skill-creator

• 🎯 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.

Pre-requisites before installation

• Node.js version 20 or higher
• macOS, Linux, or Windows

Quick Install

#### Run instantly with npx

```bash

# Using npx (no installation required)

npx @google/gemini-cli

```

#### Install globally with npm

```bash

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

```

#### Install globally with Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

```bash

brew install gemini-cli

```

#### Install globally with MacPorts (macOS)

```bash

sudo port install gemini-cli

```

#### Install with Anaconda (for restricted environments)

```bash

# 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

```

See [Releases](./docs/releases.md) 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.

```bash

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 preview release + any bug fixes

and validations. Use latest tag.

```bash

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 nightly tag.

```bash

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@nightly

```

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](https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/vertex-ai-creative-studio/tree/main/experiments/mcp-genmedia)

• Run non-interactively in scripts for workflow automation

Advanced Capabilities

• Ground your queries with built-in

[Google Search](https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/grounding) 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](https://github.com/google-github-actions/run-gemini-cli):

• 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-cli in 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

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](https://cloud.google.com/gemini/docs/quotas)

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

```bash

gemini

```

#### If you are using a paid Code Assist License from your organization, remember to set the Google Cloud Project

```bash

# 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

```bash

# 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

```bash

# 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](./docs/get-started/authentication.md).

Basic Usage

#### Start in current directory

```bash

gemini

```

#### Include multiple directories

```bash

gemini --include-directories ../lib,../docs

```

#### Use specific model

```bash

gemini -m gemini-2.5-flash

```

#### Non-interactive mode for scripts

Get a simple text response:

```bash

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:

```bash

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:

```bash

gemini -p "Run tests and deploy" --output-format stream-json

```

Quick Examples

#### Start a new project

```bash

cd new-project/

gemini

> Write me a Discord bot that answers questions using a FAQ.md file I will provide

```

#### Analyze existing code

```bash

git clone https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli

cd gemini-cli

gemini

> Give