AI stackHarnesses

Aider

Harness · terminal agent

The jobOpen-source terminal pair programmer that commits each edit to your git repoVisit aider.chat

Best forA reviewable git commit for every AI edit, with almost any model, local or cloud

Skip ifYou rely on MCP, want an IDE extension, or want long tasks run unattended

Verified Oct 5, 20264 sourcesLive

Aider also appears in Alternatives to GitHub Copilot, Alternatives to Cursor, Alternatives to Claude Code

Editor notes

A free, open-source way to get AI edits in the terminal with almost any model, with each change committed to git. Two facts to know: MCP is not documented in Aider's docs, and the last commit on main is dated May 22, 2026 (checked Oct 6, 2026). Your cost is what your model provider charges.

Open-source AI pair programming in your terminal.

Summary

Aider is a terminal pair programmer that edits files in your local git repo and commits changes automatically. It builds a map of the whole codebase to work in larger projects, and connects to almost any LLM, cloud or local. It is free and open source; you pay only your model provider.

Key details

Surface	CLI
Platforms	macoslinuxwindows
BYOK (Bring Your Own Key)	✓ Yes
MCP Support	✗ No
Agent Skills Support	✗ No
Open Source	✓ Yes(Apache-2.0)

Installation

Terminal

python -m pip install aider-install && aider-install

Alternative installation methods:

uv tool install --force --python python3.12 --with pip aider-chat@latest

Repository

Pricing

From the vendor's pricing pageVerified Oct 5, 2026

Plan	Price	Basis
Open source	Free

Sources

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