tool in the coding CLI category with a fully verifiable, independent download number. 5.7M lifetime installs and 15B tokens/week are public artifacts, not self-reported impressions. Strongest non-Anthropic usage signal in the category.
Aider scored 52.7% accuracy in 257s using 126K tokens — only 2.8 points below Claude Code's 55.5% while consuming 3x fewer tokens. Most cost-efficient agent tested.
Front-page HN thread signaling broad developer awareness. Strong technical discussion around model flexibility and git-native workflow.
v0.86.2 released 2026-02-12. Homepage displays live PyPI stats (191K+/week, 5.7M total, 15B tokens/week). Multi-model support: any OpenAI-compatible API, Anthropic, Google, local models via Ollama.
How does this compare?
See side-by-side metrics against other skills in the same category.
Growth
GitHub stars over time.
GitHub Stars
Where it wins
191,828/week PyPI installs (verified 2026-03-18) — 5.7M lifetime, 15B tokens/week: the most independently verifiable usage metric outside Claude Code
Multi-model: any OpenAI-compatible API — no vendor lock-in
Git-native: auto-commits changes with clean diffs, surgical refactor workflow
Most cost-efficient agent tested: 52.7% accuracy at 3x fewer tokens than Claude Code (AIMultiple)
Hosts the Aider Polyglot benchmark — category's neutral standard-setter
Where to be skeptical
Latest release v0.86.2 (2026-02-12) — slower shipping cadence than daily-release competitors
Less agentic autonomy than Claude Code or Codex CLI — chat-loop rather than full agent loop
No published SWE-bench Pro standardized score
Star growth (42K) lower than Gemini CLI (98K) and Codex CLI (66K)
Category pressure: HN thread 'Claude Code with Sonnet 4 is so good I have stopped using Aider' (#44154020) signals community migration to higher-autonomy tools
Ranking in categories
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Raw GitHub source
Constrained peek so you can sanity-check the source material without leaving the site.
<a href="https://aider.chat/docs/llms.html"><img src="https://aider.chat/assets/icons/brain.svg" width="32" height="32" align="left" valign="middle" style="margin-right:10px"></a> Aider works best with Claude 3.7 Sonnet, DeepSeek R1 & Chat V3, OpenAI o1, o3-mini & GPT-4o, but can connect to almost any LLM, including local models.
<br><a href="https://aider.chat/docs/repomap.html"><img src="https://aider.chat/assets/icons/map-outline.svg" width="32" height="32" align="left" valign="middle" style="margin-right:10px"></a> Aider makes a map of your entire codebase, which helps it work well in larger projects.
<br><a href="https://aider.chat/docs/languages.html"><img src="https://aider.chat/assets/icons/code-tags.svg" width="32" height="32" align="left" valign="middle" style="margin-right:10px"></a> Aider works with most popular programming languages: python, javascript, rust, ruby, go, cpp, php, html, css, and dozens more.
<br><a href="https://aider.chat/docs/git.html"><img src="https://aider.chat/assets/icons/source-branch.svg" width="32" height="32" align="left" valign="middle" style="margin-right:10px"></a> Aider automatically commits changes with sensible commit messages. Use familiar git tools to easily diff, manage and undo AI changes.
<br><a href="https://aider.chat/docs/usage/watch.html"><img src="https://aider.chat/assets/icons/monitor.svg" width="32" height="32" align="left" valign="middle" style="margin-right:10px"></a> Use aider from within your favorite IDE or editor. Ask for changes by adding comments to your code and aider will get to work.
<br><a href="https://aider.chat/docs/usage/images-urls.html"><img src="https://aider.chat/assets/icons/image-multiple.svg" width="32" height="32" align="left" valign="middle" style="margin-right:10px"></a> Add images and web pages to the chat to provide visual context, screenshots, reference docs, etc.
<br><a href="https://aider.chat/docs/usage/voice.html"><img src="https://aider.chat/assets/icons/microphone.svg" width="32" height="32" align="left" valign="middle" style="margin-right:10px"></a> Speak with aider about your code! Request new features, test cases or bug fixes using your voice and let aider implement the changes.
<br><a href="https://aider.chat/docs/usage/lint-test.html"><img src="https://aider.chat/assets/icons/check-all.svg" width="32" height="32" align="left" valign="middle" style="margin-right:10px"></a> Automatically lint and test your code every time aider makes changes. Aider can fix problems detected by your linters and test suites.
<br><a href="https://aider.chat/docs/usage/copypaste.html"><img src="https://aider.chat/assets/icons/content-copy.svg" width="32" height="32" align="left" valign="middle" style="margin-right:10px"></a> Work with any LLM via its web chat interface. Aider streamlines copy/pasting code context and edits back and forth with a browser.
python -m pip install aider-install
aider-install
# Change directory into your codebase
cd /to/your/project
# DeepSeek
aider --model deepseek --api-key deepseek=<key>
# Claude 3.7 Sonnet
aider --model sonnet --api-key anthropic=<key>
# o3-mini
aider --model o3-mini --api-key openai=<key>
See the installation instructions and usage documentation for more details.