Developer Builds Open-Source Tool With DeepSeek for About $1 and Two Prompts
10/20/2026 — 10/20, 13:18·1 sources (all)·1 reports (all)
Key takeaways
- A developer on V2EX described using Gemini 4 as the executive and DeepSeek as the main executor to build OpenCompare, an open-source tool. D…
- the agent iterated on the software and its maintenance loop itself.
Background & analysis
On October 20, 2026, a developer shared on V2EX an account of building open-source software with AI agents. He had set aside a budget of $1,000 and assigned Gemini 4 the role of a company executive that issues instructions, while DeepSeek served as the main executor responsible for development work, with the goal of completing the open-source project OpenCompare.
According to the post, DeepSeek alone handled 9,993 requests and processed 590 million tokens. The billed amount came to $12.64, which translated to roughly $1 in actual cost under his token plan, with the savings attributed largely to a high cache hit rate. Gemini's token consumption was described as negligible. Over the whole run, the developer said he issued only two prompts, pointing the agents in a general direction and letting them iterate on their own until the goal was met.
The developer said DeepSeek not only carried out all of the engineering work but also took on the product owner role, ultimately finishing the full OpenCompare codebase along with an automated maintenance loop. By his account, the process ran for two days. The episode currently rests on this single first-person report; no other source has independently verified the request count, token usage, or cost figures.
AI-generated from 1 reports · updated 10 hours ago
Latest turnA developer on V2EX reports that DeepSeek completed an entire open-source project, OpenCompare, plus its automated maintenance loop for roughly $1 in token costs, after about 9,993 requests and 590 million tokens. Gemini 4 was assigned the executive role but barely used, while the developer says he only prompted the agents twice.
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A developer on V2EX reports that DeepSeek completed an entire open-source project, OpenCompare, plus its automated maintenance loop for roughly $1 in token costs, after about 9,993 requests and 590 million tokens. Gemini 4 was assigned the executive role but barely used, while the developer says he only prompted the agents twice.
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