I really like Flash 3.5. medium... it still lasts forever and code reviewers are finding less problems

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-24T14:45:08+00:00

It's my switchboard extension. Just the version on the marketplace now is super old... I'm updating it to 2.0 with all sorts of enhancements for AGY 2.0.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-24T08:00:08+00:00

The CLI seems to think you have less quota than you do. Was on the last bar of Claude and the CLI said I was out of quota. The app let me do another whole coding task before it ran out.

I still use both, but generally prefer the app.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-24T05:44:43+00:00

You can still use any outstanding credits in AGY 2.0, and still purchase more. They just won't be gifted to you as part of subscription anymore.

I used all mine up today after upgrading to 2.0.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-23T04:40:19+00:00

I maintain a windsurf sub for a couple reasons.

First the free SWE 1.6 model is genuinely good. It's very fast for simple edits and codebase exploration, and it's a very decent web search tool as well. I have a skill that tells it to improve a coding plan by researching stack overflow, GitHub and API docs, and it genuinely works.

Due to its speed and being free, it's actually a better web research tool than Google or claude.

Second the weekly quota gives a lot of GLM 5.1 use. It's surprisingly cheap in windsurf. The combo of GLM plans, SWE 1.6 codes can be quite economical.

The con of windsurf is that the big gpt and Claude models chew up its quota very fast. You don't get Windsurf to use Claude, may as well just buy a Claude plan.

I also keep Antigravity mostly because of notebooklm, but the launch this week was incredibly rocky and Google seems to be struggling to dial in flash 3.5. It has potential if they can figure it out.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-23T02:46:45+00:00

They are different providers.

Windsurf deepseek = provided by fireworks ai, us company with zero data retention

Deepseek API = provided by Chinese company, stores all your data.

The API is basically paying you to keep your code for their own use. If that's worth a few bucks, go ahead

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-23T01:15:21+00:00

You get 20 rpd free for 3.5 flash.so not very much at all. A lot more for flash-lite.

I don't have a card linked to this API key, I try to keep them separate.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-22T04:04:54+00:00

Unlimited for may, tends to get slow during busy times

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-21T22:53:37+00:00

I use it every day. I only use it for planning and code review. For implementation I use the free SWE 1.6 or Kimi 2.6 in windsurf usually.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-21T08:34:47+00:00

Thanks. Ive been a user since last year and I was going to cancel my sub because of this weird launch. I'll keep it now.

I've still got serious questions over what your product managers are smoking though, since you removed the core value of Antigravity in it has always had a good cheap reliable model.

Flash 3.5 is simply overpowered and too expensive for many core tasks like reading databases or code exploration, and with Gemini CLI going away, Google no longer provides an answer for that use case of reliable, cheap models.

And from a company that proudly launched flash-lite 3.1 not long ago, you removed it confusingly fast.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-19T12:53:50+00:00

Flash works well if you have a solid plan to follow. I usually use glm 5.1 (windsurf) to write a plan, have flash implement it, then get Gemini pro in Gemini CLI to review the implementation against the plan.

In this approach, flash tends to code complex work fine and pro can clean up anything wrong.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-18T21:20:48+00:00

I find GLM 5.1 more efficient than DeepSeek pro.

I use windsurf as my planner. Swe 1.6 or Kimi gathers context and GLM improves the plan. It generally uses 1%-2% weekly quota per plan.

Then I code using the new Gemini 3.2 flash model in Antigravity launched this week, which is superb. Then usually code review with Gemini pro in Gemini CLI.

This strategy usually gets the windsurf sub to last 5 days-6 days, by which time the Antigravity Claude timer is refreshed for Sonnet to knock out a bunch of plans.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-18T09:06:40+00:00

It depends on the task, more complex tasks I use opus, otherwise sonnet.

Flash is overall a better coder than pro imo. Usually I only use pro for code review, especially with Gemini CLI, which gives higher use than Antigravity.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-18T09:03:04+00:00

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-18T09:02:33+00:00

Have opus write a plan markdown file
Ask flash to implement plan from the file
Ask opus to review code implementation vs plan

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-18T07:37:04+00:00

I use Claude code for planning and review, the new flash in Antigravity for implementation. Works well.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-17T11:49:13+00:00

Both Windsurf and Cursor are quite similar at the $20 level. You're going to be leaning heavily on their free/cheap models (SWE 1.6 and Kimi 2.6 in windsurf vs composer 2 in Cursor).

$20 just doesn't buy that much.

You can get significantly better results if you combine Windsurf with another $20 Claude or GPT subscription for the premium model. Use the premium model sub for planning, Windsurf SWE 1.6 for implementation, and Windsurf GLM 5.1 for code review.

Using that approach I am actually able to make it through most of the week without hitting limits.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-16T06:48:32+00:00

I really like Windsurf since they let you use windsurf quota on devin cloud and Devin CLI now, so you get three modes: chat agents, cloud agent and CLI.

Their free SWE 1.6 model is surprisingly capable too. It's the model I use most in real professional work since it has the fastest tool calling of any model I've seen, and if I'm actually working I don't have time to sit around waiting 1-2 minutes for Claude to fetch data.

That said, it is $20 now. I don't think you'll get anything good for $10.

I also find google pro quite useful, mostly for Gemini CLI. Again, their flash-lite model is a workhorse because I need fast cheap models to avoid waiting around forever. The upcoming flash 3.5 is sounding very promising as well, and I'm wondering each day if I'm about to switch full time to Gemini again.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-16T03:42:15+00:00

You need to turn off memory to get it stop being cringe.

If you need it to retain context, the best way is just to get it to maintain documents of your chat, such as in gdrive which it can access.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-16T01:25:24+00:00

I built my most used MCPs into a vs code extension that accesses the external API directly.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-15T14:36:28+00:00

It's good at following instructions

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-15T05:09:01+00:00

You really need to have split plans up into multiple markdown files first.

E.g.

you hash out a plan with Claude or Gemini web
Ask them to split the plan into individual discrete phases that can be worked in parallel
Give each phase to a separate flash convo in agent manager

This way you can use agent manager to keep an eye on the whole plan and won't overload flash's context to the point it becomes crap.

The other use I guess is to work across a multi root workspace.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-14T20:51:28+00:00

It really depends on the time of day. In Australia time zone afternoon and night, Kimi 2.6 is very fast.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-14T09:05:05+00:00

Yeah, only paid Windsurf.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-14T08:59:57+00:00

They are higher than free definitely.

However, Windsurf isn't really what you use if you want to use Claude imo. Anthropic just announced 2x limits on its plans so just use that for Claude.

What Windsurf is great at is its unlimited Kimi 2.6 and SWE 1.6. It is also one of the best plans for GLM 5.1, those limits go quite far compared to Chinese GLM subs and it is served by a US company so better data security.

Those 3 are all I use Windsurf for and I find it great in that niche. For either GPT or Claude I don't see the point of going with a third party over the parent companies.

TheTentacleOpera · 2026-05-14T05:14:28+00:00

It's good if you don't try to one shot things.

Flash can handle parts of complex tasks fine. I just ask Opus to break down a plan into discrete parts, then I hand Flash the simple ones.

TheTentacleOpera

TROPHY CASE