Verified project record

google-gemini/gemini-cli

google-gemini/gemini-cli is a terminal-first AI agent that brings Gemini models into the command line for code understanding, generation, and workflow automation. It provides file operations, shell commands, web fetching, and extensibility through MCP servers, operating through the Google Gemini API.

Project overview

Project type: MCP · AI Agent · AI Coding
Use cases: Documents & Office · Coding & Development
Deployment: Refer to project documentation
License: Apache-2.0

Best for

Developers who work primarily in the command line and need an AI agent for code editing, shell command execution, and workflow automation.
Users who want to access Gemini models via a CLI tool with a free tier option and authentication using a Google Account or API Key.

Key capabilities

Query and edit large codebases, generate new applications from PDFs, images, or sketches using multimodal capabilities, and debug issues using natural language prompts.
Automate operational tasks such as querying pull requests or handling complex rebases, and run non-interactively in scripts for workflow automation.
Features file operations, shell commands, and web fetching integrated directly into the CLI environment.
Offers extensible support for adding custom integrations using MCP servers.
Save and resume complex sessions via checkpointing.
Tailor behavior for specific projects using custom context files.

Limitations and risks

Preview and nightly releases may contain regressions or other outstanding issues.

Getting started

Run instantly with npx @google/gemini-cli or install globally via npm. Authenticate using a Google Account or API Key, then execute the 'gemini' command in the terminal.

Evidence and sources

GitHub project description: An open-source AI agent that brings the power of Gemini directly into your terminal.
README: 🔧 Built-in tools**: Google Search grounding, file operations, shell commands, web fetching. - **🔌 Extensible**: MCP (Model Context Protocol) support for custom integrations. - **💻…
README: 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.
README: 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.
README: - Query and edit large codebases - Generate new apps from PDFs, images, or sketches using multimodal capabilities - Debug issues and troubleshoot with natural language

Reviewed at: 2026-07-16T11:54:00Z