gemini-cli/docs/cli/index.md

# Gemini CLI

Within Gemini CLI, `packages/cli` is the frontend for users to send and receive prompts with the Gemini AI model and its associated tools. For a general overview of Gemini CLI, see the [main documentation page](../index.md).

## Navigating this section

- **[Authentication](./authentication.md):** A guide to setting up authentication with Google's AI services.
- **[Commands](./commands.md):** A reference for Gemini CLI commands (e.g., `/help`, `/tools`, `/theme`).
- **[Configuration](./configuration.md):** A guide to tailoring Gemini CLI behavior using configuration files.
- **[Enterprise](./enterprise.md):** A guide to enterprise configuration.
- **[Token Caching](./token-caching.md):** Optimize API costs through token caching.
- **[Themes](./themes.md)**: A guide to customizing the CLI's appearance with different themes.
- **[Tutorials](tutorials.md)**: A tutorial showing how to use Gemini CLI to automate a development task.

## Non-interactive mode

Gemini CLI can be run in a non-interactive mode, which is useful for scripting and automation. In this mode, you pipe input to the CLI, it executes the command, and then it exits.

The following example pipes a command to Gemini CLI from your terminal:

```bash
echo "What is fine tuning?" | gemini
```

Gemini CLI executes the command and prints the output to your terminal. Note that you can achieve the same behavior by using the `--prompt` or `-p` flag. For example:

```bash
gemini -p "What is fine tuning?"
```

For non-interactive usage with structured output, use the `--output-format json` flag for scripting and automation.

Get structured JSON output for scripting:

```bash
gemini -p "What is fine tuning?" --output-format json
# Output:
# {
#   "response": "Fine tuning is...",
#   "stats": {
#     "models": { "gemini-2.5-flash": { "tokens": {"total": 45} } }
#   },
#   "error": null
# }
```
Docs: Add initial project documentation structure and content (#368) Co-authored-by: Taylor Mullen <ntaylormullen@google.com> 2025-05-16 03:04:33 +00:00			`# Gemini CLI`

Edit pass of docs/cli/index.md (#999) Make a pass through the docs/deployment.md file to hopefully improve readability and conciseness Notably, I've proposed axing both the "Core Features" section - which feels too promotional this far down the folder hierarchy and which is somewhat repetitive to later in the page - and the "Basic Interaction" section - which is covered better, and makes more sense, in other parts of the documentation 2025-06-13 16:53:30 +00:00			Within Gemini CLI, `packages/cli` is the frontend for users to send and receive prompts with the Gemini AI model and its associated tools. For a general overview of Gemini CLI, see the [main documentation page](../index.md).

			`## Navigating this section`

Docs/authentication doc (#1341) 2025-06-23 20:02:52 +00:00			`- [Authentication](./authentication.md): A guide to setting up authentication with Google's AI services.`
Edit pass of docs/cli/index.md (#999) Make a pass through the docs/deployment.md file to hopefully improve readability and conciseness Notably, I've proposed axing both the "Core Features" section - which feels too promotional this far down the folder hierarchy and which is somewhat repetitive to later in the page - and the "Basic Interaction" section - which is covered better, and makes more sense, in other parts of the documentation 2025-06-13 16:53:30 +00:00			- [Commands](./commands.md): A reference for Gemini CLI commands (e.g., `/help`, `/tools`, `/theme`).
			`- [Configuration](./configuration.md): A guide to tailoring Gemini CLI behavior using configuration files.`
Add enterprise settings docs (#6076) 2025-08-20 17:04:03 +00:00			`- [Enterprise](./enterprise.md): A guide to enterprise configuration.`
Updated README.md (#1367) 2025-06-24 03:37:07 +00:00			`- [Token Caching](./token-caching.md): Optimize API costs through token caching.`
Add Theme docs (#753) 2025-06-05 15:10:05 +00:00			`- [Themes](./themes.md): A guide to customizing the CLI's appearance with different themes.`
Edit pass of docs/cli/index.md (#999) Make a pass through the docs/deployment.md file to hopefully improve readability and conciseness Notably, I've proposed axing both the "Core Features" section - which feels too promotional this far down the folder hierarchy and which is somewhat repetitive to later in the page - and the "Basic Interaction" section - which is covered better, and makes more sense, in other parts of the documentation 2025-06-13 16:53:30 +00:00			`- [Tutorials](tutorials.md): A tutorial showing how to use Gemini CLI to automate a development task.`
Docs: Add initial project documentation structure and content (#368) Co-authored-by: Taylor Mullen <ntaylormullen@google.com> 2025-05-16 03:04:33 +00:00
Edit pass of docs/cli/index.md (#999) Make a pass through the docs/deployment.md file to hopefully improve readability and conciseness Notably, I've proposed axing both the "Core Features" section - which feels too promotional this far down the folder hierarchy and which is somewhat repetitive to later in the page - and the "Basic Interaction" section - which is covered better, and makes more sense, in other parts of the documentation 2025-06-13 16:53:30 +00:00			`## Non-interactive mode`
docs: update and reorganize documentation (#806) 2025-06-07 17:47:30 +00:00
Edit pass of docs/cli/index.md (#999) Make a pass through the docs/deployment.md file to hopefully improve readability and conciseness Notably, I've proposed axing both the "Core Features" section - which feels too promotional this far down the folder hierarchy and which is somewhat repetitive to later in the page - and the "Basic Interaction" section - which is covered better, and makes more sense, in other parts of the documentation 2025-06-13 16:53:30 +00:00			`Gemini CLI can be run in a non-interactive mode, which is useful for scripting and automation. In this mode, you pipe input to the CLI, it executes the command, and then it exits.`
docs: update and reorganize documentation (#806) 2025-06-07 17:47:30 +00:00
Edit pass of docs/cli/index.md (#999) Make a pass through the docs/deployment.md file to hopefully improve readability and conciseness Notably, I've proposed axing both the "Core Features" section - which feels too promotional this far down the folder hierarchy and which is somewhat repetitive to later in the page - and the "Basic Interaction" section - which is covered better, and makes more sense, in other parts of the documentation 2025-06-13 16:53:30 +00:00			`The following example pipes a command to Gemini CLI from your terminal:`
docs: update and reorganize documentation (#806) 2025-06-07 17:47:30 +00:00
			```bash
			`echo "What is fine tuning?" \| gemini`
			```

Edit pass of docs/cli/index.md (#999) Make a pass through the docs/deployment.md file to hopefully improve readability and conciseness Notably, I've proposed axing both the "Core Features" section - which feels too promotional this far down the folder hierarchy and which is somewhat repetitive to later in the page - and the "Basic Interaction" section - which is covered better, and makes more sense, in other parts of the documentation 2025-06-13 16:53:30 +00:00			Gemini CLI executes the command and prints the output to your terminal. Note that you can achieve the same behavior by using the `--prompt` or `-p` flag. For example:
docs: update and reorganize documentation (#806) 2025-06-07 17:47:30 +00:00
			```bash
			`gemini -p "What is fine tuning?"`
			```
Structured JSON Output (#8119) 2025-09-10 20:19:47 +00:00
			For non-interactive usage with structured output, use the `--output-format json` flag for scripting and automation.

			`Get structured JSON output for scripting:`

			```bash
			`gemini -p "What is fine tuning?" --output-format json`
			`# Output:`
			`# {`
			`# "response": "Fine tuning is...",`
			`# "stats": {`
			`# "models": { "gemini-2.5-flash": { "tokens": {"total": 45} } }`
			`# },`
			`# "error": null`
			`# }`
			```