When you’re right here you will have most likely heard of Claude Code and different software program improvement ai instruments like Cursor and Windsurf — and now in the previous few weeks, Gemini CLI has began populating your media feeds.
Or this text simply popped up in your Medium suggestions — both approach — let’s discuss Gemini CLI.
Gemini CLI, because the identify suggests, is Gemini in your CLI of selection. Claude Code launched just a few months in the past and took the software program engineering world by storm, performing higher than different standard instruments like Cursor, and taking vibe coding to the subsequent stage. Gemini CLI looks like a cheeky copy of Claude Code at first look — however my two cents — it’s much more.
Whether or not or not it performs higher, worse or simply nearly as good as Claude Code depends upon plenty of components, like the precise job and your prompting expertise. That apart, right here’s what’s true about this new tool-
- It’s free to get began (in contrast to Claude which requires at the least a $30 subscription, increased for extra utilization)
- You need to use it A LOT (affords 1000 requests per day)
- It’s Open supply (this one may not matter to lots of people however as I’ve matured as a developer I’ve turn into a fan of open supply)
PS: earlier than you come for me, no shade on Claude Code, i’m certain it’s AMAZING, however i’m not the goal consumer for it & i refuse to pay 30$ a month to make use of it.
You want the following-
- Terminal of your selection (I exploit iTerm 2)
- A google account
Comply with the directions here to put in and get began. Set up and setup takes only a couple minutes, and when you log in along with your google account, kind gemini or gemini -s (to run in a sandboxed atmosphere) in your cli and you might be able to go.
I haven’t used the instrument extensively however in my couple hours of testing I used to be impressed (therefore this write up). In hindsight that is fairly apparent, however I used to be shocked how good it’s at holding context and in flip presenting a greater answer (whereas utilizing Gemini 2.5 professional) within the CLI vs on Gemini net chat. I had been making an attempt to repair a bug in my chrome extension (attempt it here) that the online chat might NOT repair after a number of makes an attempt, and the identical immediate within the CLI mounted the bug in a single shot.
Apart from, nothing like coding in a CLI. Simply feels lots cooler. And sure, it’s extra environment friendly (typically).
Certainly one of many issues I favored about Gemini CLI is the utilization statistics on the finish of a session, like beneath.
My AI code editor of selection has been Windsurf for the previous few months. I’ve finished my share of vibe coding on it, and used its tab and chat options for day-to-day improvement. I’m wanting ahead to evaluating its efficiency to Gemini CLI.
These AI instruments are right here to remain. AI will not be “simply one other instrument” however it’s a instrument like Postman or VS Code or Jenkins. And I feel it’s an incredible concept to get actually good at utilizing instruments like Gemini CLI, as a result of they are going to be a part of our dev toolkit going ahead, whether or not you prefer it or not.
Staying related apart, it’s amusing taking part in with these LLMs to make fast, enjoyable and typically even helpful apps. It’s much more enjoyable determining the proper prompts to get what you might be on the lookout for out of them.
So Gemini CLI is price a shot!
