Aider Commands & Keyboard Shortcuts

Aider is a popular open-source terminal AI pair-programming tool (aider.chat). It works inside your git repository, edits files based on your requests, and commits each change with a sensible message. Unlike the proprietary CLIs, Aider is model-agnostic — you point it at whichever LLM you want. Install it with pip, pipx, uv, or the official install script.

Aider has four modes. Code (default) makes changes to your files; Ask discusses code and answers questions without editing; Architect uses two models — one to plan, one to apply the edits; and Help answers questions about Aider itself. Type /code, /ask, /architect, or /help with a prompt for a one-off, or with no prompt to switch modes for the session. You can also use /chat-mode.

There are a few ways. Press Meta+Enter (Alt+Enter, or Esc then Enter in some terminals) to add a line without sending. Or put { alone on the first line and } alone on the last line to wrap a multiline message. Or run /multiline-mode to swap the behavior so plain Enter adds newlines and Meta+Enter sends. You can also use /editor (Ctrl+X Ctrl+E) to compose in your external editor.

Type /undo to undo the last git commit Aider created. Because Aider commits each edit to git, you always have a clean history to roll back. Use /diff to review what changed since your last message, and /git to run any other git command directly.

Use /run <command> (or its alias, a leading !) to run a shell command and optionally add the output to the chat. Use /test <command> to run something and only feed the output back to Aider if it exits non-zero — handy for letting Aider see and fix failing tests.

Yes. Launch Aider with the --vim switch to use vi/vim-style editing in the prompt — Esc for command mode, i to insert, and h/j/k/l movement. Aider's input is built on prompt_toolkit, so standard terminal line-editing keys also work, though Aider's docs only formally document the history keys (Up, Ctrl-R, Ctrl-Up/Down), Ctrl-C, and Ctrl-X Ctrl-E.