#77th of 21 in Coding agents and assistants

gemini-cli

Terminal coding agent that runs Gemini models with file, shell and MCP tools

Documentation ↗ Website ↗ Repository on GitHub ↗

Stars: 107.3k
License: Apache-2.0
Last commit: Oct 2026
Last release: Oct 2026
Language: TypeScript

Overview

Gemini CLI is a TypeScript terminal agent, installed from npm, Homebrew, MacPorts or conda, that sends prompts to Gemini models and can edit files, run shell commands, fetch web pages and ground answers with Google Search. It supports MCP servers, GEMINI.md context files, conversation checkpointing, a headless mode with JSON and stream-JSON output, and a GitHub Action for PR review and issue triage.

Who it is for: Developers who want a Gemini-backed coding agent in the terminal or CI

Strengths

Free tier with Google login: 60 requests/min, 1,000 requests/day
1M token context window with Gemini 3 models
Headless mode emits plain text, JSON or newline-delimited stream-JSON
Auth via Google login, Gemini API key or Vertex AI

Weaknesses

Only talks to Gemini models; no other providers listed in the README
Needs a Google account, API key or Vertex AI credentials; no local models
Preview and nightly channels may contain regressions
Free-tier quotas and terms are governed by Google, not the project

What it needs

no GPU
Docker
Needs Node.js, Gemini API, Google account login or Vertex AI
Models: Gemini 3, Gemini 2.5 Flash

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1	opencodeTerminal coding agent with build and plan modes212.6k stars, MIT	77 out of 100
2	orcaDesktop app that runs CLI coding agents in parallel git worktrees89.2k stars, MIT	75 out of 100
3	ArchonYAML workflow engine that runs coding agents in isolated worktrees23.7k stars, MIT	73 out of 100
#4	codexOpenAI's terminal coding agent that runs locally128.5k stars, Apache-2.0	71 out of 100
#5	oh-my-openagentTerminal coding agent that runs parallel sub-agents and keeps git-based memory69.9k stars, custom license	70 out of 100

How to choose

Check which models it can use: your own keys, local models, or only the vendor's.
See what it may do without asking (edit files, run shell, push) and how you approve.
Prefer agents that work in a branch or worktree you can throw away.

For maintainers

Show this rank in your README. It updates twice a day.

[![Archestack](https://archestack.github.io/badge/google-gemini/gemini-cli.svg)](https://archestack.github.io/best-of-vibe-coding/projects/gemini-cli/)

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