google-gemini/gemini-cli

README

Gemini CLI

Important

Read before installing — Gemini CLI status & tool guide

Enterprise Code Assist only: Designed for Gemini Code Assist Standard / Enterprise licenses and Code Assist for GitHub on Google Cloud (your access remains unchanged).
No free tier or Google AI plans: Free individual access and Google AI Pro / Ultra (Google One) moved to Antigravity CLI on June 18, 2026 (transition post).
Not optimized for Gemini 4+: Not tuned for the Gemini 4 series (for example, Gemini 4 Argon) or future releases in this or later generations.
Not for model benchmarks: Don't use Gemini CLI to benchmark Gemini models—its harness isn't tuned for Gemini 4+ and produces unrepresentative scores.

Which Google CLI do you need?

Tool	Best for	Links
Antigravity CLI (`agy`)	Interactive multi-agent coding terminal. Use for Gemini 4 Argon+, free / Google AI Pro & Ultra accounts, or Google Cloud.	Download · Migrate · Argon post
Gemini API CLI (`gemini-api`)	Stateless API CLI (not a coding harness). Gives agents (`agy`, Claude Code, Codex), scripts, and CI direct commands for Gemini models, media gen, file analysis, and managed agents.	GitHub · Releases · API docs
Gemini CLI (`gemini`, this repo)	Organizations with Gemini Code Assist Standard / Enterprise or Code Assist for GitHub on Google Cloud (plus legacy paid API / Vertex keys).	Docs

Gemini CLI (gemini) is an open-source terminal agent maintained for enterprise Gemini Code Assist workflows on Google Cloud. Learn more in the Gemini CLI documentation.

📦 Installation

See Gemini CLI installation, execution, and releases for recommended system specifications and a detailed installation guide.

Quick Install

Run instantly with npx

# Using npx (no installation required)
npx @google/gemini-cli

Install globally with npm

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

Install globally with Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install gemini-cli

Install globally with MacPorts (macOS)

sudo port install gemini-cli

Install with Anaconda (for restricted environments)

# Create and activate a new environment
conda create -y -n gemini_env -c conda-forge nodejs
conda activate gemini_env

# Install Gemini CLI globally via npm (inside the environment)
npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

Release Channels

See Releases for more details.

Preview

New preview releases will be published each week at UTC 23:59 on Tuesdays. These releases will not have been fully vetted and may contain regressions or other outstanding issues. Please help us test and install with preview tag.

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@preview

Stable

New stable releases will be published each week at UTC 20:00 on Tuesdays, this will be the full promotion of last week's preview release + any bug fixes and validations. Use latest tag.

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@latest

Nightly

New releases will be published each day at UTC 00:00. This will be all changes from the main branch as represented at time of release. It should be assumed there are pending validations and issues. Use nightly tag.

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@nightly

📋 Key Features

Code Understanding & Generation

Query and edit large codebases
Generate new apps from PDFs, images, or sketches using multimodal capabilities
Debug issues and troubleshoot with natural language

Automation & Integration

Automate operational tasks like querying pull requests or handling complex rebases
Use MCP servers to connect new capabilities, including media generation with Imagen, Veo or Lyria
Run non-interactively in scripts for workflow automation

🔐 Authentication Options

Choose the authentication method that best fits your needs:

Option 1: Sign in with Google (OAuth login using your Google Account)

When using a paid Code Assist License from your organization, remember to set the Google Cloud Project

# Set your Google Cloud Project
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT="YOUR_PROJECT_ID"
gemini

Option 2: Gemini API Key

✨ Best for: Developers who need specific model control or paid tier access

Benefits:

Model selection: Choose specific Gemini models
Usage-based billing: Upgrade for higher limits when needed

# Get your key from https://aistudio.google.com/apikey
export GEMINI_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
gemini

Option 3: Vertex AI

✨ Best for: Enterprise teams and production workloads

Benefits:

Enterprise features: Advanced security and compliance
Scalable: Higher rate limits with billing account
Integration: Works with existing Google Cloud infrastructure

# Get your key from Google Cloud Console
export GOOGLE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI=true
gemini

For Google Workspace accounts and other authentication methods, see the authentication guide.

🚀 Getting Started

Basic Usage

Start in current directory

gemini

Include multiple directories

gemini --include-directories ../lib,../docs

Use specific model

gemini -m gemini-2.5-flash

Non-interactive mode for scripts

Get a simple text response:

gemini -p "Explain the architecture of this codebase"

For more advanced scripting, including how to parse JSON and handle errors, use the --output-format json flag to get structured output:

gemini -p "Explain the architecture of this codebase" --output-format json

For real-time event streaming (useful for monitoring long-running operations), use --output-format stream-json to get newline-delimited JSON events:

gemini -p "Run tests and deploy" --output-format stream-json

Quick Examples

Start a new project

cd new-project/
gemini
> Write me a Discord bot that answers questions using a FAQ.md file I will provide

Analyze existing code

git clone https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli
cd gemini-cli
gemini
> Give me a summary of all of the changes that went in yesterday

📚 Documentation

Getting Started

Quickstart Guide - Get up and running quickly.
Authentication Setup - Detailed auth configuration.
Configuration Guide - Settings and customization.
Keyboard Shortcuts - Productivity tips.

