gemini-cli-desktop

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Gemini CLI Desktop

[CI] [Release & Publish] [GitHub all releases] [GitHub release] [Mentioned in Awesome Gemini CLI]

[Platform] [License: MIT] [Built with Tauri]

A powerful desktop and web interface for Gemini CLI and Qwen Code with visual tool confirmation, real-time thought processes, code diff viewing, chat history management & search, a file tree browser, and file @-mentions. Built with Rust and React for performance and reliability. From the team behind Piebald.

Use with Gemini CLI:

Use with Qwen Code:

Quick Start

Download pre-built releases: GitHub Releases

Available builds:

• Windows (x64)
• macOS (Intel & Apple Silicon)
• Linux (x64 AppImage)

Features

• Multi-model support - Gemini 3 Pro/Flash, Gemini 2.5 Pro/Flash, Qwen Code, custom OpenAI providers
• Visual tool confirmation - Review and approve AI actions before execution
• Real-time thought process - Watch AI reasoning unfold
• Code diff viewer - Clear visualization of proposed changes
• Chat history & search - Automatic saving with full-text search
• Cross-platform - Desktop app and web interface
• File @-mentions - Reference files directly in conversations
• MCP server integration - Model Context Protocol support
• Multi-language UI - English, Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Russian

Development & Building

Prerequisites & Dependencies

Install the just task runner:

• macOS/Linux: cargo install just or asdf plugin add just && asdf install just latest
• Ubuntu: snap install --edge --classic just
• Windows: winget install --id Casey.Just

Linux system dependencies (Ubuntu/Debian):

sudo apt install libgdk-pixbuf-2.0-dev libpango1.0-dev \
  libjavascriptcoregtk-4.1-dev libatk1.0-dev libsoup-3.0-dev \
  libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev librsvg2-dev

Development Workflow

# Install dependencies and start desktop development with hot reload.
just deps dev

# Start web development with separate backend (port 1858) and frontend (port 1420) servers
just deps dev-web

# Build both desktop app installer (AppImage, DMG, MSI) and web server binaries for production.
just build-all

# Run the full test suite with nextest.
just test

# Run code linting and formatting checks (ESLint + Clippy).
just lint

Note: For the web version, development uses two separate ports: 1420 for the frontend and 1858 for the Rust + Rocket backend. In production, the backend server also hosts the static frontend files, so only port 1858 is used.

Build from Source

Prerequisites:

• Rust
• Node.js
• pnpm
• just

Build & Run:

git clone https://github.com/Piebald-AI/gemini-cli-desktop
cd gemini-cli-desktop
just deps build-all

# Desktop app
./target/release/gemini-cli-desktop

# Web server (access at http://localhost:1858)
./target/release/gemini-cli-desktop-web

Release Process

Releases are automatically built and published via GitHub Actions when version tags are pushed.

Architecture

• Backend: Rust with Tauri for desktop, Rocket for web server
• Frontend: React + TypeScript with Tailwind CSS
• Protocols: Agent Communication Protocol (ACP), WebSocket events
• Security: Command filtering, tool confirmation workflows

Roadmap

• Token/cost tracking
• Multi-modal support (images, audio)
• Extension system
• LLxprt integration

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see the contributing guide for more details.

License

MIT

Copyright © 2026 Piebald LLC.