CLI setup guide

Aider CLI custom API setup

Point Aider at CallAI via OPENAI_API_BASE for Claude 3.7 and DeepSeek R1 multi-file refactors.

📋 Aider CLI config cheatsheetProduction-ready
OPENAI_API_BASE
https://api.callaiapi.com/v1
OPENAI_API_KEY
sk-live-your-callai-key

Recommended models for Aider CLI

Step-by-step setup

1

Launch Aider with env vars

Export OpenAI-compatible vars then start Aider.

export OPENAI_API_BASE="https://api.callaiapi.com/v1"
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-live-your-callai-key"
aider --model openai/claude-3-7-sonnet

Troubleshooting

❌ Symptom:Model name not recognized
💡 Fix: Prefix with openai/, e.g. --model openai/claude-3-7-sonnet.
API still unreachable after setup?
Use the HTTP status checker to test connectivity and diagnose 403 / 401 errors.
Open status checker →