Gemini CLI stopped serving free, Google AI Pro and Ultra personal accounts on June 18, 2026; it now serves Code Assist Standard and Enterprise, Google Cloud and paid API key users. Individuals moved to Antigravity, whose CLI (agy) shares one agent harness with the Antigravity 2.0 desktop app and the Antigravity IDE. Pick Gemini CLI only if your organization licenses it; otherwise pick Antigravity CLI for the terminal and the IDE or 2.0 for visual work.
Gemini CLI vs Antigravity comes down to your account: Gemini CLI now serves only enterprise, Google Cloud and paid API key users, while individuals on free, Google AI Pro or Ultra plans were moved to Antigravity on June 18, 2026. If you code from a personal Google account, Antigravity CLI is the terminal tool to use, with the Antigravity IDE and Antigravity 2.0 desktop app for visual work. If your company pays for Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise, Gemini CLI still works and is still maintained.
Checked October 2026 against Google's Gemini Code Assist consumer accounts notice, the Gemini CLI transition announcement on the official repository, the Antigravity CLI launch post, the migration guide and Antigravity pricing. This comparison is based on Google's documentation, not on hands-on benchmarks.
A year ago the two looked like different shapes of the same idea: Gemini CLI for the terminal, Antigravity for an agent-first editor. Google has since consolidated them. Antigravity now has its own CLI, built from Gemini CLI's core components, and the free and consumer tiers of Gemini CLI were switched off. This guide explains what each tool is for today, who can still use which, and how to move your setup across. For the broader field of coding agents, including Claude Code, Cursor and Codex, see our AI coding tools hub.
The short verdict
- Personal Google account (free, AI Pro or AI Ultra): use Antigravity. The CLI (
agy) for terminal work, the IDE or Antigravity 2.0 for visual, multi-agent work. - Company with Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise: Gemini CLI keeps working. Antigravity CLI and Antigravity 2.0 are also available through Google Cloud if you want the newer harness.
- Scripts and CI with a paid Gemini API key: either works. Gemini CLI still accepts paid keys, and Antigravity CLI can run on a Gemini API key with no account session.
- You need open source: Gemini CLI stays Apache 2.0 on GitHub. Antigravity is a proprietary Google product.
Gemini CLI vs Antigravity: head-to-head
| Gemini CLI | Google Antigravity | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Open-source terminal AI agent for Gemini | Agent-first platform: desktop app, IDE and CLI on one agent harness |
| Interface | Terminal only | Terminal (agy), visual desktop app (Antigravity 2.0) and editor (Antigravity IDE) |
| Who can use it (checked October 2026) | Code Assist Standard or Enterprise, Google Cloud, paid API keys | Individuals ($0 plan, Google AI Pro, Ultra) and organizations via Google Cloud |
| Free personal use | Ended June 18, 2026 | $0 individual plan with weekly rate limits |
| Models | Gemini models | Gemini, plus third-party models such as Claude and gpt-oss on some plans |
| Extensibility | Extensions, MCP servers, GEMINI.md context | Plugins (converted extensions), skills, hooks, subagents, MCP, GEMINI.md and AGENTS.md |
| Source | Apache 2.0 on GitHub | Proprietary Google product |
The access row matters most. Feature lists are close because Antigravity CLI inherited Gemini CLI's ideas: context files, skills, hooks, subagents and MCP. The difference is who Google serves with each tool and which surfaces share your work.
What happened to Gemini CLI
On May 19, 2026, the Gemini CLI team announced the move to Antigravity CLI on the project's GitHub discussions. The Gemini Code Assist deprecation page confirms the cutoff: from June 18, 2026, Gemini CLI and the Code Assist IDE extensions stopped serving the Gemini Code Assist for individuals, Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra tiers, and Login with Google no longer works for them (checked October 2026).
- May 19, 2026Antigravity CLI launches
Google announces the transition from Gemini CLI on the official repository.
- Jun 18, 2026Consumer cutoff
Gemini CLI stops serving free, Google AI Pro and Ultra accounts; Code Assist consumer IDE extensions too.
- Jul 17, 2026Consumer GitHub app shut down
The consumer Gemini Code Assist on GitHub code review app ends; the enterprise version continues.
- TodayEnterprise and API keys continue
Code Assist Standard or Enterprise, Google Cloud and paid API keys still run Gemini CLI.
Source: Google for Developers and the Gemini CLI repository, checked October 2026
Google's stated reason, from the Antigravity CLI launch post, is a single developer offering on one agent harness co-optimized with Gemini models, so improvements land in the CLI and the desktop app at the same time. The Gemini CLI repository remains available under Apache 2.0 and keeps receiving model updates and fixes for enterprise customers.
