About this video
Silicon Valley's monopoly on high-end coding AI is officially under threat from the East. In this video, we put the brand-new GLM 5.2 to the absolute test within Open Code to see if the hype surrounding its Design Bench scores is actually justified. We take a standard CRM and push the model to its limits with a full aesthetic redesign and a complex drag and drop feature involving Notion integration. Key Takeaways: - GLM 5.2 Setup: How to integrate the model with Warp Terminal and Open Code using the Zeda coding plan. - Pricing Reality: A look at the Light, Pro, and Max plans and why token usage might surprise you. - Design vs Logic: Why this model might be a better logic engine than a creative director. - The Hybrid Workflow: How to use GLM 5.2 alongside Claude to optimise your coding speed and costs. - Performance Benchmarks: Testing the 1 million context length claims in a real-world project.
The Death of Expensive Frontier Models: Is GLM 5.2 the Real Deal?
If you think Silicon Valley is the only place producing elite coding models, you are severely mistaken. The recent release of GLM 5.2 has sent shockwaves through the developer community, with benchmarks suggesting it might even outperform Fable on Design Bench. But does it actually hold up in a real-world production environment?
Getting Started with GLM 5.2
Setting up GLM 5.2 is remarkably straightforward, especially if you are already using tools like Warp Terminal and Open Code. The model offers various pricing tiers: Light, Pro, and Max. While the Light plan is suitable for casual testing, the Pro plan is where most developers will find the best value, offering five times the usage.
The Aesthetic Challenge
I put GLM 5.2 to the test on an existing email outreach CRM. The first task was a complete aesthetic redesign. While the model claimed to have groundbreaking design capabilities, the results were a little more conservative than expected. It successfully modernised the look, but it did not exactly reinvent the wheel. If you are expecting a revolutionary UI overhaul from a single prompt, you might need to manage your expectations.
Logic and Functionality
Where GLM 5.2 truly shines is in logical implementation. I tasked it with adding a drag and drop feature for template hooks that needed to sync with a Notion database. This is a complex task involving both front-end interactions and back-end synchronisation. The model handled it flawlessly, writing test verification files that passed on the first try with no failed edits.
The Hybrid Workflow
The most exciting takeaway from testing GLM 5.2 is the potential for a hybrid workflow. The industry is moving towards a model where we use "Frontier" models like Claude Opus for high-level planning and architectural challenges, while offloading the actual implementation to more affordable, open-source alternatives like GLM.
Final Verdict
GLM 5.2 is a formidable contender in the coding space. While its "creative" design skills might be slightly overstated, its ability to handle complex logic and its incredibly aggressive pricing make it a must-have tool in any modern developer's arsenal. With a 1 million context length and fast generation on the Pro plan, it is time to stop overpaying for your tokens.
Transcript▾
GLM 5.2 just dropped and I've seen some crazy benchmarks scoring higher than Fable on Design Bench; it's getting a lot of buzz for its front-end capabilities. Today, we're going to get it set up in Open Code and see how good this new open-source Chinese model really is.
Looking at the coding plans, you can pay monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Light is for basic usage, Pro is likely what most people want for five times the usage, and Max is for the GLM power users. You can get 10% off using my referral link below.
I'm using Warp Terminal inside my email outreach project. We've got Open Code installed and we're logging in to find the Zeda coding plan. Once the API key is in, we can access GLM 5.2. The procedure is similar for Claude Code or Py.
The app is a basic email outreach CRM that tracks opens and manages leads. I'm putting the 'better than Fable' design claims to the test by asking for a complete aesthetic redesign without changing functionality. After a few attempts, it did a light update, but even after asking it to be more creative, it wasn't exactly groundbreaking.
However, when I asked it to implement a complex drag and drop feature for template options that syncs with a Notion database, it performed perfectly. It wrote test verification files, implemented the changes, and everything worked without any failed edits.
In terms of usage, I used about 3.5 million tokens and hit 74% of my 5-hour quota quite quickly. You'll definitely want the Pro or Max plan for serious work. Overall, I'm impressed. The future seems to be using frontier models for planning and cheaper models like GLM for implementation.
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