Google's new open-source coding agent brings Gemini AI directly to your terminal

Google recently unveiled Gemini CLI(command-line interface), a new open-source AI agent tool that brings Gemini directly into your terminal, providing "the most direct path from your prompt to our model."

The software giant indicated that the tool's capabilities extend beyond coding to other tasks, including content generation, problem-solving, deep research, and task management.

It's worth noting that Gemini CLI is integrated into Gemini Code Assist (Google's AI coding assistant), allowing developers subscribed to the Free, Standard, and Enterprise Code Assist plans to access prompt-driven and AI coding across VS Code and Gemini CLI.

Because Gemini CLI is open-source under the Apache 2.0 license, developers can freely inspect the AI-generated code. This way, it is easy to identify and fix any errors and security bugs that might have been included in the code by the technology.

Google claims that Gemini CLI brings a host of AI-powered features, including code understanding, file manipulation, command execution, and dynamic troubleshooting.

Additionally, it ships with a significant upgrade for the command line experience, making it easier for developers to debug issues and streamline workflows with natural language by leveraging built-in tools to:

• Ground prompts with Google Search so you can fetch web pages and provide real-time, external context to the model
• Extend Gemini CLI’s capabilities through built-in support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP) or bundled extensions
• Customize prompts and instructions to tailor Gemini for your specific needs and workflows
• Automate tasks and integrate with existing workflows by invoking Gemini CLI non-interactively within your scripts

Additionally, the agentic AI tool ships with a favorable user experience, with Google allocating free users 60 model requests per minute and 1,000 requests per day. This is on top of the already existing access to Gemini 2.5 Pro and its massive 1 million token context window.

Gemini CLI marks a significant step in making advanced AI more accessible, transparent, and versatile for developers. By combining open-source flexibility, seamless integration with development tools, and generous usage limits, Google positions Gemini CLI as a powerful and user-friendly gateway to next-generation AI assistance right from the command line.