Comment by thtmnisamnstr
1 day ago
Gemini CLI is a solid alternative to Claude Code. The limits are restrictive, though. If you're paying for Max, I can't imagine Gemini CLI will take you very far.
1 day ago
Gemini CLI is a solid alternative to Claude Code. The limits are restrictive, though. If you're paying for Max, I can't imagine Gemini CLI will take you very far.
Gemini CLI isn't even close to the quality of Claude Code as a coding harness. Codex and even OpenCode are much better alternatives.
Well, I use Gemini a lot (because it's one of three allowed families), but tbh it's pretty bad. I mean, it can get the job done but it's exhausting. No pleasure in using it.
Gemini CLI regularly gets stuck failing to do anything after declaring its plan to me. There seems to be no way to un-lock it from this state except closing and reopening the interface, losing all its progress.
Depending on task complexity, I like to write a small markdown file with the list of features or tasks. If I lose a session (with any model), I'll start with "we were disconnected, please review the desired features in 'features.md', verify current state, and complete anything remaining.
That has reliably worked for me with Gemini, Codex, and Opus. If you can get them to check-off features as they complete them, works even better (i.e, success criteria and an empty checkbox for them to mark off).
you should be able to copy the entire conversation and paste it in (including thinking/reasoning tokens).
When you have a conversation with an AI, in simple terms, when you type a new line and hit enter, the client sends the entire conversation to the LLM. It has always worked this way, and it's how "reasoning tokens" were first realized. you allow a client to "edit" the context, and the client deletes the hallucination, then says "Wait..." at the end of the context, and hits enter.
the LLM is tricked into thinking it's confused/wrong/unsure, and "reasons" more about that particular thing.
I tried Gemini like a year or so ago, and I gave up after it directly refused to write me a script and instead tried to tell me how to learn to code. I do not make this up.
That's at least two major updates ago. Probably worth another try.
Gemini is my preferred LLM for coding, but it still does goofy shit once in a while even with the latest version.
I'm 99.9999% sure Gemini has a dynamic scaling system that will route you to smaller models when its overloaded, and that seems to be when it will still occasionally do things like tell you it edited some files without actually presenting the changes to you or go off on other strange tangents.
I tried it on Tuesday and, having used CC a lot lately, was shocked at how bad it was - I'd forgotten.
Kilocode is a good alt as well. You can plug into OpenRouter or Kilocode to access their models.