Google Antigravity vs Gemini CLI: what each tool is for
Even with the access change, the two tools fit different jobs, and some teams will run both.
Gemini CLI is a terminal agent you install with npm or Homebrew. It reads and edits a codebase, runs shell commands, grounds answers with Google Search, saves checkpoints and loads project context from GEMINI.md. Its non-interactive mode (gemini -p with JSON or streamed JSON output) and the official GitHub Action make it a good fit for scripted work such as pull request review and issue triage. Being open source, it can be audited, forked and pinned to a version.
Antigravity CLI is the terminal face of a bigger product. The docs describe it as a keyboard-driven interface built for fast local iteration, SSH, tmux and headless use, running the same agent core as Antigravity 2.0 with permissions and settings synced between them. A terminal conversation that grows complex can be pulled into the desktop app and continued visually. It supports background subagents, so a long task can keep running while you work on something else.
- Teams already licensed for Code Assist Standard or Enterprise
- CI pipelines on a paid Gemini API key
- Projects that need an open-source, auditable agent
- Pinned versions in locked-down environments
- Anyone on a personal Google account
- Moving between terminal and a visual agent manager
- Parallel subagents and scheduled tasks
- Trying Claude or gpt-oss models alongside Gemini
What is the Antigravity IDE, and do you need it?
Antigravity has three surfaces. The Antigravity IDE is a full editor with Tab autocompletion, natural-language commands and an agent that can operate across the editor, terminal and browser. Agents communicate through artifacts: Markdown plans, code diffs, architecture diagrams, images and browser recordings that you can comment on to steer the next step. Antigravity 2.0 is a standalone desktop app for launching and monitoring several agents at once, grouped into projects with their own permissions, Git worktree support and scheduled tasks. The CLI covers the terminal.
You do not need the IDE to replace Gemini CLI. If you lived in the terminal before, the CLI is the direct swap. The IDE earns its place when you want inline completions and to review agent work as diffs and recordings rather than terminal output. One limitation: Google notes the IDE is not supported for enterprise customers, who should use Antigravity 2.0 or the CLI (checked October 2026).
Based on Google access rules and Antigravity docs, checked October 2026
Pricing and limits, checked October 2026
Antigravity has an individual plan at $0 per month with unlimited Tab completions and basic weekly rate limits. Google AI Pro raises limits with a quota that refreshes every five hours up to a weekly cap, and Ultra has the highest limits and third-party model access. Pro and Ultra subscribers can buy AI credits for overage, per the plans page. Organizations get Antigravity 2.0 and the CLI through Google Cloud with consumption-based pricing.
Gemini CLI has no consumer plan now. Its cost is whatever your organization pays for Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise, or the usage on a paid Gemini API key. Antigravity CLI can also run on a Gemini API key: set modelProvider to gemini in its settings file and export GEMINI_API_KEY, and requests go straight to the Gemini API, billed to that key.
How to move from Gemini CLI to Antigravity CLI
The Antigravity CLI installs from a script on antigravity.google for macOS, Linux and Windows. On first launch it detects an existing Gemini CLI setup and offers to import it. Google's migration guide covers the rest:
- 1Install Antigravity CLI
Run the installer for your platform from the Antigravity docs; it puts the agy binary on your path.
- 2Launch agy and sign in
It opens a browser to sign in, or prints a URL and asks for a code over SSH.
- 3Accept the import checklist
Choose which extensions and global settings to convert. Tokens move to your OS keyring.
- 4Convert remaining extensions
Run agy plugin import gemini; legacy commands become skills and MCP definitions move to mcp_config.json.
- 5Move workspace skills
Rename .gemini/skills to .agents/skills in each project, or the agent will not see them.
- 6Fix remote MCP entries
Change url or httpUrl to serverUrl in any remote server definition.
Source: Antigravity CLI migration guide, checked October 2026
| Setting | Gemini CLI | Antigravity CLI |
|---|---|---|
| Workspace skills | .gemini/skills/ | .agents/skills/ |
| Global skills | ~/.gemini/skills/ | ~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/skills/ |
| Workspace MCP servers | Inline in settings.json | .agents/mcp_config.json |
| Global MCP servers | Inline in ~/.gemini/settings.json | ~/.gemini/config/mcp_config.json |
| Remote MCP URL key | url or httpUrl | serverUrl |
| Context files | GEMINI.md, AGENTS.md, ~/.gemini/GEMINI.md | Unchanged |
Your GEMINI.md and AGENTS.md files keep working unchanged, which is the part most people worry about. Google calls the conversion partial parity: skills, rules and MCP servers carry over, while custom terminal themes and some experimental visual features may not.
