How-to guide

Set up Gemini

Connect Bristlenose to Gemini for the analysis pass.

Gemini (Google) runs the analysis pass. Transcription always happens locally.

Get an API key

  1. Sign in at aistudio.google.com/apikey.
  2. Create an API key.
  3. Copy it.

Add the key to Bristlenose

macOS app
  1. Open Settings (⌘,) and go to the LLM tab.
  2. Select Gemini and paste your key into the API Key field.
  3. The key is validated in the background and stored in your macOS Keychain.
Command line
  1. Run bristlenose configure gemini.
  2. Paste the key when prompted.
  3. The key is validated and stored in your system credential store.

Bristlenose looks for the key in the system credential store, the BRISTLENOSE_GOOGLE_API_KEY environment variable, then a .env file.

Run an analysis with Gemini

Select Gemini with the --llm flag:

bristlenose run interviews --llm gemini

The default model is gemini-2.5-flash. Confirm the key works with bristlenose doctor.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Cause and fix
Invalid API key Re-create the key at aistudio.google.com/apikey.
Quota or rate-limit errors Gemini free-tier keys have request limits. A paid Google Cloud project raises them.

For what is sent to the provider, see Cloud or local AI and Privacy and data.

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