Aider and Claude 3.5: Develop a Full-stack App Without Writing ANY Code!

aider is a powerful open source AI coding assistant that runs in your terminal.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is the most capable LLM available for coding right now.


Not only do we generate a fully functional full-stack app, but aider also generates our unit tests, READMEs and OpenAPI and Swagger API documentation.

We do all this with 15 very simple prompts, which you'll find below.

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✅Tutorial setup
(see video below the description for a step-by-step guide)
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6. Create 2 empty folders and open each in VS Code, one for the API code and another for the UI code:
- task-api
- task-ui

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📝aider Prompts
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task-api:

Generate the initial project for a Task management REST API. Users should be able to add, update and delete tasks, as well as get all tasks or a task based on its ID. This is a Java project that uses Spring Boot 3.2 and Maven. Generate the Maven POM file, as well as the core Java interfaces and classes required. Do not attempt to implement methods, but instead insert comments as placeholders that describe what needs to be implemented.

Configure and run this project so that I don't have to stop and start the app after code updates

Add appropriate entries to .gitignore based on this project's contents

Implement all functionality for creating tasks

Implement get all tasks

Implement all remaining controller endpoints, including services and repos

Implement unit tests for the `taskService` updateTask method

Add dependencies for OpenAPI docs

Create a README in markdown format for this project. Include what this app does, the major technologies used, the project's structure, the main components and their roles andrelationships. Also, describe how to build and run this app.


update `.gitignore` to ignore files in the root project directory that begin with testing

task-ui:



I want this app to call the Task API running on localhost at port 8080. Add any security updates, such as CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing), required to allow this.

update the UI to allow the user to perform all remaining Task API functions

let's apply a modern dark theme

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00:00 Intro - aider and Claude 3.5
01:57 Let aider Generate the REST API Project
03:37 TIP: Give aider One Task at a Time
04:27 Starting the api
05:11 aider Implements Create Task Endpoint
06:09 aider Implements Get All Tasks Endpoint
06:46 aider Implements Remaining Endpoints
07:50 aider Implements Unit Tests for Us
08:31 aider Adds OpenAPI Docs for API
09:32 aider Creates Project README File
13:09 aider Resolves CORS Issue in Task UI
13:58 aider Resolves CORS Issue for REST API
14:49 aider Implements Remaining Task Features
15:57 aider Applies Dark Theme to UI

[CodingtheFuture-jghe]

By popular demand, I created a new video showing detailed steps for installing the tools and getting the API keys required for this tutorial. That guide is linked below the description.

[CodingtheFuture-jghe]

I really appreciate all your feedback! I wanted to let you know that I'm seeing some common themes in the comments and I plan to try to address many of them in the coming weeks. Here's a short list of some recurring questions/suggestions:
- Costs related to the LLMs being used (e.g. Claude, GPT 4, etc.)
- Detailed instructions for setting up the development environment for these tutorials.
- Best practices for prompting the coding assistant to get the best results.

I hear you. Look for more information on all this in the coming weeks.

[programmingsiri]

Love it! I think the friction going forward is 'how to specify' and not 'how to code' systems. You have articulated this point beautifully. More of this stuff. pls :)

[KCMNJL]

Hands down one of the best tutorial type videos for Dev's looking to update their toolkit. Aider certainly looks the ticket!

[CodingtheFuture-jghe]

Just realized I left out the link for installing Node.js. Just updated the description to include that. It's required to run the Task UI.

[kosielemmer]

Wonderful. Clear, concise and immediately valuable. Please add more!

[henriquematias]

this is incredible. claude has been off the charts and something like aider is well needed at this point!

[JoshDingus]

Great video, well done and pleasure to watch. Keep it up!

[digitic]

Great idea mixing java and next.js.
You made me discover aider. For sure I gonna try it.
Thanks for video. Great explanation btw

[pnddesign]

That was solid, thank you, now I'm sold !!

[ZacMagee]

Great video, champ. I've been waiting for some newer videos on aider.

[u.a]

This is amazing! I have no coding background but this is a game changer. It's giving more people access to coding than ever before. It's mind blowing! Can you pleaaaseee create a video on how to create this setup? I know it is fairly easy because aider has documentation that tells you how to setup. But having a nice walkthrough would be really helpful! Looking forward to more videos from you!

[mpfiesty]

This was awesome. Thank you so much. Looking forward to playing around with this tool myself.

[s-informationatyourservi]

wow. just cleared my weekend to play. thank you for sharing, this is exciting. C# dev here and lazy to learn anything else❤

[vishnuitsrocking]

This is super cool.❤ Please make a MERN Stack Typescript project.

[erikjohnson]

A benefit of using the model to create an API before implementation is that we (developers) can make sure the chosen path is correct. It is best to fix the design at the top level, and then fill in the implementation only when we are happy with the design.

Of course this is for projects where already have sufficient domain knowledge and just want AI to do the grunt work (a good pattern I think).

[bernard]

Nice, clear tutorial. Liked, subscribed, and looking forward to seeing more.

[mhbakus]

Good content, looking forward for the next videos

[JasonPattonp]

Awesome video, thank you for explaining your steps so clearly. My only request would be to record in better quality. I would love to be able to choose a higher quality other than 720p

[joshuaachoka]

Thanks for choosing Java. As you mentioned, it has always been python examples out here.