# Aider v0.81.0: quasar-alpha model support and OpenRouter OAuth prompt

> Aider added the free `openrouter/openrouter/quasar-alpha` model (55% on its polyglot coding benchmark, run via `aider --model quasar`) and now offers OpenRouter OAuth when an OpenRouter model is selected without an API key. The rest is error handling and dependency hygiene.

| | |
|---|---|
| **Tool** | Aider |
| **Version** | v0.81.0 |
| **Kind** | release |
| **Published** | 2025-04-04 |
| **Observed** | 2026-08-11 |
| **Significance** | 2/5 |
| **Breaking** | no |
| **Categories** | model-support, feature, fix |

## What changed


- Added `openrouter/openrouter/quasar-alpha`, free on OpenRouter at the time of release; scored 55% on the polyglot coding benchmark; run with `aider --model quasar`.
- Offers OpenRouter OAuth when an OpenRouter model is specified but the API key is missing.
- No longer retries API calls when the provider reports insufficient credits.
- Clearer error message for OpenRouter connection issues (mentions rate limiting / upstream provider problems).
- Weak models configured for Gemini 2.5 Pro: `gemini/gemini-2.0-flash` and `openrouter/google/gemini-2.0-flash-exp:free`; metadata added for the latter.
- URL detection no longer swallows trailing double quotes.
- Dependency bumps for yanked fsspec/aiohttp and a litellm fix that surfaces the root cause of OpenRouter "choices" errors.


## Sources

- [github_release](https://github.com/Aider-AI/aider/releases/tag/v0.81.0) — retrieved 2026-08-11

## Community

_No curated reactions recorded. Facts and community takes are kept in separate layers
and never blended._

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Canonical: https://changelogs.info/aider/v0-81-0
Entity: https://changelogs.info/aider
Event ID: `evt_2025-04-04_aider_v0-81-0`
Licence: event synthesis © changelogs.info, CC BY 4.0. Linked sources belong to their vendors.