Core Features

Commands Reference - All slash commands (/help, /chat, etc).
Custom Commands - Create your own reusable commands.
Context Files (GEMINI.md) - Provide persistent context to Gemini CLI.
Checkpointing - Save and resume conversations.
Token Caching - Optimize token usage.

Tools & Extensions

Built-in Tools Overview
MCP Server Integration - Extend with custom tools.
Custom Extensions - Build and share your own commands.

Advanced Topics

Headless Mode (Scripting) - Use Gemini CLI in automated workflows.
IDE Integration - VS Code companion.
Sandboxing & Security - Safe execution environments.
Trusted Folders - Control execution policies by folder.
Enterprise Guide - Deploy and manage in a corporate environment.
Telemetry & Monitoring - Usage tracking.
Tools reference - Built-in tools overview.
Local development - Local development tooling.

Troubleshooting & Support

Troubleshooting Guide - Common issues and solutions.
FAQ - Frequently asked questions.
Use /bug command to report issues directly from the CLI.

Using MCP Servers

Configure MCP servers in ~/.gemini/settings.json to extend Gemini CLI with custom tools:

> @github List my open pull requests
> @slack Send a summary of today's commits to #dev channel
> @database Run a query to find inactive users

See the MCP Server Integration guide for setup instructions.

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Gemini CLI is fully open source (Apache 2.0), and we encourage the community to:

Report bugs and suggest features.
Improve documentation.
Submit code improvements.
Share your MCP servers and extensions.

See our Contributing Guide for development setup, coding standards, and how to submit pull requests.

Check our Official Roadmap for planned features and priorities.

📖 Resources

Free Course - Learn the basics.
Official Roadmap - See what's coming next.
Changelog - See recent notable updates.
NPM Package - Package registry.
GitHub Issues - Report bugs or request features.
Security Advisories - Security updates.

Uninstall

See the Uninstall Guide for removal instructions.

📄 Legal

License: Apache License 2.0
Terms of Service: Terms & Privacy
Security: Security Policy

Built with ❤️ by Google and the open source community

README

Gemini CLI

Important

Read before installing — Gemini CLI status & tool guide

Enterprise Code Assist only: Designed for Gemini Code Assist Standard / Enterprise licenses and Code Assist for GitHub on Google Cloud (your access remains unchanged).
No free tier or Google AI plans: Free individual access and Google AI Pro / Ultra (Google One) moved to Antigravity CLI on June 18, 2026 (transition post).
Not optimized for Gemini 4+: Not tuned for the Gemini 4 series (for example, Gemini 4 Argon) or future releases in this or later generations.
Not for model benchmarks: Don't use Gemini CLI to benchmark Gemini models—its harness isn't tuned for Gemini 4+ and produces unrepresentative scores.

Which Google CLI do you need?

Tool	Best for	Links
Antigravity CLI (`agy`)	Interactive multi-agent coding terminal. Use for Gemini 4 Argon+, free / Google AI Pro & Ultra accounts, or Google Cloud.	Download · Migrate · Argon post
Gemini API CLI (`gemini-api`)	Stateless API CLI (not a coding harness). Gives agents (`agy`, Claude Code, Codex), scripts, and CI direct commands for Gemini models, media gen, file analysis, and managed agents.	GitHub · Releases · API docs
Gemini CLI (`gemini`, this repo)	Organizations with Gemini Code Assist Standard / Enterprise or Code Assist for GitHub on Google Cloud (plus legacy paid API / Vertex keys).	Docs

Gemini CLI (gemini) is an open-source terminal agent maintained for enterprise Gemini Code Assist workflows on Google Cloud. Learn more in the Gemini CLI documentation.

📦 Installation

See Gemini CLI installation, execution, and releases for recommended system specifications and a detailed installation guide.

Quick Install

Run instantly with npx

# Using npx (no installation required)
npx @google/gemini-cli

Install globally with npm

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

Install globally with Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install gemini-cli

Install globally with MacPorts (macOS)

sudo port install gemini-cli

Install with Anaconda (for restricted environments)

# Create and activate a new environment
conda create -y -n gemini_env -c conda-forge nodejs
conda activate gemini_env

# Install Gemini CLI globally via npm (inside the environment)
npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

Release Channels

See Releases for more details.

