diff --git a/aider/help_pats.py b/aider/help_pats.py
index 546517d66b2..129eed983e7 100644
--- a/aider/help_pats.py
+++ b/aider/help_pats.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
     ".jekyll-metadata",
     "Gemfile.lock",
     "Gemfile",
-    "_config.yml",
+    "_.aider\config.yml",
     "**/OLD/**",
     "OLD/**",
 ]
diff --git a/aider/main.py b/aider/main.py
index afb3f836624..72a41dc41d2 100644
--- a/aider/main.py
+++ b/aider/main.py
@@ -712,7 +712,7 @@ def get_io(pretty):
 
     # We can't know the git repo for sure until after parsing the args.
     # If we guessed wrong, reparse because that changes things like
-    # the location of the config.yml and history files.
+    # the location of the .aider\config.yml and history files.
     if args.git and not force_git_root and git is not None:
         right_repo_root = guessed_wrong_repo(io, git_root, fnames, git_dname)
         if right_repo_root:
diff --git a/aider/models.py b/aider/models.py
index 4a5d86a6975..d637514cd82 100644
--- a/aider/models.py
+++ b/aider/models.py
@@ -569,20 +569,24 @@ def get_weak_model(self, provided_weak_model_name):
         if provided_weak_model_name:
             self.weak_model_name = provided_weak_model_name
 
-        if not self.weak_model_name:
-            self.weak_model = self
-            return
+        if not self.weak_model_name or self.weak_model_name == self.name:
+           self.weak_model = self
+           return self.weak_model
 
-        if self.weak_model_name == self.name:
+        try:
+            self.weak_model = Model(
+               self.weak_model_name,
+               weak_model=False,
+        )
+        except Exception as e:
+            # If the model is not found (404 error), fall back gracefully
+            print(f"Warning: Could not load weak model '{self.weak_model_name}'. Falling back to main model. Error: {e}")
             self.weak_model = self
-            return
 
-        self.weak_model = Model(
-            self.weak_model_name,
-            weak_model=False,
-        )
         return self.weak_model
 
+
+
     def commit_message_models(self):
         return [self.weak_model, self]
 
diff --git a/aider/special.py b/aider/special.py
index 77faa58b1e0..9be2540653a 100644
--- a/aider/special.py
+++ b/aider/special.py
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@
     "bitbucket-pipelines.yml",
     "appveyor.yml",
     "circle.yml",
-    ".circleci/config.yml",
+    ".circleci/.aider\config.yml",
     ".github/dependabot.yml",
     "codecov.yml",
     ".coveragerc",
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@
     "codecov.yml",
     # Documentation
     "mkdocs.yml",
-    "_config.yml",
+    "_.aider\config.yml",
     "book.toml",
     "readthedocs.yml",
     ".readthedocs.yaml",
diff --git a/chat b/chat
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e69de29bb2d
diff --git a/init b/init
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e69de29bb2d
diff --git a/tests/basic/test_find_or_blocks.py b/tests/basic/test_find_or_blocks.py
index dbaddc2b097..7d7e7720efb 100755
--- a/tests/basic/test_find_or_blocks.py
+++ b/tests/basic/test_find_or_blocks.py
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ def process_markdown(filename, fh):
 class TestFindOrBlocks(unittest.TestCase):
     def test_process_markdown(self):
         # Path to the input markdown file
-        input_file = "tests/fixtures/chat-history.md"
+        input_file = "tests/fixtures/.aider\chat-history.md"
 
         # Path to the expected output file
         expected_output_file = "tests/fixtures/chat-history-search-replace-gold.txt"