Forkbench for Gemini CLI
The Mac terminal built for Gemini CLI
Gemini CLI is Google's open-source terminal agent, which brings Gemini into the command line to read code, run commands and make changes.
Forkbench is a Mac app for running Gemini CLI where the API key it needs is used by the command and never enters the agent's prompt, command line or transcript, and a Thread can be locked to the folders that job is about, enforced by the macOS kernel. It gets a real login shell in its own tab, and a free task board it shares with whatever other agents you run.
What breaks in a plain terminal
Gemini CLI's generous free tier makes it the agent people reach for to run alongside a paid one, and that is exactly where a plain terminal gives up. You now have two agents from two vendors, each with its own memory format, and nothing that lets one pick up where the other stopped. Quotas make it worse: you hit a limit mid-task, and by the time it resets you are not at the desk, so the window goes unused.
How Forkbench runs Gemini CLI
Keys it can use and never read
A key in Vault reaches the one command that needs it. The agent gets the result and never the value. Vault is part of Pro.
Folders it cannot wander out of
Lock a Thread to the folders the job is about. Every shell in it starts under a macOS Seatbelt profile that the kernel enforces and every process inherits, including build scripts and a dependency's install hook, so a read or a delete outside them is refused rather than discouraged. Builds still run, paths still resolve, and the network is untouched.
A real login shell
gemini launches in a genuine PTY with your shell config intact. Nothing is wrapped or proxied.
Queue it for when the quota comes back
Hand a note to a pane on a countdown and walk away, so the prompt lands when you expect the limit to have reset rather than when you happen to be at the desk. One deliberate limit: if the Mac slept past the deadline, Forkbench holds and asks instead of firing a stale command at a session that moved on.
Runs with the lid closed
Sleep Control keeps the Mac awake with the laptop shut, so a long run finishes overnight instead of stopping when the machine sleeps.
One board with your other agents
Nothing on a task records which agent wrote it, so Gemini CLI can pick up work Claude Code planned, or hand its own off when it runs out of quota.
Getting Gemini CLI running
- 1Open a Thread on your repo and run gemini in a tab.
- 2Add tabs for your other agents in the same Thread so they share one board and one set of notes.
- 3Grant the Thread the notes it should read. Everything is deny by default until you grant it.
- 4When you hit a quota, schedule the next prompt for the reset time and close the laptop. Sleep Control keeps the run alive.
- 5Come back to work that ran, and accept what the agents report finished.
What this does not do: Forkbench has no rate-limit detection and cannot see your remaining quota. Scheduling is a countdown you set, not an automatic retry when a limit clears.
Gemini CLI questions
Does Gemini CLI run normally inside Forkbench?
Yes. Each tab is a real login shell, so gemini starts exactly as it does in any terminal, with your shell config and aliases unchanged.
Can I schedule a Gemini CLI prompt for when my quota resets?
Yes. Hand a note to a pane on a countdown and it runs at the time you set. Forkbench does not detect rate limits or read your remaining quota, so you choose the time. If the Mac slept past the deadline it holds and asks rather than running a stale command.
Can Gemini CLI work alongside Claude Code on the same project?
Yes. Put both in one Thread and they claim from the same backlog. No task records which agent wrote it, so either can pick up the other's work, with the notes and discussion still attached.
Can Gemini CLI read my API keys directly?
Yes, if one is sitting in a .env file or exported in your shell, because Gemini CLI has the same filesystem access you do. Move it into Vault instead and it reaches only the one command that needs it, so Gemini CLI gets the result and never the raw value.
What does it cost to run Gemini CLI in Forkbench?
Nothing extra for the agent. You keep your own Google plan or API key, and Forkbench never meters requests. The terminal, your notebooks and a board on every Thread are free. Vault and running more than one agent on the same board are Pro, and every account starts with 30 days of it without a card.
Running something else?
Forkbench is agent-agnostic, so any CLI agent runs in a tab. These have a page of their own: