Gemini CLI

3:45 Gemini CLI is Google's open-source AI agent for the terminal, released under the Apache 2.0 license on Jun 25, 2025, but it is no longer the free tool many guides describe: on Jun 18, 2026 it stopped serving free accounts and Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, and Google moved those people to Antigravity CLI, part of Google Antigravity. Gemini CLI itself still works for organizations with Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licenses and for anyone signing in with a paid Gemini API key or Vertex AI, as of Nov 6, 2026.

If you are an individual developer looking for Google's free terminal agent, install Antigravity CLI instead. If your company already pays for Gemini Code Assist, Gemini CLI is still supported. For a terminal agent from another maker, Claude Code and Codex are the closest rivals, and Cline offers an open-source CLI that works with any model provider.

Quick facts

Is Gemini CLI still free?

No, not for individuals. At launch Google gave anyone with a personal Google account 60 requests a minute and 1,000 a day with Gemini 2.5 Pro and its 1 million token context. On May 19, 2026 Google announced that Gemini CLI development was merging into Antigravity, and on Jun 18, 2026 the "Login with Google" path for free, Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra accounts stopped working, along with the Gemini Code Assist IDE extensions for those tiers.

The free tier lives on in Antigravity: its pricing page lists an Individuals plan at $0 a month with weekly rate limits, as of Nov 6, 2026. Google publishes no request counts for it.

Who Gemini CLI is for now

The project's README, read Nov 6, 2026, says the CLI is designed for Gemini Code Assist Standard and Enterprise licenses and Code Assist for GitHub on Google Cloud, plus legacy paid API or Vertex keys. Google's own transition post says enterprise access remains unchanged. The README also warns that the CLI is not tuned for the Gemini 4 models such as Gemini 4 Argon, and advises against using it to benchmark them.

How to install Gemini CLI

0:40 Gemini CLI needs Node.js. Run it once with npx @google/gemini-cli, or install it with npm install -g @google/gemini-cli, brew install gemini-cli or MacPorts, then sign in with a Code Assist license (setting GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT), a GEMINI_API_KEY, or Vertex AI (GitHub). Stable releases ship weekly on Tuesdays, with preview and nightly channels.

Individuals install Antigravity CLI instead, with the script Google gives in its Jun 18, 2026 notice (curl -fsSL https://antigravity.google/cli/install.sh | bash on macOS and Linux). It imports skills, MCP servers and agent profiles from an existing Gemini CLI setup and still reads GEMINI.md memory files.

Features

4:56 Agent in the terminal. Gemini CLI reads and edits files, runs shell commands and works through a task in steps, asking before it changes things unless you allow it.

4:12 Extensions and MCP. Custom extensions package commands and settings, and MCP servers add tools (GitHub). In Antigravity, extensions are now called plugins, and agent skills, hooks and subagents carry over, though Google said there would be no 1:1 feature parity at first.

Scale of the project. Google's transition post counted over 100,000 GitHub stars, about 6,000 merged pull requests and hundreds of contributors (Google Developers Blog, May 19, 2026).

Gemini CLI vs Antigravity CLI

Antigravity CLI is written in Go, runs several agents in the background so long tasks do not block the terminal, and shares its harness with the Antigravity desktop app (Google, May 19, 2026). It gets the newest models: Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers have Gemini 4 Argon there since Oct 13, 2026. Gemini CLI remains open source and the enterprise path. Google's announcement does not say whether Antigravity CLI is open source.

Gemini CLI vs the alternatives

• Claude Code: Anthropic's terminal agent; pick it if you want Claude models and a paid Claude plan covers your use.
• Codex: OpenAI's agent, included with ChatGPT plans; pick it if you already pay for ChatGPT.
• Cline: open source under Apache 2.0 with a CLI, and it takes your own key for almost any provider, local models included.
• Google Antigravity: Google's own replacement for individuals, free with weekly limits.

See Best AI Coding Agent for a side-by-side comparison.

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemini CLI free? Not for individuals since Jun 18, 2026, when Gemini CLI stopped serving free, Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra accounts. Google's free terminal agent is now Antigravity CLI, which has a $0 Individuals plan with weekly limits.

Does Gemini CLI still work? Yes, for organizations with Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licenses and for users with paid Gemini API or Vertex AI keys, as of Nov 6, 2026.

How do I install Gemini CLI? Run npm install -g @google/gemini-cli (Node.js required) or brew install gemini-cli, then sign in with a Code Assist license or an API key.

Is Gemini CLI open source? Yes, Gemini CLI is open source under the Apache 2.0 license on GitHub.

What replaced Gemini CLI? Antigravity CLI, part of Google Antigravity, replaced Gemini CLI for individual users on Jun 18, 2026; it imports Gemini CLI settings during installation.

Sources

• google-gemini/gemini-cli, GitHub, read Nov 6, 2026
• Gemini CLI: your open-source AI agent, Google, Jun 25, 2025
• An important update: Transitioning Gemini CLI to Antigravity CLI, Google Developers Blog, May 19, 2026
• Important Update: Gemini CLI Has Stopped Serving Requests for Individual Accounts, Gemini CLI team on GitHub, Jun 18, 2026
• Gemini Code Assist for individuals deprecation, Google for Developers, read Nov 6, 2026
• Antigravity pricing, Google, read Nov 6, 2026
• Gemini 4 Argon in Google Antigravity, Google, Oct 13, 2026
• Gemini CLI: The AI agent that lives in your terminal, Google Cloud Tech, Feb 9, 2026 (video)
• How to install & set up Gemini CLI, Google Cloud Tech, Feb 9, 2026 (video)