Gemini API CLI: Google's media models in one terminal command

Google released an experimental command-line tool, gemini-api, a single free, open-source (Apache 2.0) program that makes images, voiceovers, music and video, analyses PDFs and YouTube videos, transcribes audio (including to SRT subtitles) and runs Deep Research, all from the terminal. It has modes built for coding agents (dry runs, usage reports, an agent mode), so Claude Code or Codex can call Gemini's media models as a tool. Fact vs hype: it's real, but beta, and its own docs say it is 'not a supported Google product'. Costs are Gemini API prices: Gemini 3.8 Flash and text-to-speech have a free tier, but image generation is paid only (about $0.03-$0.11 per image depending on size), video is about $0.10 per second and a Lyria song $0.08. The '$1-3 per Deep Research run' figure going around isn't on Google's pricing page, so treat it as an estimate; Deep Research is billed by tokens.

Why it mattersOne tool lets your coding agent produce a voiceover, a thumbnail and subtitles for a piece of content in one go. Try it on something free first (transcribe a meeting recording to SRT) and keep an eye on image costs before automating anything.

How we knowCompany figures are labelled as their own claims; anything we couldn't verify is labelled as a report or a claim.