Connect → aider

Use AxForge with aider

aider is an AI pair- programmer that edits code in your terminal. It routes model calls through LiteLLM, so you point it at AxForge with the OpenAI environment variables and an openai/ model prefix.

Get aider

aider is a terminal program, installed from PyPI:

$ python -m pip install aider-chat

Then run aider inside a git repository — it works on the repo you are standing in. Full options: aider.chat.

Configure

$ export OPENAI_API_BASE=https://api.axforge.ai/v1
$ export OPENAI_API_KEY=your-axforge-key
$ aider --model openai/qwen3.8-27b-nvfp4

Or pass them as flags instead of env vars:

$ aider --openai-api-base https://api.axforge.ai/v1 \
      --openai-api-key your-axforge-key \
      --model openai/qwen3.8-27b-nvfp4

The openai/ prefix is required. It tells aider's LiteLLM layer to treat the model as a generic OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Without it, aider tries to match the bare name against known hosted providers and fails.

Notes

For a model aider does not recognise, set its context window in a .aider.model.settings.yml so aider sizes the conversation correctly.
Use a coding-strong model — the agentic role (which maps to qwen3.8-27b-nvfp4) is a good default; see Models.

Where to put this

The two exports above only last for the terminal you typed them in. For something permanent, pick one:

Where	Good for
Your shell profile — `~/.bashrc`, `~/.zshrc`, or on Windows `$PROFILE`	Every project, every new terminal
`.env` beside the repo	One project. aider reads it, and it keeps the key out of your shell history
`~/.aider.conf.yml`	aider's own settings file, when you also want to pin the model and other options

On Windows, export is not a command — $env:OPENAI_API_BASE = "https://api.axforge.ai/v1" in PowerShell, or set OPENAI_API_BASE=https://api.axforge.ai/v1 in cmd.

Check that it worked

Two things, and the second is the one that proves it end to end:

aider prints the model on the line it starts with — you should see openai/chat, not a Moonshot or OpenAI default.
Ask it something small (what files are in this repo?) and the answer arrives rather than an error.
The call appears in the console at Billing & usage within a minute or two. Nothing else confirms that your key reached our API — a reply alone could be a cache or another provider.

When it does not work

What you see	What it means	Fix
`Model not found` or aider offers a picker	the `openai/` prefix is missing, so aider looked up a model that is not ours	the model must be written `openai/chat`, prefix included
`401`	the key	check `OPENAI_API_KEY` is exported in the shell you actually ran aider in — a new terminal does not have it
It answers but edits nothing	that is aider working normally; it asks before writing	not a connection problem

Run the self-test first when you are unsure — it says in one click whether the problem is your key, your quota or us, so you know whether the tool is worth debugging at all.

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