Terminal agent · Google · HN opinions Nov 2025 – Nov 2026

Gemini CLI: what developers actually say

We read every Hacker News comment from Nov 2025 – Nov 2026 that gave a real opinion on Gemini CLI. 163 of the 211 opinions come from people who say they use it themselves.

29%approval, all opinions

25%approval, last 90 days

#21of 22 tools ranked

175different developers

Gemini CLI has 29% approval across 211 opinions from 175 authors, and 25% approval over the last 90 days. Reliability is the main weakness: 55 negative mentions against 7 positive, with UX at 28 negative against 7. Monthly approval fell to 7% across 29 opinions in September 2026 and 5% across 20 in October 2026, down from 32-34% in December 2025 and January 2026. Developers preferred Claude Code over it 32 times and OpenAI Codex 12 times; they preferred Gemini CLI over Claude Code 4 times and Antigravity 3 times.

Pick it if

Use VS Code and want a terminal agent beside it
Do daily light coding and do not need full vibe-coding parity
Want a backup option when another tool hits limits

Look elsewhere if

Need stable updates and predictable behavior
Rely on long headless runs
Need generous usage limits or easy subscription access

Visit Gemini CLI ↗

Strengths and weaknesses

Each row counts opinions that mentioned the topic. Bars to the right of the line are praise, bars to the left are complaints.

PraiseComplaints

Reliability

Code quality

Autonomy

Cost & pricing

Usage limits

Speed

Customization

How opinion has moved

Monthly approval (line) and number of opinions (bars). Months with fewer than 3 opinions are left out.

What developers say

Praise

Previously liked using Gemini CLI to have a module explained before diving into the code.HN comment · Sep 15, 2026

Says Gemini CLI works better for their workflow alongside their own IDE than a full AI IDE does.HN comment · May 21, 2026

Says Gemini CLI works like a charm alongside VS Code and beats the Antigravity IDE for them.HN comment · May 21, 2026

Says Gemini CLI showed them the power of AI work, but their employer dropped it from the license.HN comment · May 20, 2026

Runs Gemini CLI from their Obsidian notes vault and says it works well.HN comment · May 11, 2026

Uses Gemini CLI daily and says its gap with Claude is small unless doing full vibe-coding.HN comment · May 8, 2026

Gemini CLI has stopped looping and feels snappy; it became their main fallback when Codex limits tightened.HN comment · May 6, 2026

Gemini CLI was unusable at first, but later built a C++ binary that colleagues had failed to build.HN comment · May 5, 2026

Complaints

Says Gemini CLI rejected their subscription login, calling the app deprecated for subscribers.HN comment · Oct 14, 2026

Says the Gemini CLI keeps breaking with updates, making upgrades risky.HN comment · Oct 12, 2026

Says Gemini CLI needed forced checks to produce readable, maintainable code and often gets stuck.HN comment · Sep 22, 2026

Says Gemini CLI and agy were so buggy that headless runs stalled, so they cancelled.HN comment · Sep 2, 2026

Says the Flash model was unusable via Gemini CLI for a month and Google failed to fix it.HN comment · Sep 2, 2026

Says Gemini CLI often got stuck in loops before.HN comment · Sep 1, 2026

Implies Gemini CLI was unreliable, which Antigravity CLI improves on.HN comment · Jun 20, 2026

Says Gemini CLI was unusable around Dec 2025 to Jan 2026 because it was always at capacity.HN comment · Jun 19, 2026

Summaries are paraphrased. Each links to the original comment.

Gemini CLI compared

Gemini CLI vs Claude Code Gemini CLI vs Antigravity Gemini CLI vs OpenAI Codex Gemini CLI vs Aider Gemini CLI vs Windsurf Gemini CLI vs Kilo Code Gemini CLI vs GitHub Copilot Gemini CLI vs Zed Gemini CLI vs OpenCode Gemini CLI vs JetBrains Junie Gemini CLI vs Kiro Gemini CLI vs Pi

Best Gemini CLI alternatives, according to developers who switched →

FAQ

Is Gemini CLI worth it?

Approval is 29% overall and 25% over the last 90 days. Reliability is the largest weakness, with 55 negative mentions against 7 positive. It may suit light daily use, but the data shows broad dissatisfaction.

Is Gemini CLI better than Claude Code?

In this data, developers preferred Claude Code over Gemini CLI 32 times. They preferred Gemini CLI over Claude Code 4 times. The comparison favors Claude Code by a wide margin.

Is Gemini CLI reliable?

The data points to no: 7 positive mentions against 55 negative. Reported problems include update breakage, loops, stalled headless runs, and capacity limits.