Handoff: Gemini CLI → Antigravity CLI — research (#171), then #167; start here #172

This is the resume point for moving DesktopSetup from Gemini CLI to Antigravity CLI. Written 2026-10-26 so that a new session, AI or person, can pick it up cold without the conversations that produced it. Read this issue first, and the links only when a task needs them.

Close it when every task below is done or consciously dropped. Do not close it when someone merely picks it up.

Status, precisely (2026-10-26)

• The problem: both installers put Gemini CLI on every machine (npm -g @google/gemini-cli), and Gemini CLI no longer accepts personal Google sign-in. Move from Gemini CLI to Antigravity CLI: Google sign-in no longer works for Gemini CLI #167 has the error.
• What Google says: since 2026-06-18, Gemini CLI serves only paid Gemini API keys and enterprise Gemini Code Assist licences. Everyone else goes to Antigravity CLI (agy). Sources are in Research: Gemini CLI vs Antigravity CLI — who can still use which, and what DesktopSetup should install #171.
• Nothing has changed in the scripts yet.
• One unverified lead: Gemini.app on macOS ships an agy executable (Move from Gemini CLI to Antigravity CLI: Google sign-in no longer works for Gemini CLI #167's comment). DesktopSetup has installed Gemini Desktop on macOS since feat: Gemini and Copilot desktop install from builds their vendors keep current; a running app is replaced only after it is quit #162, so the Macs it set up may already have it, off PATH.
• Downstream: the csa-plugins-official README tells Antigravity users where to put skills, and says it is untested (that repo's fix(windows): shield the installers too — no unprotected native call remains #28).

Tasks, in order — start with 1

1. Research: Research: Gemini CLI vs Antigravity CLI — who can still use which, and what DesktopSetup should install #171. Answer its seven questions with evidence, marking each observed, documented or inferred. It changes no script.
2. Decide (needs Kurt): keep Gemini CLI beside agy for API-key and enterprise users, or drop it. This turns on Research: Gemini CLI vs Antigravity CLI — who can still use which, and what DesktopSetup should install #171's question 1: CSA's accounts and licences.
3. Implement Move from Gemini CLI to Antigravity CLI: Google sign-in no longer works for Gemini CLI #167 on both platforms. check-parity.py rejects a one-sided change.
   • macOS, scripts/macos-ai-tools.sh: install_gemini, migrate_gemini, and the Gemini row of detect_migrations.
   • Windows, scripts/windows-ai-tools.ps1: Install-Gemini.
   • Updates: both update scripts refresh npm globals (npm update -g), which is how Gemini CLI is kept current today. agy needs its own route, per Research: Gemini CLI vs Antigravity CLI — who can still use which, and what DesktopSetup should install #171's question 3.
   • MCP registration: register_other_clients in CloudSecurityAlliance-Internal/CSA-Plugins registers the CSA servers with Gemini. Antigravity keeps them in mcp_config.json (Research: Gemini CLI vs Antigravity CLI — who can still use which, and what DesktopSetup should install #171, question 5).
   • Docs: the Gemini CLI rows in AGENTS.md and README.md, and the AI-layer row of ENGINEERING.md's script table.
   • Bump SCRIPT_VERSION on every script changed, in the format in force at the time (PR chore: a script's version is the UTC time it changed, written as ISO 8601 #166 proposes ISO 8601). Then run ./tools/check-all.sh and read its tail. It is already red on a Mac (check-all.sh is red on a macOS host since #165: eight Claude Desktop install tests need $env:TEMP, which only Windows sets #169) and on a Windows host (check-all.sh is red on a Windows host: three macOS desktop-app checks build Windows paths for bash #163), for reasons unrelated to this work. Say so rather than chase them here.
4. Verify end to end on a clean Mac and on Windows: agy installs, a CSA account signs in, and the CSA MCP servers are listed. Add the Mac items to Handoff to a macOS session: everything that needs a Mac, in one place #119's list if no Mac is at hand.
5. Downstream: with agy working, test the csa-plugins-official skill install from that README section. Then mark it tested in that repo, or correct it.

Needs Kurt

• CSA's Google licences: is there any Gemini Code Assist Standard or Enterprise licence, or a paid Gemini API key? (Research: Gemini CLI vs Antigravity CLI — who can still use which, and what DesktopSetup should install #171, question 1.)
• Keep or drop Gemini CLI, once Research: Gemini CLI vs Antigravity CLI — who can still use which, and what DesktopSetup should install #171 answers who can still use it.

File map (all on main)

Related

• Handoff: desktop AI apps (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot) — what is left after #162 and #165, start here #168: the desktop AI apps handoff. Its task 2 is Move from Gemini CLI to Antigravity CLI: Google sign-in no longer works for Gemini CLI #167, which this handoff now carries.
• Gemini disables every CSA MCP server until a folder is trusted, and the only reminder appears once — on the run that first registers a server #155: Gemini disables CSA MCP servers until a folder is trusted. Check whether it carries over to agy.
• npm has two owners since the node@24 pin — npm update -g fails with EACCES on install, and installs a shadow npm on update #153: npm has two owners since the node@24 pin, which affects the npm globals, Gemini CLI included.
• Handoff to a macOS session: everything that needs a Mac, in one place #119: everything that needs a Mac.

Before starting

Run git pull, gh issue list and gh pr list. A handoff is a snapshot, and another session may have moved things since. Land work through PRs; main is the release.