1. Install Gemini CLI
Using NPM
npm install -g @google/gemini-cli
For Mac users with Homebrew
brew install gemini
2. Set the following variables in your environment:
export GEMINI_API_KEY=$CBORG_API_KEY
export GOOGLE_GEMINI_BASE_URL="https://api.cborg.lbl.gov"
3. Restart your shell and verify that the environment variables are now present.
env | grep GEMINI
4. Now start Gemini CLI in your project directory
cd my-project
gemini
Note: Gemini CLI only works with Gemini models (Current default Gemini 2.5 Pro / Gemini 2.5 Flash)
Note: It is strongly recommended to use version control (e.g. Git) with Gemini CLI projects.
Budget Issues: Heavy use of Gemini CLI may exhaust your API usage credits. Direct access to Gemini models can be configured via a GCP cloud project. To get started, please contact Science IT Consulting with a PID to use for recharges and we will help you get setup with a dedicated GCP cloud project.