---
type: entity
subtype: tool
title: "Google Gemini 2.0 Flash"
description: "Google's LLM line; Gemini 2.5 led general-purpose models for months and Gemini 3 is considered the most powerful general LLM at year-end."
resource: "https://deepmind.google/technologies/gemini/"
tags: [llm, google, model-access]
videos: [ai-exploded-in-2025-heres-everything-that-happened, my-top-20-lessons-from-building-100s-of-ai-agents-super-actionable, build-ai-agents-that-evolve-over-time, insane-new-strategy-for-building-ai-agent-apps, revealing-my-complete-ai-agent-blueprint, stop-paying-for-gpt-claude-other-llms-get-them-all-in-one-place, im-building-the-best-open-source-ai-coding-assistant-with-your-help]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# Google Gemini 2.0 Flash

Gemini is Google's LLM line, and Cole treats it as a front-runner among general-purpose models. He credits Gemini 2.5 with a breakthrough on long context: "Google released Gemini 2.5 later this month as well. And this model was revolutionary because of how well it handled a large amount of context" [0:04:04], and by year-end he names its successor the general-purpose leader, "the release of Gemini 3 from Google, which is often considered to be the most powerful LLM from a general standpoint right now" [0:12:35]. The specific model he demos most is the fast, free tier: Gemini 2.0 Flash.

## How Cole uses it

Gemini 2.0 Flash is Cole's default "just build it" model in agent tutorials, chosen largely because it costs nothing to start: "once you have your API key for Google I'm using Gemini 2.0 Flash in this case ... which is completely free" [0:18:32]. He prototypes whole agents on it, "we're going to build a full prototype for our agent using n8n and Gemini 2.0 Flash" [0:14:30], and uses it as the baseline chatbot he later upgrades with memory: "I'm here chatting with Gemini 2.0 Flash. This is an agent or really just a chatbot that doesn't have long-term memory" [0:01:56].

Beyond prototyping, his [model selection](../../concepts/model-selection.md) heuristic routes creative work to Gemini: "Gemini 2.5 Pro I find works better for more of my creative agents like they need kind of like writing assistant" [0:32:45]. He also builds Gemini support into his open-source coding assistant ("an integration with Gemini so for both Gemini 1.5 Flash and pro") and shows it doing agentic web research inside a unified LLM platform.

## Contrasts with

- [Claude](./claude.md) - Named as an example of a large language model that can be turned into an agent, a sibling frontier model.
- [GPT-4](./gpt-4.md) - OpenAI's model cited as strong enough that it reasons step by step without being told to.
- [DeepSeek V3](./deepseek-v3.md) - Open model Cole cites as evidence the local-vs-closed gap is closing fast.
- [Gemini 3](./gemini-3.md) - Google's flagship LLM release, genuinely strong on abstract reasoning (a large ARC-AGI-2 jump) and especially good at frontend and design work, though its real-world edge is hard to separate from the tooling layered on top of it.
- [Gemini 3.5 Flash](./gemini-3-5-flash.md) - Google's cheap, fast LLM that builds unusually beautiful, handcrafted-looking frontends; the design half of Cole's provider-mixing workflow, paired with Opus 4.8 for planning and integrations.

## Works with

- [Gemini CLI](./gemini-cli.md) - Google's terminal-based coding agent running on the same Gemini model line.
- [Vertex AI](./vertex-ai.md) - Google's cloud AI platform offering powerful agent capabilities out of the box, recommended in Google's agent white paper.

## Related

- [Model Selection](../../concepts/model-selection.md) - Choosing the right LLM per task; Cole routes creative agents to Gemini and prototypes on its free tier.
- [Context Engineering](../../concepts/context-engineering.md) - Curating the context window, where Gemini 2.5's long-context strength shines.
- [Agentic Coding](../../concepts/agentic-coding.md) - Letting an AI agent drive development, with Gemini as a coding-assistant backend.
- [RAG](../../concepts/rag.md) - Grounding answers with retrieved documents, with Gemini as the generation model.
- [Memory Systems](../../concepts/memory-systems.md) - Durable agent memory, upgrading a Gemini chatbot into a stateful agent.
- [Vibe Coding](../../concepts/vibe-coding.md) - Building software by conversationally prompting an AI without closely reading the code.

## Sources

- [AI Exploded in 2025 - Here's Everything That Happened](../../sources/ai-exploded-in-2025-heres-everything-that-happened.md) - "[0:04:04] Google released Gemini 2.5 later this month as well. And this model was revolutionary because of how well it handled a large amount of context"
- [My Top 20 Lessons from Building 100s of AI Agents (Super Actionable)](../../sources/my-top-20-lessons-from-building-100s-of-ai-agents-super-actionable.md) - "[0:32:45] Gemini 2.5 Pro I find works better for more of my creative agents like they need kind of like writing assistant."
- [Build AI Agents that EVOLVE Over Time](../../sources/build-ai-agents-that-evolve-over-time.md) - "[0:01:56] I'm here chatting with Gemini 2.0 Flash. This is an agent or really just a chatbot that doesn't have long-term memory"
- [INSANE New Strategy for Building AI Agent Apps](../../sources/insane-new-strategy-for-building-ai-agent-apps.md) - "[0:18:32] I'm using Gemini 2.0 Flash in this case ... which is completely free"
- [Revealing my COMPLETE AI Agent Blueprint](../../sources/revealing-my-complete-ai-agent-blueprint.md) - "[0:14:30] we're going to build a full prototype for our agent using n8n and Gemini 2.0 Flash"
- [STOP Paying for GPT, Claude, & Other LLMs - Get them ALL in One Place](../../sources/stop-paying-for-gpt-claude-other-llms-get-them-all-in-one-place.md) - "[0:03:04] do some research on the best AI topics to learn right now ... yep it did looking really good search the web it analyzed the results"
- [I'm Building the BEST Open Source AI Coding Assistant with YOUR Help](../../sources/im-building-the-best-open-source-ai-coding-assistant-with-your-help.md) - "[0:04:49] an integration with Gemini so for both Gemini 1.5 Flash and pro so that was added as well"
