Design Consultation with Gemini
Tools
| Tool | Use For |
| ------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| mcp__gemini__ask-gemini | Architecture, design review, trade-offs |
| mcp__gemini__brainstorm | Generating alternatives, creative solutions |
ask-gemini
{
"prompt": "I'm designing [system]. Current approach: [desc]. Trade-offs and alternatives?",
"model": "gemini-2.5-pro"
}
Options: changeMode: true for structured edits, sandbox: true for code execution
brainstorm
{
"prompt": "How might we [challenge]?",
"domain": "software",
"methodology": "auto",
"ideaCount": 10
}
Methodologies: divergent, convergent, scamper, design-thinking, lateral, auto
Gotchas
- Gemini brainstorm output is non-deterministic — same prompt rerun gives different ideas; save outputs you want to reference.
ask-geminidoesn't preserve conversation context across calls — multi-turn questions need explicit history concatenation in each prompt.- API quota is per-project per-day — bursting on a free tier locks the project out until midnight Pacific.
- Output is markdown but can include LaTeX math — downstream tooling that doesn't render math gets garbled output without warning.
brainstormdefaults to 5 ideas — for divergent ideation, explicitly request more; the default is a hard cap.