Google Unveils Gemini AI Coding Tool to Attract Developers

Google, the tech giant behind Alphabet Inc., has launched a new AI-powered coding assistant to simplify developers' workflows and compete with other coding tools like OpenAI’s Codex and Anthropic’s Claude Code.

The new tool, Gemini CLI (Command Line Interface), is being rolled out globally, according to Google’s announcement on Wednesday. This tool is designed to streamline the typically complex programming interfaces, allowing developers to interact with AI using natural language.

"With Gemini CLI, you can have a natural language conversation with your computer to solve problems and integrate complex workflows, enabling tasks you could never have accomplished before," said Taylor Mullen, Senior Staff Software Engineer at Google, during a pre-launch briefing.

Gemini CLI offers developers access to Google’s Gemini AI directly from the terminal—an interface where users typically input text-based commands to control their computers. While the tool is primarily designed for coding, it also has a wide range of applications, such as generating videos or creating simple websites.

In a move to foster wider collaboration, Gemini CLI is open source, meaning its code is available for anyone to modify and redistribute. Google emphasized its goal of democratizing AI development, encouraging user contributions to enhance and improve the tool. Developers can also examine the code to understand its functions and ensure its security.

Google’s TensorFlow engine, as well as its transformer-based AI models, are similarly open-source. These transformers underpin most of today’s popular large language models, including OpenAI's ChatGPT.

In 2024, Google made waves with the launch of Gemma, an open-source large language model, marking a shift from its earlier stance of keeping proprietary AI technology private. This new initiative signals Google's renewed push to actively engage with the broader developer community.

Gemini CLI can be accessed through any personal Google account, which provides a free Gemini Code Assist license. This grants access to Gemini 2.5 Pro, Google's flagship AI model, as well as generous usage limits—60 requests per minute and 1,000 requests per day.

For those willing to pay for a standard version, the request allowance increases to 120 per minute and 1,500 per day. The enterprise version offers up to 2,000 queries per day.

"We believe these tools will redefine how developers—and creators of all kinds—work over the next decade," said Ryan J. Salva, Senior Director of Product at Google. "Whether you’re a student, hobbyist, freelancer, or developer, you should have access to the same powerful tools."