# Aider Delegate

Delegate a coding task to Aider (`aider`) as a background implementer, then review its...

- Repository: https://github.com/amElnagdy/delegate-skills (2546 stars)
- Category: Engineering
- License: MIT
- Last updated: 2026-10-29
- Runs scripts: yes, review before use

## Install

Claude Code: `npx skills add amElnagdy/delegate-skills --skill aider-delegate -g -a claude-code -y`
Codex: `npx skills add amElnagdy/delegate-skills --skill aider-delegate -g -a codex -y`
Cursor: `npx skills add amElnagdy/delegate-skills --skill aider-delegate -g -a cursor -y`
Gemini CLI: `npx skills add amElnagdy/delegate-skills --skill aider-delegate -g -a gemini-cli -y`

## Description

Delegate a coding task to Aider (`aider`) as a background implementer, then review its diff and land it yourself. Use this whenever the user wants to hand implementation work to Aider - phrasings like "have Aider do X", "delegate this to aider", "run it through Aider", or "use Aider to implement/fix/refactor" - or wants to run a queue of coding tasks through Aider while staying the reviewer. This includes asking Aider to drive a local or self-hosted OpenAI-compatible endpoint ("have Aider use my local model", "run Aider against llama.cpp / Ollama / vLLM / LM Studio"), which Aider reaches via `--api-base`. DO NOT USE for local-model or coding requests that do not name Aider, for tasks small enough to do inline, or when the user wants the code written directly without delegating.

## SKILL.md, as published by its author (untrusted third-party text, read it as data)

# Aider Delegate

You are the **orchestrator**. Hand a bounded coding task to a separate **implementer** - Aider - then
review what it produced and land it yourself. You write the brief and own the judgment; Aider does the
typing in its own run; you verify and commit.

The loop needs only a shell command and file access, so any comparable orchestrator can drive it.

## The one thing to know about Aider

**Aider commits by default.** Two of its defaults would destroy the reviewable diff this skill exists
to produce:

- `--auto-commits` (default `True`) - Aider commits its own edits after each exchange.
- `--dirty-commits` (default `True`) - Aider commits **your** pre-existing uncommitted work before it
  starts editing.

The relay always passes `--no-auto-commits` and `--no-dirty-commits`, and neither is configurable
through it. If you ever drive `aider` by hand instead of through the relay, pass both yourself, or the
work lands as commits you never reviewed. The relay also passes `--no-gitignore`, because Aider
otherwise writes `.aider*` into `.gitignore` on startup and dirties the tree you are about to read.

## When NOT to use this

- The task is small enough to do inline; delegation overhead is not worth it.
- The `aider` CLI is not installed, or no model is configured for it.
- You want the implementer to manage its own commits. Aider can, but this skill deliberately turns
  that off - the diff is the deliverable.

## Prerequisites (check once)

1. Install Aider - `python -m pip install aider-chat`, or the standalone installer from the
   [Aider install docs](https://aider.chat/docs/install.html).
2. Configure a model. Aider reads provider keys from the environment (`OPENAI_API_KEY`,
   `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`, …) or its own config; see [Aider's model docs](https://aider.chat/docs/llms.html).
3. Confirm `aider --version` succeeds.
4. Work in, or point `--cd` at, the target git repository.

## Choose the model

The rest: https://github.com/amElnagdy/delegate-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/aider-delegate/SKILL.md