Aider Quick Start on Ubuntu
- 2 minutes read - 315 wordsOverview
This article helps to quick start with Aider .
Useful resources:
Install aider
Works on Ubuntu (including WLS), installs Aider and all required dependencies.
#!/bin/bash
set -e
echo "Updating package list..."
sudo apt-get update
echo "Installing Python 3, venv, and pip (if not already installed)..."
sudo apt-get install -y python3 python3-venv python3-pip
echo "Creating a virtual environment for Aider..."
python3 -m venv ~/aider-venv
echo "Activating the virtual environment..."
source ~/aider-venv/bin/activate
echo "Upgrading pip inside the virtual environment..."
pip install --upgrade pip
echo "Installing the official aider installer inside the virtual environment..."
pip install aider-install
echo "Running the aider installer..."
aider-install
echo ""
echo "Installation complete! Check aider version:"
aider --version
echo ""
echo "Aider is ready to use inside this virtual environment."
echo "To activate it again later, run:"
echo "source ~/aider-venv/bin/activate"
echo "Then use 'aider' as needed."
Setup helper scripts
Put below to ~/.aider-secrets
# see https://aider.chat/docs/llms/deepseek.html
export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY="..."
# see https://aider.chat/docs/llms/openai.html
export OPENAI_API_KEY="..."
# see https://aider.chat/docs/llms/anthropic.html
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="..."
# see https://aider.chat/docs/llms/gemini.html
export GEMINI_API_KEY=".."
Put below to ~/.aider-helpers
.
#############################
# AIDER
#############################
function aider-auth(){
source ~/.aider-secrets
echo "Starting aider $@"
aider "$@"
# forget the keys after aider exits
export DEEPSEEK_API_KEY=""
export OPENAI_API_KEY=""
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=""
export GEMINI_API_KEY=""
}
function aider-watch (){
aider-auth --cache-prompts --chat-language english --watch-files "$@"
}
# see the best models available for now https://aider.chat/docs/leaderboards/
export ANTHROPIC_SONNET_MODEL=anthropic/claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219
function aider-deepseek(){
aider-watch --deepseek "$@"
}
function aider-r1(){
aider-watch --model r1 "$@"
}
function aider-sonnet() {
aider-watch --model ${ANTHROPIC_SONNET_MODEL} "$@"
}
function aider-gemini() {
aider-watch --model gemini-2.5-pro "$@"
}
function aider-o3-mini-high() {
aider-watch \
--model o3-mini \
--reasoning-effort high \
"$@"
}
function aider-o3-mini-medium() {
aider-watch \
--model o3-mini \
"$@"
}
function aider-architect() {
aider-watch \
--architect --model r1 \
--editor-model ${ANTHROPIC_SONNET_MODEL} \
"$@"
}
function aider-architect-browser () {
aider-architect --browser
}
function aider-sonnet-browser () {
aider-sonnet --browser
}
#############################
# AIDER End
#############################
Happy using ;)