Agents · Aider

aider with parallel worktrees on windows, mac, linux

TL;DR

Aider is an open source, model-agnostic coding agent for the terminal that commits every change it makes. Pane runs several Aider sessions at once, each on its own git worktree and branch, so their commits never mix, and you can put Claude Code or another agent in the next pane. Your .aider.conf.yml is copied into each new worktree automatically. For one branch at a time, a single Aider in one terminal is still enough.

Aider already treats git as its source of truth: every change is a commit. That makes it a natural fit for running several sessions side by side, as long as each one has its own branch. Pane gives it one.

What is Aider?

Aider is an open source AI pair programmer that runs in your terminal. It works with almost any model, including Claude, GPT, DeepSeek and local models through Ollama, builds a map of your codebase to work in larger projects, and commits each change with a sensible message so you can diff or undo it with normal git tools.

It has about 49,000 GitHub stars and is Apache-2.0 licensed. Its most recent tagged release, v0.86.0, is from August 2025, though the repository still sees commits.

Quickstart

Install Aider, create a pane, open a terminal, type aider.

  1. 1Install Aider

    Recommended installer (any OS with Python)

    python -m pip install aider-install
aider-install

    Then set your provider key as an environment variable (for example ANTHROPIC_API_KEY) and pick a model

    aider --model sonnet

  2. 2Create a pane

    Press Ctrl+N (⌘N on a Mac), pick the repo and branch, and create it. Pane makes a worktree for the pane.

  3. 3Start Aider

    Open a terminal in the pane with Ctrl+Alt+1 (⌘⌥1 on a Mac), or pick Terminal from the Ctrl+T menu, and type aider. To launch it with one keystroke next time, save it as a custom command; your first four custom commands get shortcuts.
Creating a pane for a new taskThe same dialog works for every agent. Aider runs in the terminal of the pane it creates.Pane 2.4.155 on Windows 11, repo inside WSL2

What works with Aider in Pane

Everything Pane does around the terminal works. Agent-specific extras are for its three built-in agents.

✓Runs in a Pane terminalAider runs exactly as it does in any shell, with all its modes: /code, /architect and /ask.
✓Its settings in every worktree.aider.conf.yml is on Pane's default list of files copied into each new worktree.
✓Auto-commits on its own branchAider's commits land on the pane's branch, so each session's history stays separate.
✓Its own worktree and branchEach pane is a separate git worktree, so several sessions never touch each other's files.
✓Diff view and git actionsSee what changed, commit, push, rebase and open a pull request from the pane.
✓Ports and env per paneEach pane gets its own port block in PANE_PORT, and .env files are copied into new worktrees.
~Status in the sidebarPane shows terminal activity. Detailed working, waiting and done states are tuned for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor.
~Resume after restartLayout and terminal output come back. Add a custom resume template if the agent can resume a conversation by ID.
✕Usage and cost trackingPane tracks usage for Claude Code and Codex only.

Parallel sessions without the git plumbing

One worktree per Aider session keeps every commit trail clean.

Aider commits as it works. On one branch that's a feature. With three sessions on three issues, you need three clean checkouts or their commits pile onto one branch. Pane creates a worktree and branch for each pane, copies in your Aider config, and removes the worktree when you archive the pane, so you never run git worktree add yourself.

Aider next to other agents

Use each agent for what it's good at, in separate panes.

A common setup is Aider with a local or low-cost model for quick iterations in one pane, and Claude Code or Codex for heavier changes in another. Each has its own worktree, so they never collide, and Aider's commit trail makes it easy to see exactly what each session did.

When one Aider session is enough

If you work on one branch at a time and one terminal is comfortable, you don't need Pane. It helps once you want several Aider sessions in parallel, or Aider alongside other agents, with each one isolated and reviewable.

Related

Sources

What we ran
  • → Pane 2.4.155 on Windows 11 and WSL2; Aider details checked against its own repo and docs in October 2026
Corrections
If anything here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we'll fix it and update the date at the top. Open an issue on GitHub
Sources

frequently asked questions

or
Download*
Windows SmartScreen warningDirect downloads can show a SmartScreen warning while Pane is unsigned. Pane is fully open source, so you can audit the code and build from source yourself.1. Click More info2. Click Run anyway3. Continue the installerThe PowerShell install downloads the official release directly and avoids most browser download friction.npm global install
Paste that in PowerShell.Linux

By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. .