Aider: The Git-Native Pair Programmer
The thin-medium reference — git-as-substrate as the multiplier
Git-as-substrate is the multiplier. Aider inherits state (M8), memory (M4), verification (M9), permission (M6), and observability (M11) from git — five modules from one infrastructure choice. The entire +7 over Pi comes from this single bet. Module 8 (State) alone gains +3, the largest single-module delta in the deep-dive roster.
The benchmark creator. Aider created the Aider Polyglot Benchmark — the de facto standard for evaluating coding agents across languages. Most published coding-agent benchmark numbers trace to Aider's methodology. Aider is the reference because it defined how the field measures 'best.'
Git-gating catches wrong, not malicious. Aider's permission model reviews change quality, not change safety. A prompt-injected model produces a benign-looking 'refactor' that buries an exfiltration payload. The human diff-review approves a valid-looking change — the exfil executes at tool-execution time, before the commit is reviewed. Git-gating is downstream of the damage.