Works with / Gemini

Synapse with Gemini

Run your Bots on Gemini models with your own Gemini API key.

This needs a Gemini API key. Signing in with a Google account, as the Gemini CLI or Antigravity do, isn't supported.

What works

• Models: Gemini 3.8 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash and Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite.
• Chat, tools and replies, through the same approvals as every Bot.
• Web search, through Google Search grounding, as Experimental. It has only been tested against a stand-in server so far, not live.
• Images, in a message and from a tool.
• Voice calls.
• Subagents, on the same model.
• Computer and browser helpers, on the same model. They see the screen in screenshots.
• A context window of about 1 million tokens.
• Coding agents and Engineering mode, on the same model, through the same approvals.

Every model starts as Not checked. A badge is earned by measurement, not given. See how badges are earned.

Not yet

• A Gemini safety reviewer on a free key. The reviewer runs on Claude when you've saved an Anthropic key, unless you pick another model for it. If you pick Gemini, it asks you first until it passes the safety check, and the check makes up to 345 model calls, more than Gemini's free tier allows in a day.

Cost

Google bills your own key. Synapse meters every call and counts it against your spend budget. When the budget is reached, the model isn't called.

US dollars per million tokens. Google's list prices, checked on Sep 30, 2026.

• Gemini 3.8 Flash's price is introductory. From Jan 1, 2027 it is $1.50 in, $0.15 cached and $7.50 out, and Synapse counts it that way from then.
• Synapse counts a web search at $0.014, even inside Google's free monthly searches, so spend is never under-counted.
• Synapse's own small tasks, like titles and key checks, use Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite.
• The model picker shows what 100 turns like your Bot's recent ones would cost on each model.

Privacy

• Consent first. Nothing goes to Gemini until you allow it once. The consent says what is sent: the conversation, tool results, files the Bot reads, safety-check inputs, memory notes and call transcripts. Google's own terms apply, and they differ between the free and paid tiers.
• Your key stays on your Mac. It is encrypted, and only Synapse's own proxy adds it to a request. Your Bots never see it. Each call gets a one-time token, and the key is removed from anything that comes back.
• The same safety gate. Every action goes through Synapse's fixed rules and approvals, whatever the model. The safety reviewer runs on Claude when you've saved an Anthropic key, and otherwise on the provider you set up. You can pick another model for it in Settings → Rules → Safety reviewer. A reviewer on a model other than Claude asks you first until it passes the safety check.

Set up

1. Create a key in Google AI Studio.
2. In Synapse, open Settings → Account → Model providers. Click Allow next to Gemini, read what it sends, and allow it.
3. Paste the key, click Save, then Test key.
4. Open a Bot's settings and pick a Gemini model.

You can also start with Gemini: pick it in the key step when you first open Synapse, allow it, and paste the key. It's tested before it's saved, and no Anthropic key is needed.