There is a better way that I'm using:

1. Cursor Pro with Sonnet to implement things the Cursor way.

2. Install the Gemini Code extension in Cursor.

3. Install the Gemini Coder Connector Chrome extension: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/gemini-coder-connec...

4. Get the free aistudio.google.com Gemini API and connect the extensions.

5. Feed your codebase or select files via the Cursor extension and get the implementation from aistudio.google.com.

I prefer having Sonnet implement it via Cursor rather than Gemini because it can automatically go through all the linting/testing loops without my extra input, run the server, and check if there are no errors.

I created a script that merges all files in a directory into this format, and a counterpart that splits it again. Below is just a small sample I asked it to create to show the format, but I did it with almost 80 files including lots of documentation etc.

When providing the flat format it was able to replicate it without much instructions for a blank prompt i had success with the prompt below

===FILE=== Index: 1 Path: src/main/java/com/example/myapp/Greeter.java Length: 151 Content: package com.example.myapp;

public class Greeter { public String getGreeting() { return "Hello from the Greeter class!"; } } ===ENDFILE=== ===FILE=== Index: 2 Path: src/main/java/com/example/myapp/Main.java Length: 222 Content: package com.example.myapp;

public class Main { public static void main(String[] args) { Greeter greeter = new Greeter(); String message = greeter.getGreeting(); System.out.println("Main app says: " + message); } } ===ENDFILE=== ===FILE=== Index: 3 Path: pom.xml Length: 659 Content: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd"> <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>

    <groupId>com.example</groupId>
    <artifactId>my-simple-app</artifactId>
    <version>1.0-SNAPSHOT</version>

    <properties>
        <maven.compiler.source>17</maven.compiler.source>
        <maven.compiler.target>17</maven.compiler.target>
        <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
    </properties>

</project> ===ENDFILE===

Prompt to request the format if starting from scratch: Present the entire codebase using the following multi-file format:

The codebase should be presented as a single, monolithic text output. Inside this output, represent each file of the project individually using the following structure:

Start Marker: Each file must begin with the exact line: ===FILE===

Metadata Block: Immediately following the start marker, include these four specific metadata lines, each on its own line:

Index: <N> (where <N> is a sequential integer index for the file, starting from 1).

Path: <path/to/file/filename.ext> (The full relative path of the file from the project's root directory, e.g., index.html, css/style.css, js/script.js, jobs.html, etc.).

Length: <L> (where <L> is the exact character count of the file's content that follows).

Content: (This literal line acts as a separator).

File Content: Immediately after the Content: line, include the entire raw content of the file. Preserve all original line breaks, indentation, and formatting exactly as it should appear in the actual file.

End Marker: Each file's section must end with the exact line: ===ENDFILE===

Ensure all necessary files for the project (HTML, CSS, JS) are included sequentially within the single output block according to this structure.

Crucially, enclose the entire multi-file output, starting from the very first ===FILE=== line down to the very last ===ENDFILE=== line, within a single Markdown fenced code block using exactly five backticks (`````) on the lines immediately before the first ===FILE=== and immediately after the last `===ENDFILE===`. This ensures that any triple backticks (```) within the generated file content are displayed correctly.