From 02241e9126e82140235d4c83702f4e86478ab476 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Abhi <43648792+abhipatel12@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2025 18:08:42 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] feat(auth): Improve auth dialog error handling and messaging
 (#11320)

---
 packages/cli/src/config/auth.test.ts              | 4 +++-
 packages/cli/src/config/auth.ts                   | 6 +++++-
 packages/cli/src/ui/auth/AuthDialog.test.tsx      | 2 +-
 packages/cli/src/ui/auth/AuthDialog.tsx           | 5 ++++-
 packages/cli/src/ui/auth/useAuth.ts               | 6 ++++--
 packages/cli/src/ui/contexts/UIActionsContext.tsx | 2 +-
 6 files changed, 18 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/packages/cli/src/config/auth.test.ts b/packages/cli/src/config/auth.test.ts
index 2eacd71ed5..faae662825 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/config/auth.test.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/config/auth.test.ts
@@ -45,7 +45,9 @@ describe('validateAuthMethod', () => {
     it('should return an error message if GEMINI_API_KEY is not set', () => {
       vi.stubEnv('GEMINI_API_KEY', undefined);
       expect(validateAuthMethod(AuthType.USE_GEMINI)).toBe(
-        'GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable not found. Add that to your environment and try again (no reload needed if using .env)!',
+        'GEMINI_API_KEY not found. Find your existing key or generate a new one at: https://aistudio.google.com/apikey\n' +
+          '\n' +
+          'To continue, please set the GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable or add it to a .env file.',
       );
     });
   });
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/config/auth.ts b/packages/cli/src/config/auth.ts
index 8917ba8717..4a0fd4fce0 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/config/auth.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/config/auth.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,11 @@ export function validateAuthMethod(authMethod: string): string | null {
 
   if (authMethod === AuthType.USE_GEMINI) {
     if (!process.env['GEMINI_API_KEY']) {
-      return 'GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable not found. Add that to your environment and try again (no reload needed if using .env)!';
+      return (
+        'GEMINI_API_KEY not found. Find your existing key or generate a new one at: https://aistudio.google.com/apikey\n' +
+        '\n' +
+        'To continue, please set the GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable or add it to a .env file.'
+      );
     }
     return null;
   }
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/auth/AuthDialog.test.tsx b/packages/cli/src/ui/auth/AuthDialog.test.tsx
index 25446bf818..5a16acd47d 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/auth/AuthDialog.test.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/auth/AuthDialog.test.tsx
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ describe('AuthDialog', () => {
     settings: LoadedSettings;
     setAuthState: (state: AuthState) => void;
     authError: string | null;
-    onAuthError: (error: string) => void;
+    onAuthError: (error: string | null) => void;
   };
   const originalEnv = { ...process.env };
 
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/auth/AuthDialog.tsx b/packages/cli/src/ui/auth/AuthDialog.tsx
index 7eb2c8ccd6..67d710d5a8 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/auth/AuthDialog.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/auth/AuthDialog.tsx
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ interface AuthDialogProps {
   settings: LoadedSettings;
   setAuthState: (state: AuthState) => void;
   authError: string | null;
-  onAuthError: (error: string) => void;
+  onAuthError: (error: string | null) => void;
 }
 
 export function AuthDialog({
@@ -174,6 +174,9 @@ Logging in with Google... Please restart Gemini CLI to continue.
           items={items}
           initialIndex={initialAuthIndex}
           onSelect={handleAuthSelect}
+          onHighlight={() => {
+            onAuthError(null);
+          }}
         />
       </Box>
       {authError && (
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/auth/useAuth.ts b/packages/cli/src/ui/auth/useAuth.ts
index 69898f64a4..014b74a26c 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/auth/useAuth.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/auth/useAuth.ts
@@ -33,9 +33,11 @@ export const useAuthCommand = (settings: LoadedSettings, config: Config) => {
   const [authError, setAuthError] = useState<string | null>(null);
 
   const onAuthError = useCallback(
-    (error: string) => {
+    (error: string | null) => {
       setAuthError(error);
-      setAuthState(AuthState.Updating);
+      if (error) {
+        setAuthState(AuthState.Updating);
+      }
     },
     [setAuthError, setAuthState],
   );
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/contexts/UIActionsContext.tsx b/packages/cli/src/ui/contexts/UIActionsContext.tsx
index 096128143f..555e2235d9 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/contexts/UIActionsContext.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/contexts/UIActionsContext.tsx
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ export interface UIActions {
     scope: SettingScope,
   ) => void;
   setAuthState: (state: AuthState) => void;
-  onAuthError: (error: string) => void;
+  onAuthError: (error: string | null) => void;
   handleEditorSelect: (
     editorType: EditorType | undefined,
     scope: SettingScope,