it switches to flash almost immediately like in 10-15 mins . flash sucks.

And even switching is not smooth either. for me when the switch happens it just get stuck sitting there so i have to restart cli.

OK, thanks, I understand now what is happening. I use gemini-cli for one specific task at a time and sometimes just one 5 to 10 minute session a day. If I use long work sessions then I will add my API key and pay.