Skip to main content
Version: Summer 2025 Forward with Her Program

Practical Project: Managing Development Environment with Gemini CLI

Project Goals

Through this chapter's practical project, you will:

  • Clean up redundant dependencies and free up disk space
  • Optimize system PATH configuration
  • Establish an efficient AI-assisted workflow
  • Learn to manage multiple development project environments
Watch the video walkthrough

The complete teaching video for Lessons 1 and 2 has moved to the centralized Video Tutorials page so you can find every video for this programme in one place.

Project 1: Intelligent Environment Cleanup​

Many developers' computers have accumulated a large number of unused dependencies and tools. Let's use Gemini CLI for a thorough cleanup.

Project Background​

Real Case Study

A developer successfully cleaned up 50GB of redundant files after using Gemini CLI, including:

  • Outdated node_modules folders
  • Duplicate global npm packages
  • Abandoned development tools
  • Temporary build files

Practice Steps​

Comprehensive Local Environment Scan​

gemini chat

You: Please help me scan all local development environments, dependencies, and libraries, list detailed inventory

Gemini: Starting to scan your development environment...

📊 Scan Results:

1. Node.js Environment:
 - Versions: v18.17.0, v16.20.0, v14.21.0
 - Global packages: 87 (using 2.3GB)

2. Python Environment:
 - Versions: 3.9.7, 3.8.10, 2.7.18
 - pip packages: 156 (using 4.1GB)

3. Project Folders:
 - Detected 23 projects
 - node_modules total: 18.7GB
 - Unused for over 6 months: 12 projects

4. Development Tools:
 - Docker images: 34 (using 12.3GB)
 - VS Code extensions: 48

Which part would you like me to analyze in detail?

Project Results​

Space Freed: 32.4GB / 50GB — Successfully cleaned redundant files

Performance Improvement

  • npm command response speed improved by 40%
  • System boot time reduced by 15 seconds
  • Development tools run more smoothly

Project 2: PATH Environment Optimization​

Messy PATH configuration can lead to command conflicts and performance issues. Let's use AI to optimize it.

Common PATH Problems​

  • Duplicate Paths: The same path is added multiple times, affecting lookup efficiency
  • Invalid Paths: Pointing to non-existent directories, causing command lookup failures
  • Order Confusion: Improper priority settings may use wrong tool versions

Optimization Practice​

You: Help me analyze the system PATH and find all problems

Gemini: Analyzing your PATH configuration...

🔍 PATH Analysis Report:

Current PATH entries (in order):
1. /usr/local/bin ⚠️
2. /opt/homebrew/bin ✅
3. /usr/local/bin ⚠️ [Duplicate]
4. ~/.npm-global/bin ✅
5. /usr/bin ✅
6. /opt/old-tools/bin ❌ [Does not exist]
7. ~/.npm-global/bin ⚠️ [Duplicate]
8. /usr/local/go/bin ✅
9. /Applications/Docker.app/Contents/Resources/bin ❌ [Docker not installed]
10. /usr/local/bin ⚠️ [3rd duplicate]

📊 Problem Summary:
- 3 duplicate entries
- 2 invalid paths
- Recommended to adjust priority order

🎯 Optimization Recommendations:
1. User-level tools should take priority over system-level
2. Commonly used tool paths should be at the front
3. Remove all duplicate and invalid entries

Project 3: Git Workflow Automation​

Say goodbye to tedious Git commands and let AI handle all version control operations.

Scenario Practice​

Scenario: Starting Work in the Morning​

You: Good morning, I want to continue yesterday's feature development

Gemini: Good morning! Let me help you prepare the development environment.

🔍 Checking project status...

📊 Project: awesome-web-app
📍 Current branch: feature/user-auth
📝 Uncommitted changes: 3 files

Yesterday's work summary:
- Completed login form UI
- Added form validation logic
- TODO: Connect backend API

Today's recommendations:
1. First commit yesterday's changes
2. Pull latest code from main branch
3. Continue API integration work

Would you like me to execute these operations for you?

You: Okay, first commit yesterday's changes

Gemini: Committing your changes...

Viewing change content:
- src/components/LoginForm.jsx (new)
- src/utils/validation.js (new)
- src/styles/auth.css (new)

Generated commit message:
"feat: Implement user login form UI and validation logic

- Create responsive login form component
- Add email and password validation rules
- Apply custom style theme"

✓ Changes committed
✓ Pushed to remote repository

Now pulling latest code...
✓ Main branch updated, no conflicts

You can start today's development!

