Journey from Aider to AiderDesk

The Beginning: Discovering Aider

As a developer, I’ve always been fascinated by tools that enhance productivity, and in the recent years especially in the AI-assisted coding space. Like many, I started exploring GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and similar AI-powered tools. But then I stumbled upon Aider — a simple yet powerful terminal-based AI assistant that could integrate with various LLM providers, including local ones.

What drew me to Aider was its flexibility and direct integration with Git, allowing it to modify codebases in a structured way while keeping track of changes. Unlike some AI tools that attempt to replace the traditional coding workflow, Aider acted as an enhancement rather than a replacement. It allowed me to focus on specific parts of a large codebase, making targeted edits without losing sight of the bigger picture. Instead of taking over my development process, it seamlessly integrated into it, complementing my workflow rather than disrupting it.

It quickly became an essential part of my workflow. But as I used it more, I started running into limitations—small inefficiencies that slowed me down. And if there’s one thing developers hate, it’s repetitive manual tasks that should be automated, such as managing files.

Trying to Improve Aider

Rather than jumping to a new tool, I wanted to improve Aider itself. That’s the beauty of open-source, right?

I started by building a connector ([pull request] (https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/pull/2067)) that allowed better integration with other systems. To make things even smoother, I developed an IntelliJ IDEA plugin that connected with Aider and automatically added my open files to the context — removing the need for manual file selection.

This was a huge boost to my daily workflow, making Aider much more usable. But despite these improvements, there were still fundamental limitations — mainly due to Aider synchronous and blocking nature, making some asynchronous actions very hard or even impossible to achieve. Certain issues just couldn’t be fixed within Aider’s existing architecture.

I realized that, to get the experience I truly wanted, I needed to build something from scratch, but something that would use Aider as its foundation.

The Birth of AiderDesk

That’s when I decided to create AiderDesk — a desktop application that takes Aider’s core functionality but fixes its biggest pain points.

Instead of fighting against Aider’s design constraints, I built an app that:

1. Manages context more efficiently — no more manual file selection or losing sync.
2. Improves the user experience — offering a GUI instead of just a terminal interface.
3. Integrates Aider’s features in a more seamless way, making it feel like a natural part of the development workflow.

Today, AiderDesk covers most of Aider’s features while providing a much smoother and more productive experience. It has reached a point where I use it for my everyday development tasks, and I love it!

Looking Ahead

Creating AiderDesk wasn’t the initial plan — I just wanted to tweak an existing tool to fit my needs. But through that process, I learned that sometimes, the best way to improve something is to build your own version.

AiderDesk is still evolving, and I’d love to hear feedback from other developers who are passionate about AI-assisted coding.

If you’re interested, stay tuned — I’ll be sharing more details soon!

🔗 Check out AiderDesk on GitHub