- Open each project and confirm its skills appear as slash commands
- Run one MCP tool call per server to confirm the new config loads
- Check permission presets before letting agents run commands unattended
- Update CI jobs that call gemini to use a licensed account or a paid API key
- Remove the old global npm install once nothing depends on it
Mistakes to avoid when switching
- Assuming the gemini command still works on a personal account. It installs and starts, but requests on free, AI Pro or Ultra logins are no longer served. Scripts that call it will fail rather than fall back.
- Leaving skills in .gemini/skills. Global skills are imported, but workspace skills must be moved to .agents/skills by hand. Until then the agent simply does not see them, with no error.
- Setting GEMINI_API_KEY alone. Antigravity CLI ignores the key unless modelProvider is set to gemini, and it does not read .env files or GOOGLE_API_KEY.
- Widening permissions on day one. By default Antigravity agents ask before running terminal commands outside the sandbox and stay inside the project folders. Broader presets give the agent read and write access to your whole machine, so earn that trust project by project.
- Expecting identical behavior. Antigravity CLI runs a different agent harness from Gemini CLI, so prompts tuned for one may behave differently in the other. Run a small, low-risk task first and compare the diff before handing over anything large.
If you are re-evaluating your coding agent anyway
A forced migration is a good moment to compare options rather than default to the next Google tool. Claude Code is the main terminal-first alternative, and it also runs inside VS Code. If you want an open-source terminal agent that works with your own API key and commits each change to git, read our Aider tutorial. If you were also on Firebase Studio, our Firebase Studio vs Antigravity breakdown covers that sunset.
Whichever agent you pick, the hard part of shipping software is the same: scoping, data model, auth, billing and launch. Our AI SaaS Builder program teaches that full build with AI coding agents.
Gemini CLI vs Antigravity: FAQ
Can I still use Gemini CLI for free?
Not with a personal Google login. Since June 18, 2026, Gemini CLI no longer serves requests for free individual accounts, Google AI Pro or Google AI Ultra, and the Login with Google option was removed for those tiers, per Google's Gemini Code Assist deprecation page (checked October 2026). Google points those users to Antigravity CLI, which has a $0 individual plan with weekly rate limits.
Who can still use Gemini CLI?
Organizations with a Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise license, users accessing it through Google Cloud, and anyone with a paid Gemini API key or Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform key. Google says it keeps the open-source repository updated with model releases, bug fixes and security fixes for enterprise customers, and the code stays available under the Apache 2.0 license (checked October 2026).
What is the difference between Gemini CLI and Antigravity CLI?
Gemini CLI is an open-source, Node-based terminal agent with its own harness. Antigravity CLI, launched with the command agy, is written in Go and shares one agent harness and synced settings with the Antigravity 2.0 desktop app, so a terminal conversation can continue in the visual app. It keeps skills, hooks, subagents and MCP, and turns Gemini CLI extensions into plugins.
What is the Antigravity IDE?
The Antigravity IDE is Google's agent-first code editor. It combines Tab autocompletion and natural-language commands with agents that can work across the editor, terminal and browser, and report through artifacts such as plans, diffs and browser recordings. It runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. Google notes it is not supported for enterprise customers, who should use Antigravity 2.0 or the CLI instead.
Does Antigravity CLI read my GEMINI.md files?
Yes. Google's migration guide says both CLIs use identical workspace context rules: the agent reads GEMINI.md and AGENTS.md in the active directory and the global ~/.gemini/GEMINI.md, with no changes needed. What does change is the workspace skills folder, which moves from .gemini/skills to .agents/skills, and MCP servers, which move into a separate mcp_config.json file.
Can Antigravity CLI use a Gemini API key?
Yes. Set modelProvider to gemini in ~/.gemini/antigravity-cli/settings.json and export GEMINI_API_KEY in your shell, per the Antigravity CLI installation docs (checked October 2026). Requests then go straight to the Gemini API with no account session, which suits CI and headless runs. The CLI reads the key only from the environment variable, not from a .env file.
Switching coding agents? Build something that ships.
The AI SaaS Builder program, included in All Access, covers scoping, building, pricing and launching a software product with AI coding agents, alongside the other three programs, live coaching and the private community.
Compare notes on AI coding agents
Join the free Discord to talk through Antigravity, Claude Code and the rest of your agent setup with other builders.