Preview

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@preview

Stable

New stable releases will be published each week at UTC 20:00 on Tuesdays, this will be the full promotion of last week's preview release + any bug fixes and validations. Use latest tag.

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@latest

Nightly

New releases will be published each day at UTC 00:00. This will be all changes from the main branch as represented at time of release. It should be assumed there are pending validations and issues. Use nightly tag.

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@nightly

📋 Key Features

Code Understanding & Generation

Query and edit large codebases
Generate new apps from PDFs, images, or sketches using multimodal capabilities
Debug issues and troubleshoot with natural language

Automation & Integration

Automate operational tasks like querying pull requests or handling complex rebases
Use MCP servers to connect new capabilities, including media generation with Imagen, Veo or Lyria
Run non-interactively in scripts for workflow automation

🔐 Authentication Options

Choose the authentication method that best fits your needs:

Option 1: Sign in with Google (OAuth login using your Google Account)

When using a paid Code Assist License from your organization, remember to set the Google Cloud Project

# Set your Google Cloud Project
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT="YOUR_PROJECT_ID"
gemini

Option 2: Gemini API Key

✨ Best for: Developers who need specific model control or paid tier access

Benefits:

Model selection: Choose specific Gemini models
Usage-based billing: Upgrade for higher limits when needed

# Get your key from https://aistudio.google.com/apikey
export GEMINI_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
gemini

Option 3: Vertex AI

✨ Best for: Enterprise teams and production workloads

Benefits:

Enterprise features: Advanced security and compliance
Scalable: Higher rate limits with billing account
Integration: Works with existing Google Cloud infrastructure

# Get your key from Google Cloud Console
export GOOGLE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI=true
gemini

For Google Workspace accounts and other authentication methods, see the authentication guide.

🚀 Getting Started

Basic Usage

Start in current directory

gemini

Include multiple directories

gemini --include-directories ../lib,../docs

Use specific model

gemini -m gemini-2.5-flash

Non-interactive mode for scripts

Get a simple text response:

gemini -p "Explain the architecture of this codebase"

For more advanced scripting, including how to parse JSON and handle errors, use the --output-format json flag to get structured output:

gemini -p "Explain the architecture of this codebase" --output-format json

For real-time event streaming (useful for monitoring long-running operations), use --output-format stream-json to get newline-delimited JSON events:

gemini -p "Run tests and deploy" --output-format stream-json

Quick Examples

Start a new project

cd new-project/
gemini
> Write me a Discord bot that answers questions using a FAQ.md file I will provide

Analyze existing code

git clone https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli
cd gemini-cli
gemini
> Give me a summary of all of the changes that went in yesterday

📚 Documentation

Getting Started

Quickstart Guide - Get up and running quickly.
Authentication Setup - Detailed auth configuration.
Configuration Guide - Settings and customization.
Keyboard Shortcuts - Productivity tips.

Core Features

Commands Reference - All slash commands (/help, /chat, etc).
Custom Commands - Create your own reusable commands.
Context Files (GEMINI.md) - Provide persistent context to Gemini CLI.
Checkpointing - Save and resume conversations.
Token Caching - Optimize token usage.

Tools & Extensions

Built-in Tools Overview
MCP Server Integration - Extend with custom tools.
Custom Extensions - Build and share your own commands.

Advanced Topics

Headless Mode (Scripting) - Use Gemini CLI in automated workflows.
IDE Integration - VS Code companion.
Sandboxing & Security - Safe execution environments.
Trusted Folders - Control execution policies by folder.
Enterprise Guide - Deploy and manage in a corporate environment.
Telemetry & Monitoring - Usage tracking.
Tools reference - Built-in tools overview.
Local development - Local development tooling.

Troubleshooting & Support

Troubleshooting Guide - Common issues and solutions.
FAQ - Frequently asked questions.
Use /bug command to report issues directly from the CLI.

Using MCP Servers

Configure MCP servers in ~/.gemini/settings.json to extend Gemini CLI with custom tools:

> @github List my open pull requests
> @slack Send a summary of today's commits to #dev channel
> @database Run a query to find inactive users

See the MCP Server Integration guide for setup instructions.

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Gemini CLI is fully open source (Apache 2.0), and we encourage the community to:

Report bugs and suggest features.
Improve documentation.
Submit code improvements.
Share your MCP servers and extensions.

See our Contributing Guide for development setup, coding standards, and how to submit pull requests.

Check our Official Roadmap for planned features and priorities.

📖 Resources

Free Course - Learn the basics.
Official Roadmap - See what's coming next.
Changelog - See recent notable updates.
NPM Package - Package registry.
GitHub Issues - Report bugs or request features.
Security Advisories - Security updates.

Uninstall

See the Uninstall Guide for removal instructions.

📄 Legal

License: Apache License 2.0
Terms of Service: Terms & Privacy
Security: Security Policy

Built with ❤️ by Google and the open source community