Gemini CLI

Open-source terminal AI agent from Google that pairs Gemini models with shell, file, and MCP tooling.

Open Source
0.0 (0)

About

Google's official terminal agent puts Gemini models in a command-line loop with built-in tools for file operations, shell commands, web fetching, and Google Search grounding, plus MCP support for custom integrations. A free tier for personal Google accounts, 60 requests per minute and 1,000 per day with a 1 million token context window, drove rapid adoption after the June 2025 launch and pushed the repository past 106,000 GitHub stars. That free path ended on June 18, 2026, when Google transitioned individual and no-cost usage to the closed-source Antigravity CLI; Gemini CLI continues to work for organizations with Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licenses and for developers supplying paid Gemini API keys. The TypeScript codebase installs globally through npm as @google/gemini-cli, runs via npx without installation, or comes through Homebrew, and it supports checkpointing to save and resume long agent sessions, custom context files, and non-interactive scripting. The code remains Apache-2.0 licensed and actively maintained, and developers use it for repository-scale code understanding and automated fixes from the shell.

Should you use Gemini CLI?

Pick it when

Pick Gemini CLI when your organization has Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise, or you pay for Gemini API keys, and you want an open source terminal agent with Google Search grounding, checkpointing, and scriptable runs.

Look elsewhere when

Skip it if you were counting on the old free personal tier, which ended June 18, 2026 and moved to the closed Antigravity CLI, or if you want non-Gemini models; OpenCode and Crush are provider-agnostic.

Alternatives to Gemini CLI

  • Google Antigravity

    Google's free path for individuals since June 2026, adding parallel agents and browser testing, but closed source where Gemini CLI is Apache-2.0.

  • Codex CLI

    Same open Apache-2.0 terminal agent pattern for OpenAI accounts with sandboxed execution, a fit if your team pays OpenAI rather than Google.

  • OpenCode

    Provider-agnostic MIT terminal agent that can still use Gemini alongside Anthropic, OpenAI, or local models, so losing the free tier does not strand you.

  • Claude Code

    Comparable terminal agent with hooks, subagents, and plugins, but proprietary and on a paid Anthropic plan rather than Apache-2.0 code.

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