Gemini CLI Is Shipping Fast: v0.28, v0.29, and a v0.30 Preview in Two Weeks
Three Gemini CLI releases in two weeks: extension settings, plan mode, Gemini 3 as default, an SDK package, and experimental steering hints. Here's everything that shipped.
Google’s Gemini CLI team has been on a tear. Three releases landed in the past two weeks: v0.28.0 on February 12, v0.29.0 on February 17, and a v0.30.0-preview.1 today, February 19. Each one shipped real features, not just patch notes.
Here’s what actually matters across all three.
v0.28.0 (February 12): Extensions Get Serious
The v0.28.0 release made extensions first-class citizens. Three changes stand out.
Extension settings let users configure API keys, base URLs, and passwords when they install an extension. Before this, extensions that needed credentials had to handle that themselves, usually through environment variables or manual config. Now there’s a standard prompt flow during installation.
Custom themes from extensions mean third-party extensions can bundle their own visual themes via a themes property in gemini-extension.json. These show up automatically in the /theme picker. It’s a small thing, but it means the extension ecosystem isn’t limited to just tools and commands.
Background shell commands let you kick off long-running processes (dev servers, builds, test suites) without blocking the main agent loop. This was a frequent request, and it’s a feature Claude Code has had for a while.
The release also shipped two new extensions: Miro (diagram building and task tracking from natural language) and Apiiro (security scanning and risk analysis). Plus quality-of-life fixes like native undo/redo keybindings (Cmd+Z / Shift+Cmd+Z), directory persistence across --resume sessions, and a folder trust dialog that’s now on by default.
v0.29.0 (February 17): Gemini 3 by Default, Plan Mode Ships
Five days later, v0.29.0 dropped with the biggest changes.
Gemini 3 is now the default model. No feature flag, no opt-in. Every Gemini CLI user is now running Gemini 3 by default. This is the model that leads LMArena at 1501 Elo and tops WebDev Arena at 1487 Elo.
Plan mode graduated. The /plan command gives you a read-only planning workflow where the model can research your codebase and design changes without being able to write files. It was experimental in the v0.29.0-preview.0 on February 10 and made it to stable a week later. Claude Code has had plan mode for months, so this brings parity.
Extension discovery got a proper registry client so you can browse and install extensions without manually cloning repos. Google is clearly investing in making the extension ecosystem easy to use.
Under the hood, the event-driven scheduler became the default tool execution engine, tool output masking shipped with remote configuration support, and the system prompt got rewritten for better alignment. Vim motions (W, B, E) landed too, along with inline thinking bubbles that can toggle between summary and full display.
v0.30.0-preview.1 (February 19): SDK, Steering Hints, Clean UI
Today’s preview release connects directly to what Dmitry Lyalin teased last night.
The SDK package launched. This is the initial Gemini CLI SDK with support for custom skills and dynamic system instructions. If you’re building tools or integrations on top of Gemini CLI, this is the foundation for it.
Experimental steering hints (phase 1) appeared. This is the “model hinting” feature Dmitry mentioned, the ability to steer the model during execution. It’s early and experimental, but it’s in the preview build.
Clean UI toggle shipped. Dmitry’s “clean UI mode vs. full mode” is here. You can now switch between a minimal interface and the full information-dense view.
Plan mode refinement continues. You can now enable skills during planning and explore a project without being forced into a mandatory planning flow.
Other notable additions: a --policy flag for user-defined policies, Solarized Dark and Light themes, markdown table text wrapping, multi-line text in the ask-user tool, 30-day session retention by default, and drag-and-drop fixes.
The Conductor Extension
Worth calling out separately: the Conductor extension launched for Gemini CLI during this period. It brings context-driven development to the terminal, creating formal specs and plans that live alongside your code as persistent Markdown files. It also added automated reviews. If you like working with structured planning documents rather than just prompting, this is the extension to watch.
The Pace
Three releases in two weeks is aggressive. Here’s what the timeline looks like:
| Date | Release | Highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 12 | v0.28.0 | Extension settings, background commands, Miro/Apiiro |
| Feb 17 | v0.29.0 | Gemini 3 default, plan mode stable, extension registry |
| Feb 19 | v0.30.0-preview.1 | SDK package, steering hints, clean UI toggle |
And this is on top of Gemini 3.1 Pro launching today, which hit 80.6% on SWE-Bench Verified and is already the default in Gemini CLI. Dmitry said last night the agent harness is “getting much more optimized with Gemini 3.x,” and today’s preview already has experimental steering hints. The “house is on fire” energy seems accurate.
For comparison, Claude Code ships updates weekly but doesn’t version them the same way. GitHub Copilot CLI has been quieter. Right now Gemini CLI is the one moving fastest in terms of visible feature velocity.
Whether that translates to better coding performance depends on the model underneath. That question got answered today: Gemini 3.1 Pro launched with 80.6% on SWE-Bench Verified, beating Claude Opus 4.6’s 78.2%.
Sources
- Gemini CLI v0.28.0 discussion (GitHub, Feb 12)
- Gemini CLI v0.29.0 changelog (Feb 17)
- Gemini CLI v0.30.0-preview.1 changelog (Feb 19)
- Gemini CLI GitHub
- Dmitry Lyalin’s roadmap preview
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