A ChatGPT Clone That Runs on Gemini and Cheap PHP Hosts

What it does ChatGemini is a React-based web client that wraps the Google Gemini API in an interface and interaction model cloned from ChatGPT 3.5. Users can hold multi-turn conversations, upload images for Gemini-Pro-Vision analysis, and export chats to HTML or PDF. All conversation history lives in the browser’s IndexedDB.

The interesting bit The project bundles a PHP reverse-proxy script so you can drop it onto cheap shared hosting in regions where Google’s API is unreachable—no Nginx required. It also supports multiple API keys for rudimentary load balancing and can gate the app behind an MD5 passcode.

Key highlights

• ChatGPT 3.5-style UI and interaction logic, including streaming SSE responses
• Image upload support via Gemini-Pro-Vision
• Integrated PHP reverse proxy for bypassing network restrictions
• Multi-key API rotation and optional MD5 passcode access control
• Mobile-responsive layout with local IndexedDB storage

Caveats

• The author has announced the repository will soon be archived and is no longer actively maintained.
• The built-in passcode uses unsalted MD5, which the README itself warns is crackable.
• How the “run Python code in AI responses” feature is sandboxed is not explained in the documentation.

Verdict Worth a look if you want a self-hostable, ChatGPT-familiar frontend for Gemini with an emphasis on deployment flexibility. Skip it if you need active maintenance or a battle-hardened security model.