Gemini CLI
Interact w/ Google's Gemini CLI locally. Run queries, get responses, compare outputs.
Prerequisites
Gemini CLI must be installed & configured:
- Install: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli
- Auth: Run
gemini& sign in w/ Google account - Verify:
gemini --version
When to Use
- User asks to "run/ask/use gemini"
- Compare Claude vs Gemini responses
- Get second AI opinion
- Delegate task to Gemini
Usage
IMPORTANT: Use -p flag for non-interactive (headless) one-shot queries. Without -p, gemini opens interactive mode which hangs in automation.
# One-shot query (MUST use -p for non-interactive)
gemini -p "Your prompt"
# Specific model
gemini -p "prompt" -m gemini-3-pro
# JSON output
gemini -p "prompt" -o json
# YOLO mode (auto-approve tool use)
gemini -y -p "prompt"
# File analysis
cat file.txt | gemini -p "Analyze this"Models (Gemini 3+ only)
| Model | Use case |
|---|---|
gemini-3-pro | Default, best all-round |
gemini-3-flash | Fast, lightweight tasks |
Omit -m to use the CLI default (latest stable).
CLI Options
| Flag | Desc |
|---|---|
-p | Required for headless. Non-interactive prompt |
-m | Model selection |
-o | Output: text/json/stream-json |
-y | Auto-approve all actions (YOLO) |
-d | Debug mode |
-s | Sandbox mode |
-r | Resume session |
-i | Execute prompt then continue interactive |
Comparison Workflow
- Provide Claude's response first
- Run same query via
gemini -p "prompt" - Present both for comparison
Best Practices
- Always use
-pfor automation/one-shot queries - Quote prompts w/ double quotes
- Use
-o jsonfor parsing - Pipe files for context