shane@ixtj.dev:~$ cat blog/vibe-coding-gemini-openrouter.md

Cost-effective vibe coding setup with Gemini and OpenRouter

· 1 min read
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Here’s a quick overview of the cost-effective setup I’ve been using lately:

  1. VS Code

  2. Roo Code extension

  3. Modes:

    1. Orchestrator: Gemini 2.5 Flash, Gemini 2.5 Pro, DeepSeek V3 0324

    2. Other modes: Gemini 2.0 Flash (via OpenRouter)

Key Points:

  1. Gemini 2.5 Flash, used as the orchestrator, can be accessed using a free API key from Google AI Studio.

    1. It has a large context window and strong performance, making it ideal for overseeing the overall workflow.

    2. For code editing or debugging, a slightly less powerful model still works fine.

  2. If you top up just $10 on OpenRouter, your rate limit is relaxed — even if you don’t use it.

    1. This allows you to use models tagged with :free at no cost.

    2. Additionally, if you enter your Google AI Studio API key in OpenRouter’s Integrations settings, it’s automatically used as a fallback.