F. Tool Selection Quick Reference

Appendix F: Tool Selection Quick Reference

When to Use Which Tool

Tool	Best For	Key Strength	Key Weakness
Aider	Production workflows	Battle-tested, 100+ models, Git-native	Slower updates, bus factor=1
Cline (cecli)	Bleeding-edge experimentation	Agent mode, RAG, faster iteration	Less stable, newer
OpenCode	Lightweight, fast execution	Rust-native, minimal overhead	Less model compatibility

Tool Comparison Matrix

Aspect	Aider	Cline (cecli)	OpenCode
Language	Python	Python	Rust
Startup Time	~1-2s	~1-2s	~100-200ms
Memory Usage	~200-400MB	~200-400MB	~50-100MB
Model Support	100+	50+	Growing
Agent Mode	❌	✅	❌
RAG Support	❌	✅	❌
Edit Formats	10+ strategies	Same + experimental	Evolving
Git-Native	✅	✅	✅
Scriptable	✅	✅	✅
Maturity	Very high	Medium	Low
Stars	42K+	~2K	~1K

The Make Abstraction: Tool-Agnostic Workflow

Remember from Chapter 2: Make is your abstraction layer.

# This Makefile target works with ANY tool
# Just change AI_TOOL to switch tools

AI_TOOL ?= aider  # Change to: cecli, opencode, or aider

improve-%:
    @$(AI_TOOL) --model qwen-2.5-coder \
        --read AGENTS.md \
        --read AI_CONTEXT.md \
        --message "Improve $*" \
        $(TARGET_FILES)

Your team types make improve-docs—they don't care which tool runs underneath.

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These appendices give you options. The Make abstraction gives you durability. The principles from Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 give you the framework. Use what works best for your context.