Understand the project
Practical overview
When it fits
Use it when you want an interactive Gemini chat in a terminal and need the documented model and history controls.
Who it is for
- Developers who prefer to interact with Gemini from a terminal.
- Users who want to manage model selection and chat history within an interactive command-line session.
Documented uses
- Conduct a multi-turn chat with a selected generative model.
- Switch between single-line and multi-line input.
- Save, load, clear or delete chat-history records.
Before you choose
Requirements & limits
Use requires a Google Gemini API key set in the GEMINI_API_KEY environment variable. The project offers release binaries or installation from source with Go.
- A Gemini API key is required.
- The README documents API and Google AI Studio region availability as a consideration.
- Chat history is stored in plain text in the configuration file.
- The project is written in Go and licensed under MIT.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Source-based practical guide
Install from source and configure Gemini access
Install the CLI with Go and set the API key required for use.
Before you start
- Go installed
- A Google Gemini API key
Steps
Run the command below.
go install github.com/reugn/gemini-cli/cmd/gemini@latestSet
GEMINI_API_KEYin the terminal to your API key.
Expected outcome
The CLI is installed and the terminal has the API key environment variable required by the application.
Guide limitations
- Google Gemini API and Google AI Studio availability is region-dependent.
- This guide covers installation and key setup, not a chat session.
Evidence and transparency
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 17 October 2026
- Original website title
- reugn/gemini-cli · Official homepage title · retained in its source language