---
title: Aider
description: How ClawMetry observes Aider — where its data lives, the environment variables that move it, what cost data is real, and the traps in its store.
eyebrow: Runtime reference
---

# Aider

Aider is the one runtime whose transcript is a human-readable Markdown file, written into each project rather than a central home directory. That makes discovery a per-project problem, and ClawMetry is explicit about the limit rather than walking your whole home directory.

| | |
|---|---|
| **Runtime id** | `aider` |
| **Category** | AI pair programmer |
| **Vendor** | Aider AI |
| **Tier** | Paid tier (Starter and up) |
| **Upstream** | [github.com/Aider-AI/aider](https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider) |

## Where the data comes from

ClawMetry reads these locations, in order, and never writes to any of them.

- `<project>/.aider.chat.history.md` — the transcript ClawMetry reads
- `<project>/.aider.input.history` — raw prompt log
- `<project>/.aider.llm.history` — raw API calls, only with --llm-history

**Format.** Markdown. Sessions are delimited by `# aider chat started at …`; `####` marks a user prompt and `>` lines are Aider's own output.

## Environment variables

| Variable | Effect |
|---|---|
| `AIDER_HISTORY_DIRS` | colon-separated extra roots to scan |

See [Environment variables](/docs/config/environment/) for the variables that apply to every runtime.

## Tokens and cost

**Tokens.** Parsed from the per-reply `> Tokens: N sent, M received.` line when present.

**Cost.** Not written for local models, and the sent/received split is per-reply rather than a session usage object, so cost is reported as unknown.

:::note Why this section exists
Runtimes differ enormously in what they persist. Rather than showing a plausible number everywhere, ClawMetry reports what the store actually contains and marks the rest unknown. A cost of `$0.00` and a cost of *unknown* mean different things, and the dashboard keeps them different.
:::

## Things worth knowing

- There is no `~/.aider` and no env var pointing at a central store. ClawMetry scans a bounded set of likely roots plus `AIDER_HISTORY_DIRS` — it will not find a project you never point it at.

## Verify it is being read

```bash
# Is this runtime detected, and would this install unlock it?
clawmetry runtimes --json | jq '.runtimes[] | select(.id=="aider")'

# Why is it locked, if it is?
clawmetry runtimes --why aider

# Any sessions ingested yet?
curl -s 'http://localhost:8900/api/local/sessions?limit=5' \
  | jq '.rows[] | {session_id, agent_id, events, cost_usd}'
```

If detection succeeds but no sessions appear, work through [Troubleshooting](/docs/ops/troubleshooting/) — the usual causes are a relocated data directory (set the override above), a session limit that is hiding older runs, or a runtime that simply has not written anything yet.