---
title: "Add SuperEbook to Gemini CLI"
description: "Add SuperEbook’s MCP server to Gemini CLI with one command, sign in with /mcp auth or use an API key, and check who can still run Gemini CLI."
url: "https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/gemini-cli"
---

# Add SuperEbook to Gemini CLI. One command, then /mcp auth.

Add SuperEbook’s MCP server to Gemini CLI and Gemini can plan and write books in your SuperEbook account from your terminal. Sign in through your browser, or use an API key over SSH or in a container.

## Before you start

- **A SuperEbook account with Starter, Pro or any credit pack.** SuperEbook’s Free plan doesn’t include connecting apps: [see plans](https://www.superebook.ai/pricing.md).
- **Check you can still use Gemini CLI.** Since 18 June 2026, Google no longer serves free, Google AI Pro and Ultra, or Code Assist individual users in Gemini CLI; it moves them to Antigravity CLI, which this guide doesn’t cover. Gemini Code Assist Standard and Enterprise, Google Cloud and paid Gemini API keys still work.
- **A browser on the same computer** to sign in. Gemini CLI’s sign-in doesn’t work over SSH, in a container or anywhere else without one: use an API key there.

## Server URL

`https://www.superebook.ai/api/mcp`

## Add it and sign in

1. Add SuperEbook for your user account.

Both flags matter: Gemini CLI’s default scope is the project you’re in, and its default transport is stdio. Keep the www.

```
gemini mcp add --transport http --scope user superebook https://www.superebook.ai/api/mcp
```

2. Start Gemini CLI and run /mcp auth superebook.

Run `gemini`. It says superebook requires authentication; type `/mcp auth superebook`.

3. Confirm, and your browser opens.

Gemini CLI asks before opening the authentication page in your browser: confirm. If no browser opens, copy the sign-in URL it prints into a browser on the same computer.

4. Allow it on SuperEbook.

Sign in to SuperEbook if it asks. SuperEbook’s page asks “Connect Gemini CLI MCP Client to SuperEbook?”, with no warning, because the app comes back to your own computer. Choose Allow.

5. Check it’s connected.

Back in the terminal, Gemini CLI says it signed in. `/mcp` shows superebook as connected, with its tools. If the sign-in runs out, run `/mcp auth superebook` again.

## No browser? Use an API key

1. Create an API key.

In SuperEbook, open [Settings → Connect apps](https://www.superebook.ai/settings?tab=apps) and choose Create API key. Name it after Gemini CLI, then copy it: you see the whole key only once, and it starts `ebk_live_`. It needs a verified email address.

2. Add the server with the key in a header.

Replace `ebk_live_YOUR_KEY` with your key.

```
gemini mcp add --transport http --scope user --header "Authorization: Bearer ebk_live_YOUR_KEY" superebook https://www.superebook.ai/api/mcp
```

Or write it in `~/.gemini/settings.json` yourself, merged into any `mcpServers` already there. The key sits in that file in plain text, so never commit a project’s `.gemini/settings.json` that holds one.

```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "superebook": {
      "url": "https://www.superebook.ai/api/mcp",
      "type": "http",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ebk_live_YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}
```

## Keep its confirmations on

- Leave trust off: no `--trust` and no `"trust": true`. Trust skips every tool confirmation, Write the book’s (`start_writing`) included, and that confirmation is where you agree to the price.
- Don’t add an `oauth` block: `/mcp auth` handles signing in.
- To end the connection on SuperEbook’s side, disconnect it in [Settings → Connect apps](https://www.superebook.ai/settings?tab=apps); to sign in again, run `/mcp auth superebook`.

## Try it

Once it’s connected, ask for a book in plain words. Planning is free, and the app is told to quote the price and wait for your yes before it writes.

- Read ./notes and use SuperEbook to plan a course companion from them. Show me the chapters first.
- Turn talk-transcript.txt into a SuperEbook lead magnet.
- How many SuperEbook credits do I have, and what would a research report cost?
- How far has my book got?

## If it doesn’t work

| What you see | Code | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| “Please use --scope user to edit settings in the home directory.” |  | You ran gemini mcp add in your home folder without --scope user. Add it. |
| Gemini CLI says superebook requires authentication |  | Run /mcp auth superebook inside gemini. It doesn’t sign in on its own when it starts. |
| No browser opens, or you’re over SSH |  | Copy the sign-in URL Gemini CLI prints into a browser on the same computer. Over SSH or in a container, use an API key instead. |
| Gemini CLI won’t start for your account |  | Since 18 June 2026 it serves Code Assist Standard and Enterprise, Google Cloud and paid Gemini API keys; Google moved other users to Antigravity CLI. |

For credits, limits and the other messages an app may relay, see [if something goes wrong](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp#troubleshooting).

## Questions

**Who can still use Gemini CLI with SuperEbook?** Anyone Gemini CLI still serves: Gemini Code Assist Standard and Enterprise, Google Cloud, and paid Gemini API keys. Since 18 June 2026, Google has moved free, Google AI Pro and Ultra, and Code Assist individual users to Antigravity CLI.

**Why does SuperEbook’s page name “Gemini CLI MCP Client”?** That’s the name Gemini CLI registers under. It signs in through an address on your own computer, so SuperEbook believes the name and shows no warning.

**Should the settings use url or httpUrl?** url with "type": "http", which is what gemini mcp add --transport http writes. httpUrl still works, but Gemini CLI now warns that it’s deprecated.

**Where does Gemini CLI keep the sign-in?** In ~/.gemini/mcp-oauth-tokens.json on your computer. SuperEbook only keeps a one-way hash of each token, and you can end the connection in its Settings at any time.

## Checked against Google’s docs on October 18, 2026

- [MCP servers with Gemini CLI (Gemini CLI docs)](https://geminicli.com/docs/tools/mcp-server/): gemini mcp add and its scope and transport, headers, trust, OAuth and where its tokens are kept, and /mcp.
- [Gemini CLI and Antigravity CLI (Google’s announcement, discussion #27274)](https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/discussions/27274): who Gemini CLI serves from 18 June 2026.
- [packages/core/src/tools/mcp-client.ts, v0.64.0 (Gemini CLI source)](https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/v0.64.0/packages/core/src/tools/mcp-client.ts): the requires-authentication message, url with type http, and httpUrl’s deprecation.
- [packages/core/src/mcp/oauth-provider.ts, v0.64.0 (Gemini CLI source)](https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/v0.64.0/packages/core/src/mcp/oauth-provider.ts): the prompt before the browser opens, the printed sign-in URL, and the name and localhost callback it registers.
- [packages/cli/src/commands/mcp/add.ts, v0.64.0 (Gemini CLI source)](https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/blob/v0.64.0/packages/cli/src/commands/mcp/add.ts): what gemini mcp add writes, and its --scope user message.

## More about connecting

- [Claude app](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/claude-app.md)
- [Claude Code](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/claude-code.md)
- [Cursor](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/cursor.md)
- [VS Code](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/vscode.md)
- [GitHub Copilot](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/github-copilot.md)
- [Codex](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/codex.md)
- [Zed](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/zed.md)
- [Devin Desktop](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/devin-desktop.md)
- [Other apps](https://www.superebook.ai/mcp/other-apps.md)