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Gemini CLI

open source / Overall score: 4.7(leading)

Gemini CLI is Google's open-source terminal coding agent, bringing Gemini models into the shell for coding, debugging and task automation. It ships built-in tools for Google Search grounding, file operations, shell commands and web fetch, and extends through MCP and GEMINI.md system-prompt files. Since June 2026 it serves paid Gemini API keys and Gemini Code Assist Standard and Enterprise organizations, while free individual users and Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers moved to its Antigravity CLI.

Openness

5 high confidence

5.0

license: Apache-2.0(OSI)
source: public
core features withheld: no

Fully Apache-2.0; commercial relationship is on model quotas, not the tool.

https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli recorded 2026-08-13
Apache-2.0 license badge plus three README statements - "Open source - Apache 2.0 licensed", "Gemini CLI is fully open source (Apache 2.0)", and "License - Apache License 2.0"; full source published, 106.5k stars; no enterprise directory or paid tier of the tool
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/main/LICENSE recorded 2026-09-29
The LICENSE file is the unmodified Apache License text, headed "Apache License" and "Version 2.0, January 2004", an OSI-approved license with no additional restriction clauses.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/main/README.md recorded 2026-09-29
The README states "Gemini CLI is fully open source (Apache 2.0), and we" invite community contributions, with "License**: [Apache License 2.0](LICENSE)"; searched for enterprise edition or license key: none, only model access tiers.

Adoption

4 high confidence

4.0

Adoption is measured by npm downloads of @google/gemini-cli, Google's own package for the terminal agent, so the figure measures direct use of the tool rather than a proxy.

https://api.npmjs.org/downloads/point/last-month/@google/gemini-cli recorded 2026-08-12
1,850,744 downloads in the trailing 30 days for @google/gemini-cli

Capability

5 high confidence

5.0

Gemini CLI combines an agentic terminal loop, MCP extensibility and built-in Google Search grounding, a feature few close peers offer. No benchmark score is published for the CLI itself, so it is judged on this feature set, which places it level with OpenHands on breadth.

https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/technology/developers-tools/introducing-gemini-cli-open-source-ai-agent/ recorded 2026-08-13
official launch covering the free tier, MCP extensibility and GEMINI.md
https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli recorded 2026-08-13
terminal-first agentic loop, MCP client and server, Google Search grounding, installation and auth paths; no benchmark figure published

Verified 2026-09-26, except some scores, still awaiting re-confirmation