How to Use Gemini CLI: Google's Open-Source AI in Your Terminal
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How to Use Gemini CLI: Google's Open-Source AI in Your Terminal

Sagar Yenkure
July 14th, 2025

How to Use Gemini CLI – Google’s Free AI Tool for Your Terminal

Gemini CLI is a lightweight, open-source AI assistant that runs directly in your terminal. Built by Google, it gives developers direct access to Gemini 2.5 Pro — their powerful large language model — without needing a browser or IDE. It's fast, smart, and free to use for individuals.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

  • What Gemini CLI is
  • How to install and authenticate it
  • How to use it for coding, troubleshooting, and scripting
  • Bonus features like Google Search integration and file handling

What is Gemini CLI?

Gemini CLI is a command-line interface tool that brings AI directly to your terminal. It’s built for developers who love working in the terminal and want an AI assistant for:

  • Writing code
  • Debugging issues
  • Generating content
  • Automating tasks
  • Researching with real-time web context

It even supports extensions and advanced workflows via scripting.

Step 1: Install Gemini CLI

To install Gemini CLI globally:

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli
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Login with your Google account:

gemini login
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This gives you free access to Gemini Code Assist with:

  • Gemini 2.5 Pro model
  • 60 requests per minute
  • 1,000 requests per day — completely free

Step 2: Using Gemini in Your Terminal

Once installed, launch the CLI:

gemini
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You’ll enter a prompt-driven chat experience inside your terminal. Ask it to generate code, debug snippets, refactor, or explain complex logic.

Or run a quick one-off question:

gemini run "What’s the difference between let and const in JavaScript?"
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You’ll instantly get AI-generated answers, formatted and clear — without ever leaving the terminal.

Step 4: Use Gemini with Files and Projects

You can also give Gemini access to your files or codebase:

gemini run -f app.js "Explain what this code does"
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Want to give a full folder?

gemini run -f ./src "Find bugs and suggest improvements"
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This is incredibly useful for:

  • Code reviews
  • Refactoring
  • Explaining legacy code

Step 5: Enable Google Search for Live Info

Use the

--search
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flag to fetch real-time results from Google Search:

gemini run --search "What’s new in React 19?"
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This gives Gemini up-to-date information to enhance your response — great for tech updates, product changes, or researching APIs.

Automate with Scripts

You can also use Gemini CLI non-interactively in scripts:

gemini run "Write a cron job to backup a PostgreSQL DB" > backup.sh
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To exit the chat interface: Press Ctrl + Esc

This makes it great for DevOps, CI/CD tasks, and daily workflows.

Bonus: It’s Fully Open Source

Gemini CLI is open-source under Apache 2.0 license. You can:

  • Inspect the code
  • Submit issues or improvements on GitHub
  • Build extensions or tweak its config with GEMINI.md

Final Thoughts

Gemini CLI brings serious AI power directly to your terminal. Whether you're a fullstack developer, DevOps engineer, or indie hacker — this tool can speed up your workflow, answer technical questions, and even help write or debug code on the fly.

No browser tabs. No distractions. Just you and AI — right in your terminal.

Try it out today 👉 https://cli.gemini.dev

Happy hacking! ⚡