Gemini CLI: your open-source AI agent

Google is really accelerating product timelines these days, this one is already in the graveyard: https://killedbygoogle.com/

It's not too much of a work. It's not 3 clicks.

yes, this is absolutely simple and one of the best UX I have seen /s

- suppose you already found the page where you can get the key, you copy it and at say to the Zed editor

- zed editor says on every request you reached your requests quota and it does not work (it is json directly returned from api, so this is the message from google engineers)

- after googling you are finding this message lies. it is not requests quota, you simply did not connect your account with billing account (what?)

- ok, so lets connect

- you see you have some billing account created years ago, good. lets connect

- nope, the limit of accounts connected to billing account has been reached, go away

- so maybe we can try to create a new billing account?

- you set up this, add credit card data, it says you will be redirected to new window to verify something something

- new window shows claudflare "your request has been blocked"

- despite this it looks billing account is created, you has been redirected to the billing account dashboard

-is it connected to your api account? lets check. no it is not of course

-so try to connect

-your newly created billing account is not on the list

great job, google, you will really convince me to switch from openai/claude to gemini :)

https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/api-key

For developers, the command line interface (CLI) isn’t just a tool; it’s home. The terminal’s efficiency, ubiquity, and portability make it the go-to utility for getting work done. And as developers’ reliance on the terminal endures, so does the demand for integrated AI assistance.

That’s why we’re introducing Gemini CLI, 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. While it excels at coding, we built Gemini CLI to do so much more. It’s a versatile, local utility you can use for a wide range of tasks—from content generation and problem solving to deep research and task management.

We’ve also integrated Gemini CLI with Google’s AI coding assistant, Gemini Code Assist, so that all developers — on free, Standard, and Enterprise Code Assist plans — get prompt-driven, AI-first coding in both VS Code and Gemini CLI.

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Unmatched usage limits for individual developers

To use Gemini CLI free of charge, simply log in with a personal Google account to get a free Gemini Code Assist license. That free license grants access to Gemini 2.5 Pro and its massive 1 million token context window. To ensure you rarely (if ever) hit a limit during this preview phase, Google offers the industry’s largest allowance: 60 model requests per minute and 1,000 requests per day — at no cost.

If you’re a professional developer who needs to run multiple agents simultaneously or prefers specific models, you can use a Google AI Studio or Vertex AI key for usage-based billing, or subscribe to a Standard or Enterprise Code Assist license.

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Powerful models in your command line

Now in preview, Gemini CLI brings serious AI power to your terminal, supporting everything from code understanding and file manipulation to command execution and dynamic troubleshooting. It’s a fundamental upgrade to your workflow, enabling you to write code, debug issues, and streamline your tasks using natural language.

Its power comes from built-in tools allowing you to: • Ground prompts with Google Search, fetching real-time external context. • Extend functionality via the Model Context Protocol (MCP) or bundled extensions. • Customize prompts and behavior for your specific use cases. • Automate workflows by running Gemini CLI non-interactively inside scripts.

Gemini CLI even supports creative use cases — like making a short video about a ginger cat’s adventures across Australia using Veo and Imagen.

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Open and extensible

Gemini CLI is fully open source under the Apache 2.0 license, so you can inspect, understand, and verify how it works — including its security implications. Google expects (and encourages) developers to contribute: report bugs, suggest features, improve security, and submit code.

It’s also built to be extensible, based on standards like MCP, system prompt files (GEMINI.md), and flexible settings for both individual and team customization. The terminal is a personal space, and Gemini CLI is designed to adapt to it.

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Shared tech with Gemini Code Assist

Sometimes, an IDE is still the best tool. When that’s the case, Gemini Code Assist delivers. Whether you’re a student, hobbyist, or pro, you get the same tech that powers Gemini CLI — now in VS Code.

Drop a prompt into the chat window using agent mode, and Gemini Code Assist will get to work: writing tests, fixing bugs, building features, or even migrating your code. It builds multi-step plans, recovers from failed paths, and proposes smart alternatives.

Gemini Code Assist’s agent is more than a chatbot — it’s a collaborative, reasoning agent that elevates how you write, review, and refactor code.

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Easy to get started

Getting started is dead simple. All you need is an email address to install and run Gemini CLI. With industry-leading free-tier limits, full open source access, and tight IDE integration, Gemini CLI is your new AI-powered sidekick — right inside the terminal.

+1 for Claude Code. I'm in the exact same boat - several personal projects with something of a backlog in each, that would've taken me maybe a weekend each to get done manually. Sat down with Claude Code a few days ago and hammered all of it out in an afternoon, it's very impressive. Not perfect, and as you say, having a good idea of what we're doing and how helps a great deal vs. figuring everything out from scratch. And having good tests and/or a stable test environment and processes running.

I'm glad you asked (to be honest that was half the reason I posted the comment)

I use Clai[1] which I've written myself, so it fits my workflow the best. But I know llm [2] is a popular choice as well.

With both of these it's possible to have a 'vendor agnostic' version of both claude code and gemini CLI. Better yet: it's possible to very easily swap to the latest and greatest vendor by simply specifying their latest fancy new model.

[1]: https://github.com/baalimago/clai [2]: https://github.com/simonw/llm

Not in Pacific Time, which is Google's officially used timezone.