Aider is the best terminal AI coding tool I've used. But by default it sends every diff through your OpenAI or Anthropic key, which gets expensive fast on real refactors — a single 100-file repo map can torch a few dollars before Aider even reads your prompt.
This post shows how to run Aider against any LLM provider — Ollama for free local runs, OpenRouter for mixed-provider routing, AWS Bedrock for the enterprise plate — through a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint, with prompt caching and MCP Code Mode layered on top to slash the bill further. I'll use Lynkr, the self-hosted gateway I maintain.
Full disclosure: I build Lynkr. I'm going to make the case for why the combination — gateway + caching + code-mode tools — is the real cost lever, not just "swap your provider."
The setup in three commands
# 1. Start the gateway
