gemini-cli

Note

Unpaid tier and Google One users: Gemini CLI was replaced by Antigravity CLI on June 18th, 2026. To learn more, see our blog post.

Gemini CLI has not been optimized for Gemini 4 Argon. To use Gemini 4 Argon, please use Antigravity.

Gemini CLI

Note

Gemini CLI is not optimized for the latest Gemini models. For the best coding experience with Gemini models use Antigravity CLI

Gemini CLI is an open-source AI agent that brings the power of Gemini directly into your terminal. It provides lightweight access to Gemini, giving you the most direct path from your prompt to our model.

Learn all about Gemini CLI in our 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

Note

Gemini CLI is not optimized for the latest Gemini models. For the best coding experience with Gemini models use Antigravity CLI

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

  • File System Operations

  • Shell Commands

  • Web Fetch & Search

• 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