GIGA CODE

Meta-Features

features beyond the obvious

• Provider Support: OpenRouter, xAI, Anthropic, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Groq, Cerebras
• OpenRouter Router: Use the order feature in OR to specify which compute provider each of your added models use
• Fuzzy Finding: Nice kick to / commands with fuzzy finding so you can bounce around the CLI fast
• Custom Prompts Custom prompts to accelerate your coding workflow
• All-in-one: All features and command accessibl$e from inside the CLI, no weird setup terminal commands to bug you with.
• Auto-fill API Keys: Search ~/.zshrc and ~/.bashrc (or whatever your setup is) for API keys of the different providers listed above (0 friction)
• Expert Specializing: Turn on/off the ability to use different models for pure speed, code, thinking, tool calling (across all providers)

Installation

npm i -g giga-code

Prerequisites

• Node.js 16+ (tested on node 24)
• Some API keys

Local Installation

git clone https://github.com/infatoshi/giga-code
cd giga-code
npm install
npm run build
npm link

Terminal Flickering Fix

Root Cause

Terminal flickers during long conversations due to competing React renders between streaming content updates and diff rendering components.

Implementation Plan

1. Component Lifecycle Fixes (src/ui/components/chat-interface.tsx)

• Add stable key="chat-main" prop to main <Box flexDirection="column"> at line ~463
• Wrap <ChatHistory entries={chatHistory} /> in React.memo to prevent unnecessary re-renders
• Add key="chat-history-${chatHistory.length}" to force clean remounting when needed
• Separate confirmation dialog rendering from main chat flow to prevent layout thrashing

2. State Batching/Debouncing (src/hooks/use-input-handler.ts)

• Replace immediate setChatHistory calls (lines 590-600) with batched updates
• Use React.useCallback + requestAnimationFrame to batch streaming content chunks
• Implement 16ms debounce window to collect multiple content chunks before state update
• Add streamingBuffer ref to accumulate content before committing to state

3. Diff Renderer Optimization (src/ui/components/diff-renderer.tsx)

• Wrap main DiffRenderer component in React.memo with shallow prop comparison
• Add stable key={crypto.hash(diffContent)} for consistent re-rendering
• Use useMemo for expensive parseDiffWithLineNumbers computation
• Cache rendered output based on content hash to prevent re-computation

Potential Blockers

• React Ink limitations: Ink's rendering pipeline may not respect standard React optimization patterns
• Streaming interruption: Batching could delay real-time streaming feel, may need fine-tuning
• Memory usage: Caching rendered diffs could increase memory footprint
• Key collision: Hash-based keys might cause conflicts with similar content
• Terminal resize: Cached renders might break on terminal dimension changes

Testing Strategy

• Test with very long conversations (100+ messages)
• Verify streaming still feels real-time with batching
• Test rapid command switching during active streaming
• Validate diff rendering performance with large file changes

Custom Instructions

For giga, we use GIGA.md (make it yourself)