Yo Dev! Here’s How I Use AI Tools Like Codex CLI and Aider to Speed Up My Coding

Hey there 👋
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably been drowning in code at some point, thinking,

“Man, I wish I had a junior dev I could just tell what I want done…”

Well — good news — you kinda do now.

Let me show you how I use Codex CLI and Aider (plus a cool mode called --architect) to make coding way easier, especially if you’re into using AI locally (LM Studio, Ollama, you name it).

🔧 What These Tools Actually Do

Here’s the quick version:

Tool	What it’s for
Codex CLI	You type a prompt in terminal, it analyzes code and gives ideas or code snippets — like “Explain this class” or “Refactor this function”
Aider	You chat with your code — and it edits your real files based on what you say. Super clean with Git support
Architect Mode (in Aider)	You describe the app you want to build → it gives you file/folder structure and even fills in basic code to get you started

🧪 Codex CLI — My Quick Code Sidekick

Install it:

pip install codex-cli

Now try:

codex "Explain what the login function does in auth.py"

or:

codex "Generate a test for the payment() function"

It won’t edit your code — it’s more like asking an AI senior dev:

“Hey, can you help me understand or draft something?”

Perfect for:

Code reviews
First drafts
Brainstorming ideas fast

If you use local models, just point it to LM Studio or Ollama by setting endpoint in your ~/.codex/config.yaml.

🤖 Aider — When You Want the Code Actually Changed

Okay this one’s nuts.
Run this in your project folder:

aider main.py

Now chat like this:

“Make all functions in this file async”
“Replace requests with httpx”
“Add error handling to database calls”

It’ll show you a diff. You say yes or no. Done.
And if you’re using Git (you should), it’s super safe and easy to revert anything.

Great for:

Refactors
Bug fixing
Feature updates

🏗️ Aider `--architect` — Start a Project from Thin Air

Let’s say you’re building something from scratch.

Run:

aider --architect

Then say something like:

“A FastAPI app with login/signup and todo item CRUD.”

Aider will:

Propose a file layout
Fill in skeletons for main.py, models.py, etc.
Ask if you want to edit/approve/add/remove
Then write the files for you 🎉

This is awesome when you:

Don’t want to write boilerplate by hand
Want to try ideas quickly
Need a jumpstart on a side project

👀 Which One Should You Use?

If you want to...	Use this
Understand or explore code	`codex`
Change real files live	`aider`
Build a project scaffold fast	`aider --architect`

🧠 Local Models? Yup, They Work Too

All of these tools can talk to local models if they support OpenAI’s API format (like LM Studio or Ollama).

Just set this in your config:

llm:
  provider: openai
  endpoint: http://localhost:1234/v1
  api_key: sk-no-need

Try with:

qwen1.5-7b
deepseek-coder
phi-3-mini
codellama-instruct

💡 Real Examples I Use

Task	Prompt	Tool
Build new app	“A CLI app that tracks expenses to a CSV file”	`aider --architect`
Cleanup	“Refactor this view to use class-based API”	`aider`
Review code	“What does the class TokenManager do?”	`codex`
Generate test	“Write a pytest for update_item()”	`aider`

🔄 Typical Flow I Use

flowchart TD
  A["🧠 I get an idea"] --> B["🏗️ aider --architect creates the base"]
  B --> C["📂 Project structure + code stubs"]
  C --> D["🤖 aider edits & refactors my files"]
  D --> E["🧪 codex gives me analysis & extra ideas"]