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Aider + Gonka AI - pair programming with AI

Aider - one of the best terminal AI coding assistants. Works with Git, understands project structure, creates commits, edits multiple files simultaneously. This is not just a chat with AI - it's full-fledged pair programming, where an AI partner reads your code, suggests changes, and applies them.

Aider supports OpenAI-compatible APIs out of the box. Connecting to JoinGonka Gateway - 2 environment variables, 30 seconds of setup. After that - unlimited pair programming for $0.001/1M tokens.

Step 1: Install Aider and get key

Install Aider:

# pip
pip install aider-chat

# pipx (recommended)
pipx install aider-chat

# Homebrew (macOS)
brew install aider

API Key: register at gate.joingonka.ai/register, get 10M free tokens, create a jg-xxx key.

Step 2: Configure Aider

Method 1: environment variables (simplest):

export OPENAI_API_BASE=https://gate.joingonka.ai/v1
export OPENAI_API_KEY=jg-your-key

Run:

aider --model openai/Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507-FP8

Method 2: settings file .aider.model.settings.yml in the project root:

# .aider.model.settings.yml
- name: openai/Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507-FP8
  edit_format: diff
  use_repo_map: true
  send_undo_reply: true
  extra_params:
    max_tokens: 2048  # Gateway limit

Method 3: shell alias for convenience:

alias gonka-aider='OPENAI_API_BASE=https://gate.joingonka.ai/v1 OPENAI_API_KEY=jg-your-key aider --model openai/Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507-FP8'

Check: Go to a Git repository and run gonka-aider. Aider will show model information and suggest adding files to the context. Ask it to make a change to a file — if Aider creates a commit, everything is working.

Aider + Gonka capabilities

Aider is not just a chat. It's a full-fledged tool for AI-powered pair programming:

  • Git integration: Aider automatically creates commits for each change. Easily revert any AI decision using git undo.
  • Project context: Aider builds a repository map (repo map) — it understands dependencies between files, imports, project structure. Qwen3-235B gets full context.
  • Multi-file edits: Can simultaneously change 5-10 files to implement a feature. Each file is a separate diff, each edit is trackable.
  • Voice input: Supports --voice — dictate tasks instead of typing.
  • Linting and tests: Integration with linters and test frameworks — Aider sees errors and fixes them automatically.

With Gonka, all this costs pennies. A typical pair programming session (2-4 hours) consumes 10-30M tokens — which is $0.01-0.03 through JoinGonka Gateway. At OpenAI — $50-200 for the same session.

Alternative terminal tools: Claude Code, OpenCode.

Model parameters: Qwen3-235B context window — 128K tokens, maximum response length via Gateway — 2048 tokens. For most pair programming tasks, this is sufficient.

Aider + Gonka = professional AI-powered pair programming for pennies. Git integration, multi-file edits, project context — all for $0.01-0.03/session instead of $50-200 at OpenAI.
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