I like coding agents and all kind of supportive plug-ins to make my day easier. From Continue to Copilot. I must say that the most complete solution so far for me was Cursor, yet it is not free (see the plans).
So i found this super cool alternative - Aider chat.
I tested Aider with multiple AI backends: OpenAI, Claude, and local Ollama server.
First 30 minutes were spent learning the tool - understanding commands and workflow. After this initial setup phase, development speed increased significantly.
Model comparison from practical use:
Claude: Best performance when working remotely
Local setup: Ollama with deepseek r1 7b and qwen coder 2.5 7b
Home setup preference: Architect mode with Ollama models
Key observation: Local models provide good performance without cloud dependencies. The initial learning curve is worth the productivity gain.
What's your experience with Aider? Particularly interested in local model configurations and performance comparisons.
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