All Articles
A Lightweight Gemini Backend with Bun and Hono — Reclaiming the Small Tools of Indie Development
Has your Node and Express Gemini backend grown heavy with dependencies and build times? Here is how I moved one to Bun and Hono — folding streaming, rate limiting, cost caps, testing, and self-hosting into a single light runtime — along with the pitfalls I hit in production.
Treating a 0.5B Local LLM as a 'Front-Line Router' — Gemini Nano Next to Qwen 0.5B
Qwen2.5 0.5B reads as 'too weak for daily chat' when you give it the wrong task. As a mobile-app developer with 50M cumulative downloads behind me, I find it useful to put Gemini Nano next to Qwen 0.5B and think about the routing layer instead.
Replaying Gemini API Calls Locally with msw and HTTP Fixtures — How I Cut API Quota Across Six Sites with a Record/Replay Pattern
When you hit the real Gemini API every time you tweak a piece of UI, you end up paying for hundreds of duplicate calls a day. After moving six of my sites to an msw-based record/replay pattern, monthly Gemini billing went unexpectedly quiet. Here's the implementation and operating policy.
Running Streamlit + Gemini as a Production BI Dashboard — Auth, Cost, Caching, Rate Limits, Observability
A design memo for promoting a Streamlit + Gemini data analysis app into a real multi-user internal BI dashboard — authentication, cost optimization, result caching, per-user rate limits, and observability, all from production experience.
LM Studio 'Failed to Load Model' for Gemma 4 MLX — A 4-Bucket Diagnostic for Apple Silicon
When LM Studio refuses to load mlx-community/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it-4bit with a red 'Failed to load model' dialog, the cause is almost always one of four buckets. Here's how to triage them on an Apple Silicon Mac in under thirty minutes.
Google AI Studio Build Mode Not Working — Blank Preview, Deploy Failures, and Other Common Issues
Troubleshoot Google AI Studio Build Mode issues: blank preview panels, prompts that don't apply, Firebase deployment failures, and code getting overwritten. Each problem with a concrete fix.
A Week Using Gemini CLI for iOS App Development: An Indie Dev's Honest Report
An indie developer with 50M+ app downloads shares a week-long experiment integrating Gemini CLI into iOS development. Covers translation, release notes, code review, and an honest comparison with Claude Code.
Integrating Gemini API into iOS Widgets: Working Around WidgetKit's Execution Limits
Calling Gemini API directly from a WidgetKit TimelineProvider silently fails after release. Learn the App Groups caching pattern plus BGTaskScheduler refresh that keeps widgets fresh while cutting API calls to roughly one tenth, with field-tested numbers and a pre-release checklist.
Running Gemma 4 Locally in Android Studio via Ollama — Setup, Performance, and Real-World Development Experience
A hands-on guide to connecting Android Studio's local LLM feature with Gemma 4 via Ollama. Covers MacOS setup, model selection, practical coding experience, and when local AI makes more sense than cloud APIs.
Auto-Generate Narration Videos with Gemini TTS — From Text Input to MP4 Output (2026 Guide)
Build a Python pipeline that converts text into narration videos using Gemini TTS API — generating audio, subtitles, and compositing the final MP4 with FFmpeg. Includes real API cost and timing benchmarks.
Integrating Gemini Live API into an Expo App — Real-Time Voice Conversation Guide
Learn how to integrate Gemini Live API into an Expo (React Native) mobile app for real-time voice conversation. Includes practical code examples for WebSocket connections, audio recording, and playback.
Gemini CLI with MCP Servers: A from File I/O to Database Queries
Learn how to connect MCP servers to Gemini CLI for hands-on file operations and database integration. Covers GEMINI.md configuration, filesystem, SQLite, and GitHub MCP with working examples.