aider/aider/website/docs/llms/xai.md

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Connecting to LLMs	400

xAI

You'll need a xAI API key.

First, install aider:

{% include install.md %}

Then configure your API keys:

export XAI_API_KEY=<key> # Mac/Linux
setx   XAI_API_KEY <key> # Windows, restart shell after setx

Start working with aider and xAI on your codebase:

# Change directory into your codebase
cd /to/your/project

# Grok 3
aider --model xai/grok-3-beta

# Grok 3 fast (faster, more expensive)
aider --model xai/grok-3-fast-beta

# Grok 3 Mini
aider --model xai/grok-3-mini-beta

# Grok 3 Mini fast (faster, more expensive)
aider --model xai/grok-3-mini-fast-beta

# List models available from xAI
aider --list-models xai/

The Grok 3 Mini models support the --reasoning-effort flag. See the reasoning settings documentation for details. Example:

aider --model xai/grok-3-mini-beta --reasoning-effort high