Secure Your Keys
Never commit API keys in code. Always use environment variables. Rotate keys periodically. Enable 2FA on all accounts. Restrict Gemini keys to the Generative Language API only.
Version Control Wisely
Commit often with descriptive messages. Create branches for major changes. Tag production releases. Keep your commit history clean.
Mobile-First Design
Design for small screens first. Test on real devices, not just emulators. Touch targets must be at least 44×44 px.
Optimize Performance
Minimize large dependencies. Compress images before use. Use lazy loading for heavy components. Monitor Vercel bandwidth in your dashboard.
Accessibility
Use semantic HTML. Ensure sufficient color contrast. Add alt text to all images. Show loading states for AI responses.
Monitor & Maintain
Check the AI Studio API Keys page for usage and blocked-key notices. Set billing alerts if you attach a Cloud project. Review GitHub security alerts. Update dependencies regularly.
Free tier limits
| Service | Free Tier Includes |
|---|---|
| Google AI Studio / Gemini API | Free API access on Flash-tier models, with compute-based usage limits that refresh roughly every 5 hours — check ai.google.dev/pricing for the current per-model limits, since they vary by model and change over time. No billing setup required for basic use. |
| Google Cloud Run (via AI Studio's Starter Tier) | Publish up to 2 apps straight from AI Studio with no billing account — beyond that, standard Cloud Run free tier pricing applies per project. See Part 2. |
| Vercel (Hobby plan) | 100 GB Fast Data Transfer/month · 1,000,000 function invocations · up to 200 projects · automatic HTTPS — for non-commercial personal projects only. Confirm current numbers at vercel.com/docs/plans/hobby before relying on them. |
| Replit (Static Deployments) | Free hosting on every plan, including the free tier — no commercial-use restriction. Data transfer allowance scales with your plan (100 GiB/month on Core); overage is billed per GB beyond that. |
| Netlify (Free/Starter plan) | Roughly 100 GB bandwidth and 300 build minutes/month · commercial use allowed, unlike Vercel Hobby. |
| Cloudflare Pages (Free plan) | Unlimited bandwidth · 500 builds/month · a strong pick if you expect meaningful traffic on a free tier. |
| GitHub (Free plan) | Unlimited public repositories · 2,000 GitHub Actions minutes/month on private repos (public repos are unmetered) · private repos with a reduced feature set · GitHub Pages on public repos. |
Free tiers change often. Bandwidth caps, invocation limits, and commercial-use rules on platforms like Vercel and pricing on the Gemini API have shifted more than once in the past year. Treat the numbers above as a starting point and re-check each provider's own docs before you scale past a hobby project.