Gemini CLI, set up as easily as Claude

Gemini CLI now sets up in Shuriken the way Claude Code always has. Pick it in setup and Shuriken installs it. Then add each Google sign-in that carries a Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licence, and any paid Gemini API key, as a source of its own, with each sign-in's daily allowance on show. When one runs low, your Gemini chats move to the next at the end of their turn.

Which sign-ins Gemini CLI still takes#

Personal Google accounts stopped working in Gemini CLI on 18 June 2026. Google announced it on 19 May: "On June 18, 2026, Gemini CLI and Gemini Code Assist IDE extensions will stop serving requests for Google AI Pro and Ultra, as well as those using it free of charge using Gemini Code Assist for individuals" (Google Developers Blog). The same post says access through a Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licence "remains unchanged", and that "Gemini CLI will remain accessible via paid Gemini and Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform API keys".

So a Gemini source in Shuriken is one of two things:

• a Google sign-in whose account has a Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licence, which is usually one your organisation assigns;
• a paid Gemini API key.

A free Google account, or one on Google AI Pro or Ultra, can't sign Gemini CLI in any more, in Shuriken or anywhere else. Google sends those users to Antigravity CLI, which is also one of the agents Shuriken runs. Gemini CLI vs Antigravity CLI sets out which of the two your account can use.

Claude got the red carpet. Gemini got a terminal.#

Shuriken started life as the harness we wanted for our own Claude accounts, and it showed. Claude had a guided sign-in, usage bars and a cost on every turn. Gemini CLI was one of the coding agents Shuriken runs (67 today), and it worked, but you added it half blind: no allowance on screen, no cost, and setup didn't put it in front of you. In 5.1, Gemini and the other agents got the same path in that Claude has.

What changed in 5.1#

The first screens on a new computer ask which agents you want. Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI come first, and the rest are under More agents. Anything already on the computer is switched on and marked as found. Shuriken installs the ones you choose, so there's no hunting for an install command.

Adding a source works the same for every agent. Under Add source, pick Gemini, then sign in with a licensed Google account or paste a paid API key. Signing in runs Gemini CLI's own sign-in for that source.

Several licensed sign-ins can sit side by side, say one from your employer and one from a client's organisation. That part already worked before 5.1. Out of the box, Gemini CLI keeps its sign-in in one .gemini folder in your home, so signing in with a second Google account replaces the first. Shuriken gives every Gemini source a home of its own. Gemini CLI's own docs describe the setting that makes this possible, GEMINI_CLI_HOME ("the root directory for Gemini CLI's user-level configuration and storage"), and Shuriken sets it per source, so each sign-in stays put. It also keeps each sign-in's tokens in that source's own folder, rather than one shared Keychain item that every account would overwrite.

Your GEMINI.md, custom commands, extensions and skills are shared across every Gemini source, so switching accounts doesn't mean switching personalities.

For each Google sign-in, Sources shows what's left of every model's daily allowance and when it resets: the numbers Gemini CLI's /stats reads. Gemini turns are also priced from Google's published per-token prices, so a Gemini chat's cost reads like a Claude or Codex one. A model Google's price page doesn't list shows no price rather than a guessed one.

Switching, the Gemini way#

Gemini sources switch like any others. When the source in use reaches your switch point, or Google reports a limit, Shuriken moves your Gemini chats to the Gemini source with the most room, on every device at once. A "Switched to …" card in the chat says who took over (the source switching page has the full story).

There's one difference worth knowing:

Claude Code's requests can be moved one at a time, so a Claude chat changes accounts in the middle of a long task. Gemini CLI is moved between turns: the turn in flight finishes where it started, and the next one runs on the new source.

API keys work for Gemini as for every other agent. Switch to API keys is off by default. Turn it on, and keys take Gemini chats only once every Gemini sign-in is out. A spend cap per fallback run (on by default, $25) then stops the run. It counts everything that run spends with Google, across every key it uses, so it's not a cap per key. Shuriken can't read how much a Gemini key has left, so that cap is what keeps the keys in check.

Using Gemini next to Claude and Codex#

You don't have to pick a favourite. A project can have a Claude chat on the backend, a Codex chat on tests and a Gemini chat on the docs, each on its own branch if you pick Own branch for it. Gemini fits the same split we described for two agents in Claude Code and Codex in one project.

With several sources per provider, tags help: tag your Gemini sources by the organisation that pays for them and filter the table to one at a time.

A word on terms#

Add only Google accounts and keys you own or are entitled to use. A Code Assist licence is usually your employer's or a client's, so their rules apply as well as Google's. Google's terms for Gemini CLI depend on how you sign in: a Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licence falls under the Google Cloud Platform Terms of Service, a paid Gemini API key under the Gemini API Terms of Service for paid services, and Vertex AI under Google Cloud's terms. The same page says that directly accessing the services that power Gemini CLI with third-party software, for example by reusing Gemini CLI's sign-in in another tool, violates those terms and may be grounds for suspending the account. Read the terms that apply to you. Where you're unsure, a paid API key, which falls under the Gemini API terms, is the clearest path. And don't create accounts to get around limits: that's not what source switching is for.

Gemini sources, setup and switching come with Shuriken 5.1. Try Shuriken.