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feat(ui): Refresh Gemini CLI experience (UX Demo)#20806

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keithguerin wants to merge 97 commits intomainfrom
demo/refreshed-ux-experience
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feat(ui): Refresh Gemini CLI experience (UX Demo)#20806
keithguerin wants to merge 97 commits intomainfrom
demo/refreshed-ux-experience

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@keithguerin keithguerin commented Mar 2, 2026

Summary

This PR is a comprehensive UX Demo showcasing the "Refreshed Experience" for Gemini CLI. It consolidates several key UX improvements to provide a more modern, transparent, and configurable interface.

Details

The following improvements are included, organized by their original source PRs:

1. Compact Header Redesign (#18713)

  • Revised Logo: Features the updated Gemini CLI branding.
  • Reduced Vertical Footprint: The application header has been streamlined to take up less vertical space, leaving more room for the conversation history while maintaining brand identity.

2. Reorganized Status Line (#20673)

  • Stable Architecture: Anchors Mode Indicators and Context Summary to prevent distracting layout shifts and "flicker" during model turns.
  • Ambient Layer Separation: Decouples secondary information (tips/wit) from primary system status. Tips now sit on the right and cycle independently without affecting the core status display.
  • Improved Actionable Feedback: Replaces generic labels with professional, text-based status updates (e.g., "Waiting for model...", "Executing hooks") and directional icons.
  • Non-Intrusive Pauses: Keeps the input prompt visible but disabled during tool approval, maintaining context while clearly communicating state.

3. Clean customizable footer (#19001)

  • Stacked Headers: Much clearer and more stable organization of metadata.
  • Responsive Scalability: LTR (Left-to-Right) responsive behavior that scales much better across varying terminal widths, with mathematical collision handling to prioritize system status.
  • User Configurable: Users can now customize which items appear in their footer via settings.

4. Updated color scheme (#20745)

  • Standardized Color Use: Uniform application of colors across the entire UI for a more professional feel.
  • Focus on Key Elements: Strategically uses color to bring focus to essential UI elements like the active shell input and primary status indicators.

Related Issues

Consolidates UX improvements from #18713, #20673, #19001, and #20745.

How to Validate

  1. Run the CLI: npm run start
  2. Observe the Compact Header with the Revised Logo.
  3. Notice the Stable Reorganized Status Line, where primary status and ambient tips are clearly separated.
  4. Use Tab to focus into a shell tool and see the updated Focus Hints and disabled-but-visible input state.
  5. Shrink the terminal window to see the Responsive Scalability in action.

Pre-Merge Checklist

  • Updated relevant documentation and README (if needed)
  • Added/updated tests (if needed)
  • Noted breaking changes (if any)
  • Validated on required platforms/methods:
    • MacOS
      • npm run
      • npx
      • Docker
      • Podman
      • Seatbelt

keithguerin and others added 30 commits February 27, 2026 16:25
fix(ui): move sync file I/O out of render loop in AppHeader

test(ui): update AppHeader snapshots

test(ui): fix Tips test and update all snapshots for compact header
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gemini-cli bot commented Mar 2, 2026

Hi @keithguerin, thank you so much for your contribution to Gemini CLI! We really appreciate the time and effort you've put into this.

We're making some updates to our contribution process to improve how we track and review changes. Please take a moment to review our recent discussion post: Improving Our Contribution Process & Introducing New Guidelines.

Key Update: Starting January 26, 2026, the Gemini CLI project will require all pull requests to be associated with an existing issue. Any pull requests not linked to an issue by that date will be automatically closed.

Thank you for your understanding and for being a part of our community!

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github-actions bot commented Mar 2, 2026

You already have 7 pull requests open. Please work on getting existing PRs merged before opening more.

@github-actions github-actions bot closed this Mar 2, 2026
@gemini-cli gemini-cli bot reopened this Mar 2, 2026
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gemini-cli bot commented Mar 2, 2026

Thank you for linking an issue! This pull request has been automatically reopened.

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github-actions bot commented Mar 2, 2026

Size Change: +46.3 kB (+0.18%)

Total Size: 25.8 MB

Filename Size Change
./bundle/gemini.js 25.3 MB +46.3 kB (+0.18%)
ℹ️ View Unchanged
Filename Size
./bundle/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli-devtools/dist/client/main.js 221 kB
./bundle/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli-devtools/dist/src/_client-assets.js 227 kB
./bundle/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli-devtools/dist/src/index.js 11.5 kB
./bundle/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli-devtools/dist/src/types.js 132 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-open.sb 890 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-proxied.sb 1.31 kB
./bundle/sandbox-macos-restrictive-open.sb 3.36 kB
./bundle/sandbox-macos-restrictive-proxied.sb 3.56 kB
./bundle/sandbox-macos-strict-open.sb 4.82 kB
./bundle/sandbox-macos-strict-proxied.sb 5.02 kB

compressed-size-action

@gemini-cli gemini-cli bot added priority/p1 Important and should be addressed in the near term. area/core Issues related to User Interface, OS Support, Core Functionality 🔒 maintainer only ⛔ Do not contribute. Internal roadmap item. labels Mar 2, 2026
@keithguerin keithguerin deleted the demo/refreshed-ux-experience branch March 24, 2026 18:35
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area/core Issues related to User Interface, OS Support, Core Functionality 🔒 maintainer only ⛔ Do not contribute. Internal roadmap item. priority/p1 Important and should be addressed in the near term.

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