AiderDesk
Open-source desktop orchestration for Aider — transparent, steerable AI pair programming with a GUI.
About
AiderDesk started as a graphical interface for the Aider CLI and has grown into an open-source agentic platform for AI-assisted software engineering (Apache 2.0, by Hotovo). It keeps Aider's git-aware editing engine but adds multi-project tabs, Agent/Code/Ask/Architect/Context modes, task delegation, a built-in terminal, per-agent tool and MCP configuration, message editing to refine context, and a usage dashboard tracking token consumption and cost. Its philosophy is control-first: the AI is a junior pair programmer, and destructive actions require approval.
The honest picture: it is still fundamentally a wrapper around Aider's core, so Aider's limitations (model costs, occasional bad diffs) carry over. The Electron app adds weight versus the lean CLI, and the project is maintained by a small team, so release cadence and long-term maintenance are less certain than commercial alternatives. Windows and Linux support trails macOS polish.
What it can do
- Full GUI over Aider's git-aware editing engine
- Agent, Code, Ask, Architect, and Context modes
- Multi-project tabs and delegated task lists
- Per-agent tool and MCP configuration
- Token usage and cost dashboard
- Approval gates for destructive actions
- VS Code connector extension for file tracking
Setup
Download the one-click installer from the GitHub releases — no Python or toolchain needed; dependencies auto-install.
Prerequisites
An LLM API key (any provider Aider supports); a git repository to work in.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 7/10
Scored 7/10 (metrics tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: Verified via vendor site/docs/GitHub and reputable coverage, wave 56; Trending score 68/100 from researcher assessment.
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.