Gemini CLI Recent Update Highlights (Since 2025-07-21)

Here are the key updates and improvements to the Gemini CLI since July 21, 2025, focusing on enhancing IDE integration, command usability, and overall stability.

1. IDE Integration & Editor Support

• Emacs Support: Added initial support for the Emacs editor, allowing for better integration.
• Enhanced VS Code Companion: The VS Code extension has been significantly improved, including the ability to view diffs for changes (openDiff), a refined UX for displaying active files, and better handling of IDE connection states.
• IDE Mode Improvements: User-facing error messages for IDE mode have been improved. A toggleable setting for IDE mode has been added, and the installer has been introduced to simplify setup.

2. Command & Interaction UX

• Improved Autocompletion: Autocompletion for @ mentions and slash commands has been made more robust, handling punctuation better and improving mid-sentence edits.
• Shell Command History Search: Added a reverse search capability for shell command history, making it easier to find and reuse previous commands.
• Multi-Directory Workspace: You can now include multiple directories in your workspace via the --include-directories flag and manage them with the /directory command.
• Vim Mode & Input: Introduced a Vim mode for text input and fixed bugs related to new lines in replaceRange to improve the editing experience.
• New /init Command: A new /init command has been added to help users create a GEMINI.md project context file.
• Chat Management: The /chat delete command has been implemented to allow for deleting previous chat sessions. The /chat list command now displays timestamps.

3. Configuration & Authentication

• Flexible Configuration: The model can now be set via settings.json. A setting has also been added to disable the version update notification.
• Enhanced Auth: The authentication flow for non-interactive environments (like SSH or Docker) has been improved, with better support for Gemini API keys and Vertex AI. The OAuth flow for MCP servers has also been made more robust.
• Sandbox Customization: Added SANDBOX_FLAGS to allow for passing custom options to the sandbox container.

4. Performance & Stability

• Faster Startup: Startup time has been improved by parallelizing file searches.
• Loop Detection: A hashing-based loop detection mechanism has been implemented to prevent repetitive operations.
• Windows Compatibility: Numerous fixes have been made to improve command execution and test compatibility on the Windows operating system.
• Error Handling: Improved reporting for truncated files (read_file) and more graceful handling of unhandled promise rejections. Telemetry for tool call errors has also been enhanced.
• Dependency & Build: Updated the MCP client and fixed a self-reference in the build script.

5. Documentation

• New Docs: New documentation has been created for automation, triage, keyboard shortcuts, and the .geminiignore file.
• Updates: Existing documentation for themes, chat commands, read_many_files, and authentication has been updated and clarified.