Google Gemini in .NET: The Ultimate Guide with Jochen Kirstaetter

Apr 18, 2025

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"So on my side it was actually, the interesting experience was that I kind of used it one way, because it was mainly about reading the Python code, the JavaScript code, and, let’s say like, the Go implementations, trying to understand what are the concepts, what are the ways about how it has been implemented by the different teams. And then, you know, switching mentally into the other direction of writing than the code in C#."— Jochen Kirstaetter

Welcome friends to The Modern .NET Show; the premier .NET podcast, focusing entirely on the knowledge, tools, and frameworks that all .NET developers should have in their toolbox. We are the go-to podcast for .NET developers worldwide, and I am your host: Jamie “GaProgMan” Taylor.

In this episode, Jochen Kirstaetter joined us to talk about his .NET SDK for interacting with Google’s Gemini suite of LLMs. Jochen tells us that he started his journey by looking at the existing .NET SDK, which didn’t seem right to him, and wrote his own using the HttpClient and HttpClientFactory classes and REST.

"I provide a test project with a lot of tests. And when you look at the simplest one, is that you get your instance of the Generative AI type, which you pass in either your API key, if you want to use it against Google AI, or you pass in your project ID and location if you want to use it against Vertex AI. Then you specify which model that you like to use, and you specify the prompt, and the method that you call is then GenerateContent and you get the response back. So effectively with four lines of code you have a full integration of Gemini into your .NET application."— Jochen Kirstaetter

Along the way, we discuss the fact that Jochen had to look into the Python, JavaScript, and even Go SDKs to get a better understanding of how his .NET SDK should work. We discuss the “Pythonistic .NET” and “.NETy Python” code that developers can accidentally end up writing, if they’re not careful when moving from .NET to Python and back. And we also talk about Jochen’s use of tests as documentation for his SDK.

Anyway, without further ado, let's sit back, open up a terminal, type in `dotnet new podcast` and we'll dive into the core of Modern .NET.

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Full Show Notes

The full show notes, including links to some of the things we discussed and a full transcription of this episode, can be found at: https://dotnetcore.show/season-7/google-gemini-in-net-the-ultimate-guide-with-jochen-kirstaetter/

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