Best of Google Gemini — January 2026

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   Article

   Google Developers·16w

   Tailor Gemini CLI to your workflow with hooks

   Gemini CLI v0.26.0+ introduces hooks, a middleware-like system that lets developers customize the AI agent's behavior at specific lifecycle points. Hooks enable injecting custom context, enforcing security policies (like blocking secrets from being written to files), and automating workflows through scripts that run synchronously within the agent loop. The feature supports extensions, allowing bundled hooks to be installed with a single command. Examples include security scanners that prevent API keys from being committed and the "Ralph loop" extension that forces continuous iteration on difficult tasks.

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   Article

   InfoQ·18w

   Google Introduces Conductor, a Context-Driven Development Extension for Gemini CLI

   Google released Conductor, a preview extension for Gemini CLI that maintains project context across AI-assisted development sessions using persistent Markdown files. The tool introduces a track-based workflow where developers define specifications and implementation plans before code generation, storing all context directly in the repository. This planning-first approach addresses the common problem of losing project context in chat-based coding tools and supports team-wide configuration for consistent AI-assisted contributions.

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   Article

   Dixit Ram·19w

   What Do You Do With Your First Laptop?

   A personal reflection on keeping first laptops as sentimental items rather than discarding them. The author shares an idea inspired by iPhone teardown frames and uses Gemini AI to visualize displaying an old laptop as decorative art, humorously noting they're still waiting for their first job to afford the setup.

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   Video

   Theo - t3․gg·17w

   wtf is going on with ChatGPT?

   OpenAI launched ChatGPT Go, an $8/month subscription tier with ads, globally after initially testing it in India. This move reflects OpenAI's concern about losing market share to Google's Gemini, which has grown from ~15% to ~40% while OpenAI dropped from 75-85% to ~60%. The pricing strategy aims to capture users despite potentially operating at a loss, betting that inference costs will decrease over time or user willingness to pay will increase. OpenAI makes 3-4x more revenue from ChatGPT subscriptions than API usage, making the consumer app their primary business. The ad-supported model is controversial given OpenAI's access to user conversation data for targeting, though the company claims conversations remain private from advertisers. The strategy mirrors Google Workspace's historical approach of offering low initial pricing to build lock-in before gradually raising prices.

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   Article

   Google Cloud·15w

   Introducing Google Cloud Vertex AI Extensions for .NET

   Google Cloud announces the Google.Cloud.VertexAI.Extensions library, enabling .NET developers to integrate Gemini models on Vertex AI through Microsoft.Extensions.AI abstractions. The library provides a unified API for multi-provider AI applications, supporting chat, embeddings, and image generation. It complements the existing Google Gen AI .NET SDK by offering flexibility for developers who need to work with multiple AI providers (Google, OpenAI, Azure) while maintaining consistent code patterns. The library is currently in beta and includes code samples for common use cases.

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   Article

   Pierre·19w

   Make Claude Code Opus talk to Gemini Pro

   Claude Code Opus 4.5 and Gemini 3 Pro each miss things when working independently, but combining them improves decision-making significantly. This guide shows how to integrate Gemini into Claude Code using a bash script that calls the Gemini API and a Claude Code agent that formats prompts and executes the script. The setup involves creating two files in your project's `.claude/` directory: a bash script for API calls and an agent definition that handles consultation requests.

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