---
title: Gemini CLI
slug: gemini-cli
url: "https://toolweight.com/options/gemini-cli"
homepage: "https://google-gemini.github.io/gemini-cli/"
categories: coding-agents
last_verified: 2026-01-15
license: CC-BY-4.0
---

# Gemini CLI

> Apache-2.0 terminal agent from Google with an unusually generous free tier.

Gemini CLI is Google's open-source terminal agent, notable mainly for a free tier that a personal Google account unlocks with no card, the cheapest credible way to run an agent daily. It supports MCP, custom slash commands defined in TOML, checkpointing via /restore, and optional Docker or Seatbelt sandboxing. The official GitHub Action is how it reaches pull requests; the CLI itself stops at your working tree.

## Identity

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Gemini CLI |
| Company | Google |
| One-liner | Apache-2.0 terminal agent from Google with an unusually generous free tier. |
| Site | https://google-gemini.github.io/gemini-cli/ |
| Repo | https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli |
| Founded | 2025 |
| Open source | Yes |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 |
| Brand | https://toolweight.com/vendors/Gemini |
| Compared in | 1 |

## Where it is compared

### [Coding agents](https://toolweight.com/compare/coding-agents)
Ranked **#8 of 17** on default weights.
| Field | Value | Confidence | Verified | Source | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Surface | CLI, IDE extension, GitHub-native | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli | - |
| Default model | Latest Gemini Pro | Inferred | - | - | Falls back to a Flash model when the Pro quota is exhausted. |
| Model breadth | one vendor | Inferred | - | - | Gemini models via API key or Vertex; no other vendors upstream. Users report a base-URL override that would put this a tier higher, but we could not find first-party documentation for one, and this column credits documented endpoints only. |
| Repo indexing | agentic grep | Community-reported | - | - | - |
| Plan mode | ◐ | Community-reported | - | - | Planning behaviour exists but the approval gate is weaker than Cline's or Claude Code's. |
| Checkpoint & undo | ● | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli | /restore reverts file changes made during the session. |
| Headless / CI | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| Local models | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| Where it stops | 3 | Inferred | - | - | The CLI edits and runs tests. Google ships an official Action but no GitHub App, so the branch is pushed by a workflow you install and maintain rather than by a first-party identity, the line this page draws between rung 3 and rung 4, and the same line that puts Claude Code and opencode above it. |
| MCP | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| Subagents | ◐ | Community-reported | - | - | Subagent support landed as an experimental feature; maturity unverified. |
| Hooks | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Skills / commands | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Custom slash commands defined in TOML and checked into the repo. |
| Background agents | ◐ | Inferred | - | - | Via the GitHub Action; Google's separate async agent is a different product. |
| Opens PRs | ◐ | Inferred | - | https://github.com/google-github-actions/run-gemini-cli | Official GitHub Action, installed by /setup-github into your own workflows; there is no Gemini CLI GitHub App. Its documented workflows also lean towards reviewing and triaging rather than authoring, which is why this is partial rather than yes. |
| Permissions | allowlist + OS sandbox | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | Optional Docker, Podman or macOS Seatbelt sandbox shipped by the harness, off by default. This column grades the strongest boundary available rather than the default one, which is why Goose, an optional Seatbelt sandbox, also off by default, is graded identically. |
| BYOK | ● | Inferred | 2026-01-15 | - | - |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli | - |
| Pricing model | subscription + token overage | Inferred | - | - | The headline free tier is a vendor-provided quota on a personal Google account, not your key, so this is not BYOK-only. Above the quota you either bring an API key or buy a Code Assist seat, which is a subscription with metered overage. Qwen Code's free quota is the same shape but has no seat behind it, so it stays encoded as BYOK. |
| Entry price | $0 /seat/mo | Vendor-claimed | 2026-01-15 | https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli | The free tier is real and generous; paid Code Assist seats are roughly $19. |
| Token markup | ○ | Inferred | - | - | - |
| GitHub stars | 75,000 | Community-reported | - | - | Rounded; one of the fastest-starred developer repos of 2025. |
| Terminal-Bench | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Bench model | - | Unknown | - | - | - |
| Positioning | An open-source AI agent that brings Gemini into your terminal. | Vendor-claimed | - | https://google-gemini.github.io/gemini-cli/ | - |
| First release | 2025-06-25 | Community-reported | - | https://blog.google/technology/developers/introducing-gemini-cli-open-source-ai-agent/ | - |

**Verdict.** The cheapest credible way to run an agent every day, the free tier is not a trial. In exchange you get a harness a step behind Claude Code and Codex on orchestration, and a PR path that lives in a separate GitHub Action.

## Alternatives

- [Aider](https://toolweight.com/options/aider), Minimal terminal pair-programmer with a tree-sitter repo map and automatic git commits.
- [Amp](https://toolweight.com/options/amp), Sourcegraph's opinionated agent with no model picker and an ad-supported free tier.
- [Claude Code](https://toolweight.com/options/claude-code), Anthropic's terminal-first agent, with IDE, web and GitHub Action surfaces.
- [Cline](https://toolweight.com/options/cline), Open-source VS Code and JetBrains agent built around an explicit plan/act split.
- [Codex CLI](https://toolweight.com/options/codex-cli), OpenAI's open-source Rust agent, with the strongest local sandboxing on this page.
- [Cursor](https://toolweight.com/options/cursor), VS Code fork with a real codebase index, background cloud agents and a CLI.
- [Devin](https://toolweight.com/options/devin), Fully delegated cloud engineer: file a task in Slack or the web app, get a PR back.
- [DIY harness](https://toolweight.com/options/diy-harness), Your own loop over a model API with an agent SDK, the build-it-yourself reference point.
- [GitHub Copilot (Agent HQ)](https://toolweight.com/options/github-copilot), Copilot's coding agent plus a control plane for running third-party agents on your repos.
- [Goose](https://toolweight.com/options/goose), Block's Apache-2.0 agent, MCP-native from the start, as both a CLI and a desktop app.
- [Grok Build](https://toolweight.com/options/grok-build), xAI's coding harness, launched July 2026, on this page but not yet verified.
- [Kilo Code](https://toolweight.com/options/kilo-code), Open-source VS Code agent in the Cline/Roo lineage, with an orchestrator mode and a CLI.

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