React + Typescript + Gemini: A pretty great combo
2025-08-07 13:06:12 +01:00 by Mark Smith
So I did end up modifying my devcontainer setup to accommodate the possibility of working with Gemini in agent mode. I have two configs now, one is a sort of admin mode, that I use myself, and have full access to the Github repo. The other is a paired down agent config, where you can only read from the repo. It's enough to get the latest code so theoretically an agent could start working locally on features, but it wouldn't be able to push to the remote. I also improved the setup so that you can only modify the devcontainer setup from outside the devcontainer. Gemini is very good at creating complicated situations where it could easily change some things without you realising.
I haven‘t taken much time to really try out agent mode because I have been finalising the frontend architecture for my React frontend, and actually I was learning a lot by pair programming with Gemini. As long as you can put up with it‘s infinite ego, and nod your head when it is telling you how you are frustrated all while it digs itself into a bigger and bigger hole, and be ready to pull the rip cord to make sure you don‘t fall in with it, it is phenomenal at writing documentation, summarising work done into very detailed commit messages, brainstorming ideas and development strategy, and at figuring out very complex Typescript blockages.
Looks like I'll have the migration of my new API‘s frontend to React sometime in the next few days. And I already have a small list of improvements to make. #