Aider vs mini-swe-agent

Aider

Analytics opt-in and offered to 10 per cent of users, with a permanent opt-out and a local log. No release since 0.86.2 on 12 February 2026 and no commit since 22 May 2026.

mini-swe-agent

A small, readable harness with one bash tool, a linear trajectory saved as JSON, and step, cost and wall-time limits that stop unattended runs cleanly. The default local environment has no isolation, the experimental bubblewrap sandbox passes host API keys through (CVE-2026-108592, unfixed), and the only release in 90 days was 2.4.6 on 23 July 2026.

Aider

1. Read .aider.conf.yml in any cloned repository before starting aider. Its test-cmd and lint-cmd run without asking
2. Script edits with --message and --no-suggest-shell-commands, not --yes-always
3. Use Python 3.12 or earlier for the PyPI release
4. Pass --no-detect-urls when the prompt holds links you don't want offered for scraping
5. Check git log after a run. Each edit is its own commit

mini-swe-agent

1. Run with -y --exit-immediately for unattended use. Without --exit-immediately it waits for input when the agent finishes
2. Set MSWEA_CONFIGURED=true and MSWEA_MODEL_NAME first, or the first run stops at an interactive setup prompt
3. Read info.exit_status in the -o trajectory file. A run that hits its limits still exits normally
4. For untrusted repositories use -c mini.yaml -c environment.environment_class=docker -c environment.image=<image>. The local and bubblewrap environments both expose host variables
5. Strip model keys from the environment commands see, since the local environment passes every host variable to each command