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61b35ff745
Major upgrade to the agent's self-validation, safety, and project integrity
capabilities through five iterations of system prompt enhancements:
Workflow & Quality Mandates:
1. Incremental Validation: Mandates building, linting, and testing after
every significant file change to maintain a "green" state.
2. Mandatory Reproduction: Requires creating a failing test case to confirm
a bug before fixing, and explicitly verifying the failure (Negative Verification).
3. Test Persistence & Locality: Requires integrating repro cases into the
permanent test suite, preferably by amending existing related test files.
4. Script Discovery: Mandates identifying project-specific validation
commands from configuration files (package.json, Makefile, etc.).
5. Self-Review: Mandates running `git diff` after every edit, using
`--name-only` for large changes to preserve context window tokens.
6. Fast-Path Validation: Prioritizes lightweight checks (e.g., `tsc --noEmit`)
for frequent feedback, reserving heavy builds for final verification.
7. Output Verification: Requires checking command output (not just exit codes)
to prevent false-positives from empty test runs or hidden warnings.
Semantic Integrity & Dependency Safety:
8. Global Usage Discovery: Mandates searching the entire workspace for all
usages (via `grep_search`) before modifying exported symbols or APIs.
9. Dependency Integrity: Requires verifying that new imports are explicitly
declared in the project's dependency manifest (e.g., package.json).
10. Configuration Sync: Mandates updating build/environment configs
(tsconfig, Dockerfile, etc.) to support new file types or entry points.
11. Documentation Sync: Requires searching for and updating documentation
references when public APIs or CLI interfaces change.
12. Anti-Silencing Mandate: Prohibits using `any`, `@ts-ignore`, or lint
suppressions to resolve validation errors.
Diagnostics, Safety & Runtime Verification:
13. Error Grounding: Mandates reading full error logs and stack traces upon
failure. Includes Smart Log Navigation to prioritize the tail of large files.
14. Scope Isolation: Instructs the agent to focus only on errors introduced
by its changes and ignore unrelated legacy technical debt.
15. Destructive Safety: Mandates a `git status` check before deleting files
or modifying critical project configurations.
16. Non-Blocking Smoke Tests: Requires briefly running applications to
verify boot stability, using background/timeout strategies for servers.
Includes 15 new behavioral evaluations verifying these mandates and updated
snapshots in packages/core/src/core/prompts.test.ts.
Gemini 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.
🚀 Why Gemini CLI?
- 🎯 Free tier: 60 requests/min and 1,000 requests/day with personal Google account.
- 🧠 Powerful Gemini 3 models: Access to improved reasoning and 1M token context window.
- 🔧 Built-in tools: Google Search grounding, file operations, shell commands, web fetching.
- 🔌 Extensible: MCP (Model Context Protocol) support for custom integrations.
- 💻 Terminal-first: Designed for developers who live in the command line.
- 🛡️ Open source: Apache 2.0 licensed.
📦 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 Cadence and Tags
See Releases for more details.
Preview
New preview releases will be published each week at UTC 2359 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 2000 on Tuesdays, this
will be the full promotion of last week's
previewrelease + any bug fixes and validations. Uselatesttag.
npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@latest
Nightly
- New releases will be published each day at UTC 0000. 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
nightlytag.
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
Advanced Capabilities
- Ground your queries with built-in Google Search for real-time information
- Conversation checkpointing to save and resume complex sessions
- Custom context files (GEMINI.md) to tailor behavior for your projects
GitHub Integration
Integrate Gemini CLI directly into your GitHub workflows with Gemini CLI GitHub Action:
- Pull Request Reviews: Automated code review with contextual feedback and suggestions
- Issue Triage: Automated labeling and prioritization of GitHub issues based on content analysis
- On-demand Assistance: Mention
@gemini-cliin issues and pull requests for help with debugging, explanations, or task delegation - Custom Workflows: Build automated, scheduled and on-demand workflows tailored to your team's needs
🔐 Authentication Options
Choose the authentication method that best fits your needs:
Option 1: Login with Google (OAuth login using your Google Account)
✨ Best for: Individual developers as well as anyone who has a Gemini Code Assist License. (see quota limits and terms of service for details)
Benefits:
- Free tier: 60 requests/min and 1,000 requests/day
- Gemini 3 models with 1M token context window
- No API key management - just sign in with your Google account
- Automatic updates to latest models
Start Gemini CLI, then choose Login with Google and follow the browser authentication flow when prompted
gemini
If you are 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:
- Free tier: 1000 requests/day with Gemini 3 (mix of flash and pro)
- 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
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
- 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.
- Architecture Overview - How Gemini CLI works.
- 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 API Development - Create custom tools.
- Local development - Local development tooling.
Troubleshooting & Support
- Troubleshooting Guide - Common issues and solutions.
- FAQ - Frequently asked questions.
- Use
/bugcommand 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 MCP Server Integration guide for setup instructions.
🤝 Contributing
We welcome contributions! Gemini CLI is fully open source (Apache 2.0), and we encourage the community to:
- Report bugs and suggest features.
- Improve documentation.
- Submit code improvements.
- Share your MCP servers and extensions.
See our Contributing Guide for development setup, coding standards, and how to submit pull requests.
Check our Official Roadmap for planned features and priorities.
📖 Resources
- Official Roadmap - See what's coming next.
- Changelog - See recent notable updates.
- NPM Package - Package registry.
- GitHub Issues - Report bugs or request features.
- Security Advisories - Security updates.
Uninstall
See the Uninstall Guide for removal instructions.
📄 Legal
- License: Apache License 2.0
- Terms of Service: Terms & Privacy
- Security: Security Policy
Built with ❤️ by Google and the open source community