What Is Antigravity CLI? Google's Free Coding Agent

You open your terminal, type the command you used last month to launch Gemini CLI, and get an error instead of a prompt. Nothing is wrong with your machine. Google shut Gemini CLI down on June 18, 2026, and replaced it with a new tool called Antigravity CLI.

It's the terminal-based AI coding agent from Google, and like Claude Code from the last lesson, it has a free daily tier tied to any Google account, though that tier is a lot smaller than Gemini CLI's used to be.

Key Takeaways

• Antigravity CLI replaced Gemini CLI after Google retired it on June 18, 2026
• The free tier now allows roughly 20 agent requests a day, down sharply from Gemini CLI's old 1,000-a-day limit
• It works the same way Claude Code does: type a request, it edits files and runs commands for you
• Antigravity CLI can also connect to Claude and other model backends, not just Gemini
• It's a reasonable free option for light, occasional use, not a full replacement for a paid daily driver

What Is Antigravity CLI?

Antigravity CLI is Google's terminal-based AI coding agent: you describe a task in plain English, and it reads, edits, and runs files in your project, the same loop as GitHub Copilot and Claude Code from earlier lessons. It has a free daily tier tied to any Google account.

Open a terminal, install it, and type a request like "add a function that validates an email address." Within a few seconds it opens the relevant file, writes the function, and can run it to check the result.

It's built by Google, and it shares its agent engine with Antigravity 2.0, Google's desktop coding app. That means settings, permissions, and even active sessions can sync between the terminal tool and the desktop version if you use both.

Two features stand out for a beginner. First, it can spin up subagents that keep working on a long refactor or a research question in the background while you keep typing in the main session. Second, its authentication flow notices when you're on a remote server over SSH and hands you a link to open in your local browser instead of leaving you stuck.

Without this, a Google-published tutorial can reference commands your terminal simply doesn't recognize, since most existing guides quietly assume you already know the tool replaced something else.

What Happened to Gemini CLI?

Gemini CLI was Google's original terminal coding agent, and it briefly had the most generous free tier of any tool in this category: about 1,000 requests a day. At Google I/O 2026, Google announced the consolidation of its coding tools under one brand, Antigravity, retiring Gemini CLI as a standalone product.

One exception: if your workplace uses a Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise license through Google Cloud, that access kept working. Everyone else, including free-tier and individual Google AI Pro or Ultra subscribers, was moved to Antigravity CLI.

This is worth remembering the next time you hit an old install guide that references Gemini CLI directly: the problem isn't your setup, the guide is just out of date.

Antigravity CLI's Free Tier, What You Actually Get

Antigravity CLI's free tier currently allows about 20 agent requests a day, refreshing roughly every five hours, so you get a handful of small bursts rather than one big daily allowance. No credit card is required to start; you just sign in with any Google account.

Antigravity CLI free tier at a glance

For a beginner, that's enough to run a handful of small experiments a day: enough to complete the task at the end of this lesson and try it out on your own project once or twice, not enough to lean on as your only coding tool.

Go in expecting more than that and you'll hit a wall mid-task with no warning, right when you were finally in a groove.

How Antigravity CLI Compares to Claude Code

Neither tool wins outright, and the honest answer is to try both on your own real task rather than trust a single verdict. On Terminal-Bench 2.1, a coding benchmark, Antigravity's default model scores 76.2% versus Claude Code's 78.9%, a real but modest gap, not a blowout.

Antigravity CLI vs. Claude Code

I'd frame it this way: Claude Code is the steadier daily driver if you're only going to install one tool, since its limits are more predictable and its community support is deeper right now. Antigravity CLI earns its spot as a free backup for quick experiments, work you don't want to burn a paid quota on, or moments when you specifically want to try a Gemini-based response next to a Claude-based one. If you're starting from zero and want a broader map of where these tools fit, the Getting Started path covers the fundamentals this module builds on.

Pick blind and you'll end up going with whichever one you heard about first, not the one that actually fits your budget and workflow.

FAQ

Common questions

• If I already have Gemini CLI installed, will it still work?

  No. Gemini CLI stopped serving requests on June 18, 2026, so an existing install won't respond even if the command is still on your machine. You'll need to uninstall it and install Antigravity CLI fresh, it's a separate tool, not an automatic update to the old one.

• What happens if I run out of Antigravity CLI's free requests for the day?

  You'll need to wait for the next refresh cycle, roughly every five hours, or upgrade to a paid Google AI Pro or Ultra plan for a bigger quota. There's no way to buy a single extra request without moving to a paid tier.

• Can Antigravity CLI use Claude or other models instead of Gemini?

  Yes. Antigravity CLI defaults to Google's Gemini models, but it also supports connecting Claude and some open-source model backends. That flexibility is one of its bigger selling points if you already have API access to more than one provider.

• Should I learn Antigravity CLI or Claude Code first?

  If you're just starting out, Claude Code from lesson 08.01 is the steadier pick: bigger community, more consistent limits. Try Antigravity CLI once you want a free option for quick experiments or side tasks, not as your first and only tool.