tools
Gemini CLI Review 2026 — Google's Free Open-Source Terminal Coding Agent
Gemini CLI is Google's open-source terminal coding agent with 1,000 free requests/day, 1M token context, and Google Search grounding. 70K+ GitHub stars since June 2025.
Gemini CLI runs in a terminal and uses Gemini models to inspect and modify code, execute shell commands, search and fetch web content, and automate tasks. It supports interactive sessions, scripting, checkpoints, extensions, MCP servers, and GitHub workflow integrations.
It is aimed at developers, DevOps teams, and organizations using Google Cloud or Gemini Code Assist. A free plan is listed, while higher limits and API or Vertex AI usage may require paid services. The plans page did not display prices.
Features
- Query and edit large codebases from the terminal
- Run shell commands with approval and sandboxing controls
- Use Google Search grounding and web fetching
- Run non-interactively with JSON or stream-JSON output
- Connect external tools through MCP servers and extensions
- Save and resume conversations with checkpointing
- Use Plan Mode for read-only planning before implementation
- Apache 2.0 licensed open-source repository
Use cases
- Review and explain an unfamiliar codebase
- Generate and update application code from terminal prompts
- Debug errors and run tests with shell access
- Automate pull-request reviews and issue triage
- Research documentation and current information from the web
- Build custom workflows with MCP servers and extensions