Aider — Starter Boilerplate

Ready-to-use .aider.conf.yml, .aiderignore, and CONVENTIONS.md for your project. Clone, copy, edit.

Part of agent-anatomy — boilerplates for every AI coding agent.

📊 View diagram →

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Usage

git clone https://github.com/agent-anatomy/aider.git .aider-boilerplate
cp .aider-boilerplate/.aider.conf.yml ./.aider.conf.yml
cp .aider-boilerplate/.aiderignore ./.aiderignore
cp .aider-boilerplate/CONVENTIONS.md ./CONVENTIONS.md
rm -rf .aider-boilerplate

Then edit the files to match your project.

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What's included

.aider.conf.yml                    ← aider configuration (model, flags, conventions file)
.aiderignore                       ← files aider should never read or modify
CONVENTIONS.md                     ← coding conventions aider reads before every session

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What is .aider.conf.yml?

The main configuration file for Aider. Controls which model to use, auto-commit behavior, linting, testing, and which conventions file to load.

model: gpt-4o
auto-commits: true
read: CONVENTIONS.md
lint-cmd: "npm run lint"
test-cmd: "npm test"

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What is CONVENTIONS.md?

A plain text file Aider reads before every session via the read: key in .aider.conf.yml. Use it to define coding style, naming conventions, test patterns — anything you'd tell a new engineer on day one.

Different from .aiderignore — CONVENTIONS.md tells Aider how to write code, not what to avoid touching.

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What is .aiderignore?

Works like .gitignore but for Aider. Files listed here are invisible to Aider — it won't read, suggest changes to, or modify them.

Use for: generated files, large data files, secrets, lock files, build output.

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What to commit vs gitignore

File	Commit?
.aider.conf.yml	✅ Yes
.aiderignore	✅ Yes
CONVENTIONS.md	✅ Yes
.aider.chat.history.md	❌ No — personal chat log
.aider.tags.cache.v3/	❌ No — local cache

Add to your .gitignore:

.aider.chat.history.md
.aider.tags.cache.v3/

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FAQ

Does Aider read CONVENTIONS.md automatically? Only if you add read: CONVENTIONS.md to .aider.conf.yml. It doesn't load automatically by filename alone.

What model should I use in .aider.conf.yml? gpt-4o or claude-opus-4-7 for best results. Aider supports most frontier models.

Should I commit .aider.conf.yml? Yes — it configures project-level behavior. The whole team benefits from shared lint/test commands and conventions.

What's the difference between .aiderignore and .gitignore? .gitignore tells git what to exclude. .aiderignore tells Aider what to ignore — they're independent. A file can be committed to git but ignored by Aider.

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Other agents

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Windsurf	agent-anatomy/windsurf
GitHub Copilot	agent-anatomy/copilot
Gemini CLI	agent-anatomy/gemini