Project 4: Building Personal Workflow​

Every developer has unique work habits. Let's use Gemini CLI to create a customized automated workflow.

Custom Command Set​

Example 1: Project Initialization Assistant​

You: Create a new React project using TypeScript with my commonly used configurations

Gemini: Understood! I'll create a React TypeScript project that matches your preferences.

🚀 Initializing project...

Execution steps:
1. Create React TypeScript application
2. Install your commonly used dependency packages
3. Configure code standards tools
4. Set up Git repository

npx create-react-app my-app --template typescript
cd my-app

📦 Installing additional dependencies...
- axios (HTTP requests)
- react-router-dom (routing)
- @mui/material (UI components)
- react-hook-form (form handling)

⚙️ Configuring development tools...
✓ Added .prettierrc
✓ Configured ESLint rules
✓ Created .vscode/settings.json
✓ Set up Git hooks (husky)

📁 Creating project structure...
src/
├── components/
├── pages/
├── services/
├── hooks/
├── utils/
├── types/
└── styles/

✓ Project creation complete!

All your common settings have been configured.
Run 'npm start' to begin development!

Example 2: Deployment Assistant​

You: Deploy this project to Vercel

Gemini: I'll help you deploy to Vercel!

🔍 Checking project configuration...
✓ Detected React application
✓ build command: npm run build
✓ output directory: build/

📝 Creating Vercel configuration...
Generated vercel.json:
{
"buildCommand": "npm run build",
"outputDirectory": "build",
"framework": "create-react-app"
}

🚀 Starting deployment...

1. Connecting Git repository
2. Triggering Vercel build
3. Assigning domain name

Build log:
[10:23:15] Cloning repository...
[10:23:18] Installing dependencies...
[10:23:45] Building project...
[10:24:12] Optimizing assets...
[10:24:20] Deployment complete!

✅ Deployment successful!

🌐 Access URLs:
- Production: https://my-app.vercel.app
- Preview: https://my-app-git-main.vercel.app

📊 Deployment Info:
- Build time: 65 seconds
- Deployment region: Global CDN
- SSL certificate: Automatically configured

Would you like to configure a custom domain?

Efficiency Improvement Data​

75%
Reduced command input
90%
Reduced configuration errors
3x
Faster deployment speed
50%
Saved debugging time

Advanced Tips​

Batch Operations​

You: Check dependency update status for all my projects

Gemini: Scanning all your projects...

Found 12 projects, starting dependency update check:

📦 project-1: awesome-web-app
⚠️ 3 major updates available
- react: 18.2.0 → 18.3.0
- typescript: 5.0.4 → 5.3.3
- vite: 4.4.9 → 5.0.11

📦 project-2: api-server
✅ All dependencies are up to date

📦 project-3: mobile-app
⚠️ 5 updates available
[Detailed list...]

Summary:
- 8 projects have available updates
- 4 projects have up-to-date dependencies
- Estimated update time: approximately 15 minutes

Should I batch update all projects? (Will run tests first to ensure compatibility)

Intelligent Debugging​

You: My application failed to start, help me diagnose

Gemini: I'll help you diagnose the problem.

🔍 Collecting error information...

Found error:
Error: Cannot find module '@/components/Header'

🔧 Diagnosis Result:

Problem: Module path alias configuration error
Cause: TypeScript and Webpack path aliases are inconsistent

Solution:
1. Update tsconfig.json:
{
"compilerOptions": {
  "baseUrl": ".",
  "paths": {
    "@/*": ["src/*"]
  }
}
}

2. Ensure webpack.config.js has synchronized configuration:
resolve: {
alias: {
  '@': path.resolve(__dirname, 'src')
}
}

Would you like me to automatically fix this problem?

Course Summary​

Skills You've Mastered​

✓

Environment Management​

Intelligently clean and optimize development environment ✓

Git Automation​

Complete version control with natural language ✓

Workflow Optimization​

Create personalized efficient workflows ✓

Problem Diagnosis​

Quickly locate and resolve development issues

Next Step Recommendations​

  1. Continuous Optimization: Constantly adjust AI assistant behavior based on daily use
  2. Share Experience: Share your best practices with the community
  3. Explore More: Try applying Gemini CLI to more scenarios

Congratulations on Completing the Course!​

You have successfully mastered all core skills for managing local development environments using Gemini CLI. Now you can:

  • Efficiently manage and optimize development environments
  • Automate daily development tasks with AI
  • Build workflows that suit you
  • Quickly resolve development problems

Course Complete!

Thank you for attending Chan Meng's AI Programming Public Course. Looking forward to seeing you create excellent works using these skills!