GradSchool Seminar on Feb. 3rd 2025: AI-pair-programming with aider and cline

Workshop Setup / Prerequisites

• Ensure you have Python 3.10 or later installed. If not, download it from python.org.
• Git is also necessary download git.
• For cline an IDE is needed- I recommend using VS Code (e.g. portable version) get VS Code portable

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🔧 Installing Aider

aider is an AI-assisted coding tool working based on git and is a terminal tool. To install it, follow these steps:

1. Create a Virtual Environment (Recommended)

Depending on your operating system, use the following commands to create and activate a virtual environment:

Windows (PowerShell):

python -m venv aider_env
./aider_env/Scripts/activate

Mac/Linux (bash/zsh):

python3 -m venv aider_env
source aider_env/bin/activate

2. Install Aider & usage

Once the virtual environment is activated, install Aider using:

python -m pip install aider-install
aider-install

# add aider to your path
$env:PATH = "your-installation-path;$env:PATH" # hopefully this works for every OS 
# if aider doesn't work after restarting your terminal maybe type this command again

# Change directory into your code base
cd /to/your/project

# initialize a local git repo (aider relies on git)
git init

# Work with GPT-4o-mini on your code
aider --model gpt-4o-mini --api-key openai=your-key-goes-here

# Or start via config & testing architect capabilities with a reasoning model (DeepSeek-R1):
aider --config .aider-deepseek.conf.yml # with deepseek-V3 & deepseek-R1 via GLHF-API

For the usage and command-overview in aider see:

• https://aider.chat/docs/usage.html
• https://aider.chat/docs/usage/commands.html
• https://aider.chat/docs/usage/tips.html

Aider is highly versatile so you could use an .aider.conf.yaml to configure certain things like "architect model", "editor-model", "command-line-behavior", etc. see .aider.conf.yaml and use it as an example and have a look here: aider-config

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🛠️ Integrating Cline in VS Code

cline is a coding ai agent extension that can be easily set up in VS Code:

1. Installation:

   • Open VS Code
   • Press Ctrl + Shift + X or navigate to Extensions (on the left)
   • type cline and install the extension
   • after installation: click on the new cline icon on the left menu

2. Necessary settings:

   • choose api provider: for us OpenAI
   • add api-key
   • go to settings and choose "GPT-4o-mini"

3. Lets go:

   • start the extension in a fresh workspace, let it create and activate a venv and type your plans or what you want to build.

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🚀 Ready for the Workshop!

After installation, you can now use aider and cline directly in VS Code terminal or as IDE-extension. Enjoy the workshop! 🎉

🎓 Lets try the examples...

See example prompts in examples.mdor be brave and test it with your own projects