Using Gemini CLI with Gram-hosted MCP servers

Gemini CLI  is Google’s open-source terminal-based tool that brings Gemini’s capabilities directly to your command line. Unlike web-based interfaces, Gemini CLI operates entirely in your terminal and has access to your current project folder, offering a lightweight and efficient way to interact with Gemini models from within your project.

When combined with Model Context Protocol (MCP)  servers, Gemini CLI becomes even more useful. Using MCP servers, you can give Gemini access to your tools and infrastructure, allowing it to work with your APIs, databases, and other services through built-in MCP support.

This guide shows you how to connect Gemini CLI to a Gram-hosted MCP server  using Taskmaster, a full-stack CRUD application for task and project management. Taskmaster includes a web UI for managing projects and tasks, a built-in HTTP API, OAuth 2.0 authentication, and a Neon PostgreSQL database for storing data. Try the demo app  to see it in action.

You’ll learn how to set up the connection, test it, and use natural language to manage tasks, projects, and workflows through Gemini CLI.

Find the full code and OpenAPI document in the Taskmaster repository .

Prerequisites

To follow this tutorial, you need:

• A Gram account .
• Gemini CLI  installed.
• Node.js version 18 or higher.

Installing Gemini CLI

Use one of the following two options to install Gemini CLI:

• Run it directly with npx.

  npx https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli

• Install it globally.

  npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

Verifying the installation

Test that Gemini CLI is working:

gemini --help

If the installation was successful, you’ll see Gemini CLI’s available commands and options.

Authenticating with Gemini CLI

When you first run gemini, you’re prompted to authenticate. Sign in with your personal Google account to get free access to Gemini 2.5 Pro with generous usage limits (60 requests per minute, 1,000 requests per day).

Creating an MCP server

Before connecting Gemini CLI to a Taskmaster MCP server, you first need to create one. Follow our guide to creating a Taskmaster MCP server.

Once your Taskmaster MCP server is ready, there are three ways to connect it to Gemini CLI:

• Use the gemini mcp add command from the Gram installation page (recommended).
• Use the Gram CLI to automatically configure the connection.
• Manually edit the Gemini CLI configuration file.

Connecting Gemini CLI from the Gram installation page

The quickest way to connect Gemini CLI to a Gram-hosted MCP server is to copy the installation command from the Gram dashboard.

Go to your toolset’s installation page at https://app.getgram.ai/mcp/<your-toolset-slug>/install and select Gemini CLI. Copy the installation command and run it in your terminal:

gemini mcp add --transport http "taskmaster" "https://app.getgram.ai/mcp/your-toolset-slug"

Replace your-toolset-slug with the slug of your toolset.

You can verify the server was added by running /mcp list in Gemini CLI:

Connecting Gemini CLI using the Gram CLI

Alternatively, you can use the Gram CLI to configure the connection. The CLI automatically fetches your toolset configuration and creates the appropriate settings file.

1. Install the Gram CLI

Verify the installation:

gram --version

For more information about the Gram CLI, see the Gram CLI documentation.

2. Authenticate with Gram

Authenticate with your Gram account:

gram auth

Follow the prompts to complete authentication. This creates an API key and saves it locally.

Verify authentication:

gram whoami

3. Install the toolset

Run the install command:

gram install gemini-cli --toolset your-toolset-slug

Replace your-toolset-slug with the slug of your toolset. For example, to install the Taskmaster toolset:

gram install gemini-cli --toolset taskmaster

The CLI automatically fetches the toolset configuration from Gram and creates or updates the Gemini CLI settings file.

Setting up environment variables

If your toolset requires authentication, you’ll need to set up environment variables. The gram install command will display the required variable names and provide the export command you need to run.

For the Taskmaster toolset, you’ll need to set the MCP_TASK_MASTER_API_KEY environment variable:

export MCP_TASK_MASTER_API_KEY='your-api-key-value'

Configuration scopes

You can control where the MCP server configuration is installed using the --scope flag:

# Install to user-level config (default) - available across all projects
gram install gemini-cli --toolset taskmaster --scope user
 
# Install to project-level config - can be shared with your team
gram install gemini-cli --toolset taskmaster --scope project

Use --scope project when you want to commit the .gemini/settings.json configuration to version control and share it with your team.

For more details and advanced options, see the gram install documentation.

Manual Setup

Alternatively, you can manually configure Gemini CLI by editing the settings file directly.

Gemini CLI uses a settings.json configuration file to manage MCP servers. You can configure MCP servers in one of two files:

• Globally at ~/.gemini/settings.json.
• For a specific project at .gemini/settings.json in your project root.

Copy your public or authenticated MCP server configuration from Gram and add it to the settings.json file.

• For Pass-through Authentication, the configuration looks like this:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "GramTaskmaster": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": [
          "mcp-remote",
          "https://app.getgram.ai/mcp/your-taskmaster-slug",
          "--header",
          "MCP-TASKMASTER-API-KEY:<your-key-here>"
        ]
      }
    }
  }

• For a Managed Authentication server, the configuration looks like this:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "GramTaskmaster": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": [
          "mcp-remote",
          "https://app.getgram.ai/mcp/your-taskmaster-slug",
          "--header",
          "Authorization: ${GRAM_KEY}"
        ],
        "env": {
          "GRAM_KEY": "Bearer <your-gram-api-key>"
        }
      }
    }
  }

Replace your-taskmaster-slug with the actual slug from your Taskmaster MCP server configuration and <your-gram-api-key> with your Gram API key.

Verifying the connection

Start Gemini CLI:

gemini

Then use the /mcp command to view the MCP server status:

/mcp list

You should see GramTaskmaster and its available tools listed.

Press Ctrl + T to view detailed information about the server’s tools.

Testing the setup

Now test the connection by creating a task.

Ask Gemini a basic question like, “Can you create a new task called ‘Test MCP connection’?”

Testing tool permissions

Ask Gemini to create a new task:

Create a new task called "Implement user authentication" with description "Add login and registration functionality to the app"

Gemini CLI will use the createTask tool to create a new task. Before making the API call, it will ask for your permission to use the tool:

You can approve the tool call once, or choose to always allow this tool or all tools from the server to skip future prompts.

Troubleshooting

Let’s go through some common issues and how to fix them.

Server not found

If Gemini CLI can’t find your server, press Ctrl + O to view the Debug Console.

If you see failed to start or connect to MCP server:

• Verify that the settings.json file is correct and matches the configuration from Gram.
• Check that the MCP server URL is accessible.
• Ensure you’re using the correct file path for your settings.

Authentication errors

If you get authentication errors:

• Verify your Gram API key in the dashboard under Settings -> API Keys.
• Check that environment variables are correctly set in Gram.
• Ensure the Taskmaster API base URL is accessible.

Tool calls not working

If Gemini CLI isn’t calling the tools:

• Test the MCP server in the Gram Playground first.
• Check that the toolset includes the tools you want to use.
• Verify the environment is correctly configured with the required variables.
• Use /mcp in Gemini CLI to confirm the server lists the expected tools.

What’s next

You now have Gemini CLI connected to a Gram-hosted MCP server with task management capabilities.

Ready to build your own MCP server? Try Gram today and see how easy it is to turn any API into agent-ready tools.