How to Migrate from Gemini CLI to meshcode: A Step-by-Step Guide

There's nothing to export when you leave Gemini CLI — your code was never inside it, it's sitting in your repo like always. The migration is smaller than people expect: open the same folder in meshcode, decide how you want to access models (your setup around Gemini usage limits changes with it), and get used to running multiple agents in panes instead of one session at a time. The Cursor migration guide covers the pane habits in more depth.

Before you start: what "migrating" actually means

Gemini CLI reads files off disk from a terminal. meshcode is a native desktop app doing the same thing — reading and writing the same working tree. So migrating is really three small tasks:

1. Open your existing repo in meshcode.
2. Choose your model access: your own CLI subscriptions, or meshcode's built-in pay-as-you-go models.
3. Rearrange your mental model from "one session, one window" to "one agent per pane."

None of this touches your git history, your .env, your CI, or your deploy pipeline — if it lives in the repo, it moves with the repo.

Step 1: Open your project (no import, no conversion)

• Install meshcode (Mac or Windows) and launch it.
• Open the same project folder Gemini CLI was pointed at, .git and all.
• meshcode reads the working tree directly — no index to rebuild, no waiting before you can prompt.

If you keep project instructions in a file like GEMINI.md or AGENTS.md, keep it — plain-language project notes are useful context for any agent.

Step 2: Rethink model access — this is where quota and billing change

What changes. Under Gemini CLI you've been managing a quota: free-tier allowances, rate limits that reset on a schedule, and — if you've been paying to reduce the friction — a subscription tied to that single tool. In meshcode there's no quota clock to watch. The built-in models run pay-as-you-go: free to start, top up any amount from $1, a 5% + $0.50 flat service fee applies at the top-up, and after that models run at cost. There's no monthly subscription and no postpaid overage — you spend what's in your balance and nothing beyond it.

What doesn't change. If you maintain a Claude or Codex subscription separately, you can connect it through its CLI in meshcode and run on that plan with no extra token charge from meshcode. Most migrating users end up splitting: their own subscription in one pane for deep reasoning, the built-in meshcode models in another for high-volume mechanical work. Whether pay-as-you-go beats your current setup depends on usage — price a bursty month and a heavy month separately.

Step 3: Re-learn the workspace — panes, not one terminal

In Gemini CLI you run a session, wait, then run the next. In meshcode each pane runs its own agent concurrently — so stop queueing independent tasks: if two pieces of work don't depend on each other, they don't belong in the same thread. A natural first split:

• Pane one: your primary model doing the feature you'd have prompted for in the terminal.
• Pane two: the built-in meshcode model on smaller parallel work — test scaffolding, mechanical refactors.
• Pane three: parked for a second project or a quick question.

First-hour checklist

• Install meshcode and open your existing project folder (same repo, same .git).
• Keep your existing project instructions file — it still works as context.
• Do a top-up (from $1, flat service fee shown at the time) if you'll use the built-in models — no monthly commitment either way.
• Connect a Claude or Codex CLI if you already pay for one.
• Open a second pane and run one small independent task on a different model while your main pane works.
• Note which tasks felt naturally parallel — that's your cue for pane splits going forward.

What stays exactly the same, and who this fits

Your code, your repo, your git history, your deploy process, your .env, your CI — none of it changes. meshcode doesn't own your code or wrap it in a proprietary format — it reads and writes the same files the terminal did. There's no export step because there was never an import step.

This migration fits if:

• You're tired of managing quota resets and want spending tied to actual usage instead.
• You have (or want) multiple models available and are done running them one session at a time.
• Your usage is bursty — heavy before a deadline, quiet in between — and a flat monthly fee doesn't track that.
• You want non-developer teammates to contribute in plain language alongside you.

If your workflow wraps around Gemini CLI shell scripts and aliases, port those notes into your project instructions file — prompts travel even when the terminal doesn't.

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