Gemini CLI

So, as a member of an organization who pays for google workspace with gemini, I get the message `GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT environment variable not found. Add that to your .env and try again, no reload needed!`

At the very least, we need better documentation on how to get that environment variable, as we are not on GCP and this is not immediately obvious how to do so. At the worst, it means that your users paying for gemini don't have access to this where your general google users do.

While I get my organization's IT department involved, I do wonder why this is built in a way that requires more work for people already paying google money than a free user.

I believe Workspace users have to pay a separate subscription to use the Gemini CLI, the so-called “Gemini for Google Cloud”, which starts at an additional 19 dollars per month [^1]. If that’s really the case, it’s very disappointing to me. I expected access to Gemini CLI to be included in the normal Workspace subscription.

[^1]: https://console.cloud.google.com/marketplace/product/google/...

[edit] all lies - I got my wires crossed, free tier for Workspace isn't yet supported. sorry. you need to set the project and pay. this is WIP.

Workspace users [edit: cperry was wrong] can get the free tier as well, just choose "More" and "Google for Work" in the login flow.

It has been a struggle to get a simple flow that works for all users, happy to hear suggestions!

I can imagine. Y'all didn't start simple like some of your competitors; 'intrapraneurial' efforts in existing contexts like yours come with well-documented struggles. Good work!

Just get a pop-up or something in place to make it dead simple, because workspace users are probably the core users of the product.

Thanks for your clarification. I've been able to set up Gemini CLI with my Workspace account.

Just a heads-up: your docs about authentication on Github say to place a GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT_ID as an environment variable. However, what the Gemini CLI is actually looking for, from what I can tell, is a GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT environment variable with the name of a project (rather than its ID). You might want to fix that discrepancy between code and docs, because it might confuse other users as well.

I don’t know what constraints made you all require a project ID or name to use the Gemini CLI with Workspace accounts. However, it would be far easier if this requirement were eliminated.

Having played with the gemini-cli here for 30 minutes, so I have no idea but best guess: I believe that if you auth with a Workspace account it routes all the requests through the GCP Vertex API, which is why it needs a GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT env set, and that also means usage-based billing. I don't think it will leverage any subscriptions the workspace account might have (are there still gemini subscriptions for workspace? I have no idea. I thought they just raised everyone's bill and bundled it in by default. What's Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise? I have no idea).

sorry, I was wrong about free tier - I've edited above. this is WIP.

noted on documentation, there's a PR in flight on this. also found some confusion around gmail users who are part of the developer program hitting issues.

I'd echo that having to get the IT section involved to create a google cloud project is not great UX when I have access to NotebookLM Pro and Gemini for Workplace already.

Also this doco says GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT_ID but the actual tool wants GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT

> free tier for Workspace isn't yet supported. sorry. you need to set the project and pay.

Well, I've just set up Gemini CLI with a Workspace account project in the free tier, and it works apparently for free. Can you explain whether billing for that has simply not been configured yet, or where exactly billing details can be found?

For reference, I've been using this panel to keep track of my usage in the free tier of the Gemini API, and it has not been counting Gemini CLI usage thus far: https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/api/generativelanguage...

Unfortunately all of that is pretty confusing, so I'll hold off using Gemini CLI until everything has been clarified.

@ebiester, my wife's maiden name is E. Biester. I did a serious double take. Got you on X :)

> noted on documentation, there's a PR in flight on this. also found some confusion around gmail users who are part of the developer program hitting issues.

Maybe you have access to an AI solution for this.

PR in flight to update docs (if not already in)

workspace accounts always seems like an unsupported mess at google, which is a very strange strategy

So to be clear (this isn't your fault of course, this is a Google problem), as someone with my own domain for my email:

* First google forced me to start paying for my email domain.

* Then they increased the cost to force me to pay for AI features

* Now, I can't actually use the AI features without spending even more money, I could use them if I just had a gmail address and didn't pay google.

Well done Google, you've finally pursaded me to get around to transfering my custom email domain off google. Anyone have any preferences?

It probably is more powerful though. I know the $30 copilot M365 from microsoft is way better than what they offer to consumers for free. I don't have a google account so I didn't check that.

I use and like Fastmail.

> First google forced me to start paying for my email domain.

Do you mean that they stopped offering the legacy free tier and you had to upgrade to a paid plan? If that's the case, they reverted their decision and it was possible to go back to the free tier. I don't know if it is still possible, as this was 3 years ago, but here's a thread outlining how to do it. https://www.reddit.com/r/gsuitelegacymigration/comments/urky...