Getting Started with Gemini CLI

Google's terminal coding agent — still shipping, but since June 2026 it no longer opens to a free Google account.

Current prices: Free · See all plans

Last reviewed 2026-09-08 · for Gemini CLI

How it works

You open a text window on your computer, start it inside a project folder, and type what you want in plain English. It reads the files itself, proposes edits, runs commands to check its work, and asks before changing anything. You read what it did and say what to fix.

What it is

Gemini CLI is Google's coding agent — AI that takes actions on its own rather than only answering — driven from a terminal, the text window where you type instructions instead of clicking. It works on a whole project at once, not one file.

Since 18 June 2026 it no longer serves free personal Google accounts, or Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers. Google moved individuals to a separate tool, Antigravity CLI, which is where a beginner should now start.

The software is alive: the code is public and releases ship most weeks. It just answers only to an organisation's Code Assist licence or a paid Gemini API key — a password that identifies your app and spends your money.

Before you start

Settle access before you install. A personal Google account no longer works; the two live routes are a Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licence, bought per seat by an organisation, or a paid Gemini API key. Without one it installs fine and then refuses to answer.

There is no monthly price for an individual — a paid key bills you for what you use, so a heavy week has no ceiling until you set a budget yourself.

Expect Google's documentation to lag Google's product: the quota page still lists a free 1,000-requests-a-day tier, and the sign-in page still recommends a personal account. The banner above them is current; the pages beneath are not.

You need code on your own disk and enough comfort with a terminal to install a package. If not yet, Google's Gemini assistant in a browser writes and explains code with nothing to install.

Getting set up safely

Official source: Google's official Gemini CLI documentation

Install from Google's own listing only — npx @google/gemini-cli, a global npm install -g @google/gemini-cli, or brew install gemini-cli. Lookalikes exist and third-party instructions run a version behind.

Keep it to one project folder whose changes are tracked. It edits real files and runs real programs.

Official docs ↗

Security & privacy

Nothing runs on your own hardware. Every request leaves your machine for Google's models, so a codebase you are barred from sharing is barred from this too.

Which door you came in decides your data terms

On a paid Gemini API key, Google's terms say it does not use your prompts or responses to improve its products. On the unpaid tier the same terms say the opposite, and that human reviewers may read them. The tool never tells you which you are on.
It also sends usage statistics by default — which tools ran, which model, how long, though Google states not the content of your prompts. One setting turns that off: privacy.usageStatisticsEnabled: false in ~/.gemini/settings.json.

What it's good (and not good) at

Best at

Reading a project you did not write and explaining how it fits together
Changes that touch several files and must stay consistent
Working from a picture — app-from-an-image-or-PDF is Google's own headline claim

Okay at

Costing what you expect, since the bill tracks how long a session stays open, not the size of the task
Being learnable from what is written about it, since most guides predate the June change

Avoid

Its own setup pages, which still recommend the sign-in Google switched off in June
Depending on a free Google developer tier; this one ended a month after it was announced

Starter prompts to try

Work out which door is open to you, before you install

Checks whether you hold a Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licence, or a Gemini API key with billing switched on; if neither, installs Antigravity CLI instead.

Why this one: Claude Code's entry check is one question — is your plan paid. Here the sign-in Google's own docs recommend is still there and still fails, so the only check that holds is what you own: a Code Assist licence, or a key with billing on. If it is neither, Antigravity CLI is where Google now sends you.

Hand it a picture instead of a description

@mockup.png Build a single plain HTML and CSS page matching this layout, then list the three things you had to guess.

Why this one: The @ prefix pastes a file straight into the prompt with no upload step, and app-from-an-image is the line Google leads with — not where Claude Code or Cursor put their emphasis.

Write a `GEMINI.md` in the project root

Read this project and draft a GEMINI.md: what it is, how to run its tests, the conventions you can infer, and three things never to change without asking me.

Why this one: Context files load in a hierarchy — home folder, then workspace, then more as it touches directories — so a project file applies every session, and the filename setting takes a list, so a conventions file you already have can be reused.

Tweak: Keep it short. Every session pays for it whether it needs it or not.

Common pitfalls

Nearly every Gemini CLI guide online opens with the free personal-account login it no longer has.
A Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription does not cover it — it did until 18 June 2026, and the CLI simply stopped answering it.

Where to next

Other AI coding tools Google's assistant in a browser Build with an API directly

Want the full picture first? See the Gemini CLI overview for pricing, the free tier and related tools.