Has Anyone Else Hit the Wall with AI Studio on Bigger Projects?

Google AI Studio
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1

Hey everyone, I need to vent a little and see if I’m the only one going through this.

I’ve been using Gemini AI Studio for a moderately complex project, and while the start was amazing—it felt like pairing with a genius coworker—things have gotten brutally frustrating in the last couple of weeks.

Seriously, the initial development sprint was awesome. We were flying, knocking out features, and it was genuinely fun. But as soon as the project hit a mid-stage complexity wall, the AI basically transformed from a genius architect into a stressed-out intern who just keeps putting Band-Aids on problems.

Here’s the breakdown of my pain points:

  1. Code is Getting Ugly Fast: Instead of restructuring things smartly, the AI’s solution to every bug is throwing in another random if/else block here, and another little patch there. My code is getting bloated, messy, and looks like an absolute patchwork quilt. It just can’t do proper refactoring, so the file sizes are blowing up.

  2. The Waiting Game is Insane: This is the worst part. Initially, I’d get instant feedback. Now, once my files hit around 300KB, I submit a prompt and the whole thing just drags. I spend more time waiting for the AI to process the giant code context than I do actually developing. It feels like the tool is choking on its own output.

  3. Cost and Time are Skyrocketing: The slow execution and the need for constant correction mean my daily budget has exploded. What cost me maybe $1 a day to play around with initially is now costing $10 a day just to make minor progress. I’m terrified of what happens next—am I going to be paying $100 a day just to add one feature?

  4. The Constant Rollback Loop: It’s infuriating. I specifically tell the AI, “Hey, only touch this function,” and it inevitably decides to tweak three other unrelated files, introducing new bugs I then have to track down. I’m spending half my time reverting unwanted changes and fixing brand new errors. I’m literally re-doing work I already paid for.

Basically, I’m stuck in a loop: AI introduces complexity → Complexity increases processing time → Processing time increases cost → AI introduces more errors → I spend more time fixing/reverting.

Is This Tool Just for Demos?

I’m starting to wonder if these AI coding assistants are only good for rapid prototyping and making flashy demos, but totally useless for a real, production-ready application that needs ongoing development.

Has anyone cracked the code on managing a large, complex project with these tools? What’s your secret to keeping the AI focused and preventing the massive slowdown?

Do I just need to scrap the project and wait for the tech to catch up? I’d love to hear if others are banging their head against this same wall!

2

It wasn’t that way in the beginning but now it has. The AI service has ran off of government money IE: Biden Dollars’ Those dollars since dried up and would’ve sooner or later we are just now receiving the end results right away instead of letting the service balloon count of control and creating too much dependency on it. big tech is in deep s—right now not knowing HOW to run a business and is throwing darts at the wall to see what sticks hence if you do more then just basic recipe lists or birthday cards,etc or spreadsheet. Peole like you or I that do larger projects will sooner rather then later find the cracks in the armor. Most businesses are ran by finance people who don’t know squat except charts and graphs and are far removed from the companies foundations the will say otherwise to save public face. The whole thing is collapsing right now and companies I didn’t think would be effected are. You don’t even have to do a hard search to find out anymore!

3

One secret is provide screenshots and images of the outside world that grounds the AI and keep the topic changing to a minimum. If you do change go slowly and ease the accelerator open or you will like on Train Simulator get wheel spin if you jam the throttle too high and floor it. You can’t do large videos or it chokes the AI. Something changed in the interface. It is changing to make it for fast food prompts only. Think kids meal sized and the multimedia you can do is just the toy that comes with the meal and breaks just as easily. Think of the most awful toy you ever got.

5

Hey,

Hope you’re keeping well.

For larger projects in Gemini AI Studio, performance and quality can degrade if the prompt context gets too big or the code base isn’t segmented. The most effective approach is to reduce the working set by breaking code into smaller, well-scoped files and feeding the AI only the relevant snippets instead of entire modules. You can also use the “code blocks only” mode and explicitly load context from a curated set of files rather than letting AI Studio scan everything. For long-running work, consider moving to the Gemini API in Vertex AI where you can manage context windows more precisely, store intermediate state, and run batch updates without the Studio UI overhead. This keeps processing time, token usage, and unintended edits under control while scaling beyond rapid prototyping.

Thanks and regards,
Taz