Terminal not working properly with Gemini CLI 💢

[heysanzu]

Description

My PC terminal is not working properly when using Gemini CLI. (command not found, hangs/freezes, no output, error message)

Environment

• OS: Windows 10 (better than W11)
• Terminal used: Windows Terminal
• Installation method: npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

[harshagarwalnyu]

Common causes for Gemini CLI not working on Windows Terminal:

1. npm global bin directory not in PATH (most common)

npm config get prefix

This prints something like C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Roaming\npm. Add that to your Windows PATH:

Win+R → sysdm.cpl → Advanced → Environment Variables → User Variables → Path → New

Then restart Windows Terminal.

2. Windows Terminal display issues

Add to your PowerShell profile ($PROFILE):

$env:TERM = "xterm-256color"

Or run before gemini:

$env:TERM = "xterm-256color"; gemini

3. Verify Node.js version

Gemini CLI requires Node 18+:

node --version

4. Try running as:

npx @google/gemini-cli

If npx works but gemini doesn't, it's definitely the PATH issue from step 1.

5. For hangs/freezes: Windows Defender or antivirus sometimes blocks Node processes on first run. Try adding Node.js to the exclusions list, or temporarily disable real-time protection to test.