{"slug": "gemini-code-assist", "name": "Gemini Code Assist", "category": "ai-coding", "category_name": "AI coding tools", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 10, "warners": 5, "score": -0.73, "rising": -1.31, "first": "2025-11-18", "latest": "2026-07-03", "why": "Gemini Code Assist had a quite generous \"free tier\" that I used for a while and found it do be pretty decent.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 5}, "spark": [2, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Gemini Code Assist had a quite generous \"free tier\" that I used for a while and found it do be pretty decent.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "visualstudio.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://codeassist.google/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Gemini Code Assist", "Google Code Assist"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 780424657, "item_id": 48776541, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48776541", "by": "esafak", "date": "2026-07-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It was good while it lasted, genuinely and consistently finding errors.", "excerpt": "It was good while it lasted, genuinely and consistently finding errors. I migrated to https://github.com/zeflq/pi-reviewer so I can be in control. There are commercial alternatives, of course.", "context": "", "use_case": "AI code review", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gemini Code Assist will be shut down on July 17"}, {"id": 760714033, "item_id": 47544627, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47544627", "by": "bityard", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Gemini Code Assist had a quite generous \"free tier\" that I used for a while and found it do be pretty decent.", "excerpt": "There are lots! Too many to cover in a single HN comment, and this space is evolving rapidly so I encourage you to look around. While the coding assistants are pretty much universally free, you still need to connect them to a model. The model tokens generally cost something once you've gone past a certain quota. I'm not sure if this is still true, but if you have a Google account, Gemini Code Assist had a quite gener", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Anatomy of the .claude/ Folder"}, {"id": 744658481, "item_id": 46541155, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46541155", "by": "gallexme", "date": "2026-01-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It works fine / about as good as aistudio", "excerpt": "When using my usual IDE(clion) i just use their integration https://codeassist.google/ It works fine / about as good as aistudio", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Got Its Groove Back and Edged Ahead of OpenAI"}, {"id": 736070992, "item_id": 46004437, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46004437", "by": "xnx", "date": "2025-11-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There is a Gemini VSCode plugin", "excerpt": "There is a Gemini VSCode plugin: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Google.geminicodeassist", "context": "", "use_case": "AI coding in VS Code", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nano Banana Pro"}, {"id": 735515024, "item_id": 45969689, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45969689", "by": "esafak", "date": "2025-11-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "https://github.com/marketplace/gemini-code-assist", "excerpt": "https://github.com/marketplace/gemini-code-assist", "context": "", "use_case": "Automated PR code review", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gemini 3"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 762433537, "item_id": 47652096, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47652096", "by": "matt_heimer", "date": "2026-04-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "is broken most of the time to the degree that it's completely unusable", "excerpt": "I guess that's true but I find Google's models better than their public tooling. The Pro subscription includes \"Gemini Code Assist and Gemini CLI\" but the Gemini Code Assist plugin for IntelliJ which is my daily driver is broken most of the time to the degree that it's completely unusable. Sometimes you can't even type in the input box. The only way I can do serious development with Gemini models is with other toolin", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 756807025, "item_id": 47300439, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47300439", "by": "kivle", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "At first I found the Gemini Code Assist to be absolutely terrible, bordering on unusable.", "excerpt": "I switched from ChatGPT Plus to Gemini Pro instead of Claude, since I'm a hobbyist and appreciate having more than just text chat and coding assist with my subscription (image gen, video gen, etc are all nice to have). At first I found the Gemini Code Assist to be absolutely terrible, bordering on unusable. It would mess up parameter order for function calls in simple 200 line Python. But then I found out about the \"", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Struggles to Cope with ChatGPT Exodus"}, {"id": 751923728, "item_id": 46995233, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46995233", "by": "uxhoiuewfhhiu", "date": "2026-02-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Gemini is completely unusable in VS Code.", "excerpt": "Gemini is completely unusable in VS Code. It's rated 2/5 stars, pathetic: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Google.geminicodeassist Requests regularly time out, the whole window freezes, it gets stuck in schizophrenic loops, edits cannot be reverted and more. It doesn't even come close to Claude or ChatGPT.", "context": "", "use_case": "coding in VS Code", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gemini 3 Deep Think"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["ai code review", "answering questions, fixing bugs", "coding in vs code", "ai coding in vs code", "automated pr code review"], "compared": [{"slug": "intellij-idea", "name": "IntelliJ IDEA", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "claude", "name": "Claude", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "chatgpt", "name": "ChatGPT", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48774429", "title": "Gemini Code Assist will be shut down on July 17", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48668199", "title": "Ask HN: Where is our profession (programmer) going?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47650726", "title": "item 47650726", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47543139", "title": "Anatomy of the .claude/ Folder", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47298997", "title": "Claude Struggles to Cope with ChatGPT Exodus", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46991240", "title": "Gemini 3 Deep Think", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 2}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"warn": 1}, "2026-03": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"warn": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"warn": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 780429760, "item_id": 48776860, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48776860", "by": "hirvi74", "date": "2026-07-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "", "excerpt": "All I use is the web app/chat features for development, so I feel like my bases are covered.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gemini Code Assist will be shut down on July 17"}, {"id": 780424657, "item_id": 48776541, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48776541", "by": "esafak", "date": "2026-07-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It was good while it lasted, genuinely and consistently finding errors.", "excerpt": "It was good while it lasted, genuinely and consistently finding errors. I migrated to https://github.com/zeflq/pi-reviewer so I can be in control. There are commercial alternatives, of course.", "context": "", "use_case": "AI code review", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gemini Code Assist will be shut down on July 17"}, {"id": 780409152, "item_id": 48775572, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48775572", "by": "philipwhiuk", "date": "2026-07-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Note also: > Unpaid tier (Gemini Code Assist for individuals) and Google One users only: Gemini CLI and Gemini Code Assist IDE extensions will be replaced by Antigravity CLI and Antigravity on June 18th. Please migrate to avoid disruption. Learn more here. https://codeassist.google/products/business https://developers.googleblog.com/an-important-update-transitioning-gemini-cli-to-antigravity-cli/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gemini Code Assist will be shut down on July 17"}, {"id": 779138960, "item_id": 48696185, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696185", "by": "doweneedai47", "date": "2026-06-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used google code assist for around 9 months.", "excerpt": "I fully agree with that. Well said. You're standing on the shore, and your clients are having fun in the water. The tide is going up, and you're screaming at your clients \"come back! it's not safe\". And so, they show you the face. You appear to them like the boring guy who's not fun to hang out with. Eventually the tide is high, there is strong current, and they are being swept away further and further from the shore", "context": "", "use_case": "answering questions, fixing bugs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Where is our profession (programmer) going?"}, {"id": 762433537, "item_id": 47652096, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47652096", "by": "matt_heimer", "date": "2026-04-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "is broken most of the time to the degree that it's completely unusable", "excerpt": "I guess that's true but I find Google's models better than their public tooling. The Pro subscription includes \"Gemini Code Assist and Gemini CLI\" but the Gemini Code Assist plugin for IntelliJ which is my daily driver is broken most of the time to the degree that it's completely unusable. Sometimes you can't even type in the input box. The only way I can do serious development with Gemini models is with other toolin", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 760714033, "item_id": 47544627, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47544627", "by": "bityard", "date": "2026-03-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Gemini Code Assist had a quite generous \"free tier\" that I used for a while and found it do be pretty decent.", "excerpt": "There are lots! Too many to cover in a single HN comment, and this space is evolving rapidly so I encourage you to look around. While the coding assistants are pretty much universally free, you still need to connect them to a model. The model tokens generally cost something once you've gone past a certain quota. I'm not sure if this is still true, but if you have a Google account, Gemini Code Assist had a quite gener", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Anatomy of the .claude/ Folder"}, {"id": 756807025, "item_id": 47300439, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47300439", "by": "kivle", "date": "2026-03-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "At first I found the Gemini Code Assist to be absolutely terrible, bordering on unusable.", "excerpt": "I switched from ChatGPT Plus to Gemini Pro instead of Claude, since I'm a hobbyist and appreciate having more than just text chat and coding assist with my subscription (image gen, video gen, etc are all nice to have). At first I found the Gemini Code Assist to be absolutely terrible, bordering on unusable. It would mess up parameter order for function calls in simple 200 line Python. But then I found out about the \"", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Struggles to Cope with ChatGPT Exodus"}, {"id": 751923728, "item_id": 46995233, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46995233", "by": "uxhoiuewfhhiu", "date": "2026-02-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Gemini is completely unusable in VS Code.", "excerpt": "Gemini is completely unusable in VS Code. It's rated 2/5 stars, pathetic: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Google.geminicodeassist Requests regularly time out, the whole window freezes, it gets stuck in schizophrenic loops, edits cannot be reverted and more. It doesn't even come close to Claude or ChatGPT.", "context": "", "use_case": "coding in VS Code", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gemini 3 Deep Think"}, {"id": 744658481, "item_id": 46541155, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46541155", "by": "gallexme", "date": "2026-01-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It works fine / about as good as aistudio", "excerpt": "When using my usual IDE(clion) i just use their integration https://codeassist.google/ It works fine / about as good as aistudio", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Got Its Groove Back and Edged Ahead of OpenAI"}, {"id": 736070992, "item_id": 46004437, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46004437", "by": "xnx", "date": "2025-11-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There is a Gemini VSCode plugin", "excerpt": "There is a Gemini VSCode plugin: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Google.geminicodeassist", "context": "", "use_case": "AI coding in VS Code", "switched_from": "", "story": "Nano Banana Pro"}, {"id": 735515024, "item_id": 45969689, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45969689", "by": "esafak", "date": "2025-11-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "https://github.com/marketplace/gemini-code-assist", "excerpt": "https://github.com/marketplace/gemini-code-assist", "context": "", "use_case": "Automated PR code review", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gemini 3"}]}