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Connect Gemini to Tallyfy Desktop

What gets installed

Section titled “What gets installed”

Tallyfy Desktop drives Gemini through Google’s official gemini command-line tool (the @google/gemini-cli npm package). On first launch, the desktop app checks whether gemini is on your PATH and whether you’ve signed in. If either is missing, it offers to install or guide you.

The install command per platform is baked into the desktop app source code:

PlatformCommand
macOSnpm install -g @google/gemini-cli
Linuxnpm install -g @google/gemini-cli
Windowsnpm install -g @google/gemini-cli

The binary lands in your global npm prefix. You’ll need Node.js 18+ already installed.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”
  • A Tallyfy account
  • A Google account (Workspace or personal Gmail)
  • Node.js 18 or higher with npm available on PATH
  • A modern web browser for the OAuth sign-in step
Section titled “Option A: Install Wizard (recommended)”

  1. Open the Gemini tab

    Click the Gemini tab in Tallyfy Desktop. If the CLI isn’t installed, the Install Wizard appears.

  2. Read the consent screen

    The wizard shows the npm command and the risks:

    • Modifies your global npm prefix
    • After install, run gemini once to complete the interactive OAuth flow
    • Default model is gemini-2.5-flash (chosen to avoid subscription quota issues hit by gemini-3-pro-preview)

  3. Hold Shift for three seconds

    The button activates while you hold Shift. Release to cancel.

  4. Watch the progress log

    The wizard streams npm install output. You’ll see the package install and a verification run of gemini --version.

  5. Sign in with Google

    Click Sign in with Google. The desktop app runs gemini interactively for the first time, which kicks off Google’s OAuth flow in your browser. Pick your account, approve the scopes, and return to the desktop app.

    The token is stored under ~/.gemini/oauth_creds.json. The desktop app reads it from there.

  6. Test the connection

    Type hi in the Gemini tab and press Enter. You should see Gemini’s streamed response within a few seconds.

Option B: Manual install

Section titled “Option B: Manual install”

  1. Install via npm

    Terminal window
    npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

  2. Run gemini once

    Terminal window
    gemini

    This triggers the OAuth flow in your browser. Pick your Google account, approve, and return to the terminal. The CLI saves credentials and exits.

  3. Restart Tallyfy Desktop

    Quit fully and reopen. The Gemini tab will detect the binary and the credentials, then skip the wizard.

First chat

Section titled “First chat”

Once Gemini is connected:

  1. Click the Gemini tab.
  2. The model picker shows the default (gemini-2.5-flash in v2.0.0).
  3. Type your message and press Enter. Gemini streams NDJSON events, so you’ll see the response appear chunk by chunk with token-count stats on completion.

Because the Tallyfy MCP server is auto-injected, Gemini knows about your tasks, processes, templates, and team. Try:

  • “What templates do we have for new-hire onboarding?”
  • “Find all overdue tasks assigned to me”
  • “Launch the customer feedback survey for last month’s signups”

The Task Intent Widget works the same way it does with Claude; intent is detected and the widget surfaces inline.

Why gemini-2.5-flash is the default

Section titled “Why gemini-2.5-flash is the default”

The Gemini CLI’s default model is gemini-3-pro-preview. In testing, that model hits “You have exhausted your capacity on this model” on most accounts after only a few prompts. Tallyfy Desktop ships with gemini-2.5-flash as the default to avoid that friction. You can switch to any other Gemini model from the model picker; if you hit the quota wall, switch back to flash.

Verifying the install yourself

Section titled “Verifying the install yourself”
Terminal window
# Is the binary on PATH?
which gemini


# Does it run?
gemini --version


# Are you signed in?
test -f ~/.gemini/oauth_creds.json && echo "signed in" || echo "not signed in"

Cmd+Shift+R (Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows/Linux) in the Gemini tab forces a re-detection.

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

”You have exhausted your capacity on this model”

Section titled “”You have exhausted your capacity on this model””

You’re hitting Google’s subscription quota. The CLI auto-retries with backoff (10s, 20s, 40s) up to five attempts. If the retries don’t work:

  1. Switch to gemini-2.5-flash in the model picker; it has a higher free-tier limit
  2. Wait a few minutes for the quota to reset
  3. Upgrade your Google AI plan if you need higher throughput

This is Google’s limit, not Tallyfy’s; the desktop app surfaces it cleanly but can’t bypass it.

npm install fails with EACCES

Section titled “npm install fails with EACCES”

Same fix as Codex: switch to a user-owned npm prefix or use nvm. See the Codex install troubleshooting for the same fix steps. Don’t run the wizard with sudo.

OAuth browser window opens to an error page

Section titled “OAuth browser window opens to an error page”

Google sometimes blocks OAuth requests from new clients. The fix:

  1. Sign into your Google account in the same browser first
  2. Then click Sign in with Google in Tallyfy Desktop

If the error persists, run gemini directly in a terminal; the CLI gives a more specific error message there.

”Tools unavailable” warning at the start of a chat

Section titled “”Tools unavailable” warning at the start of a chat”

Gemini supports MCP, but the CLI loads MCP servers from a config file at ~/.gemini/settings.json. Tallyfy Desktop writes a temporary MCP config per run (with your Tallyfy session token) and passes it to Gemini via the standard mechanism. If you see “Tools unavailable,” check that you’re on gemini-cli 0.17 or later: gemini --version. Older versions had bugs in MCP loading; upgrade with npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@latest.

What Gemini covers in v1

Section titled “What Gemini covers in v1”
CapabilityStatus
Streaming text responsesYes (NDJSON, full streaming with deltas)
MCP tool useYes
Cost reportingNo (only token counts)
Thinking eventsNo
File attachmentsYes
Browser automationNo
Tallyfy context injectionYes (via MCP, like Claude)
Task Intent WidgetYes
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