Gemini CLI MCP: deploy your site from the terminal

What Gemini CLI MCP servers are

MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open standard that lets an AI tool use tools from another service. The service runs an MCP server; the AI tool connects to it and calls its tools when your request needs them. Gemini CLI can use tools from the MCP servers you add with gemini mcp add.

Cloudzyro's server is remote and speaks HTTP, hence --transport http, and you sign in once with /mcp auth cloudzyro inside Gemini CLI. There's no API key to copy.

These steps follow Gemini CLI's own documentation. If a command has changed, add the same address as an HTTP MCP server and sign in when it asks.

How Gemini CLI sends your site

Gemini CLI works with the files on your computer. When you ask it to deploy, it zips the folder you have open and sends it through a one-time upload link that expires after 15 minutes. We leave out node_modules, .git, build caches and .env files, check what's left, then build it.

• Open the right folder. Your index.html or package.json should be at the top of it, not in a folder inside.
• Name the site. “Deploy this folder to my-portfolio” updates the site you already have rather than making a new one.
• Ask it to follow through. “Tell me when it's live” makes Gemini CLI check the deploy instead of stopping once the files are sent.

What Gemini CLI can do with Cloudzyro

Once connected, Gemini CLI gets ten tools from Cloudzyro. You don't need to name them: say what you want, and Gemini CLI picks the right ones.

check_name

Checks whether an address like my-portfolio.cloudzyro.app is free, and suggests others if it's taken.

create_site

Creates a new site in your workspace and claims its address.

get_upload_link

Gives a one-time link for sending a project folder as a zip. It works once and expires after 15 minutes.

deploy_upload

Puts the uploaded folder online as the site's new version, after the same checks as an upload in the console.

deploy_files

Puts a small site online from files sent directly: up to 500 files and 4 MB in total.

get_deployment

Follows a deploy: waiting, building, starting, live, or why it didn't go live, with a suggested fix and the error lines (secrets removed).

list_sites

Lists the sites in your workspace, with their addresses and whether each is live.

get_site

Shows a site's status, address, plan and latest version.

list_versions

Lists a site's versions and which can be restored (5 on Launch, 10 on Boost).

restore_version

Puts an earlier version back online. The current one stays live until it's ready.

Creating sites, deploying and restoring need an owner or admin of the workspace. If you're a member, Gemini CLI can look but not change anything. What your AI tool can do has the details.

What Gemini CLI can never do

Some things are left to you in the console on purpose, so an AI tool can't do lasting damage or spend your money:

• Delete a site. That's on the site's Settings tab.
• See or set environment variables, keys or passwords. Add them on the site's Environment variables tab. See Set environment variables.
• Change a plan or buy anything. That's on the site's Billing tab.

It also can't deploy a site that's connected to GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket or a Git address. Those sites take new versions only from their repository, so push your change there instead.

What Gemini CLI can put online

Whatever Gemini CLI builds, we work out what it is from the top of the folder:

• A static site with an index.html goes online as it is, with no build. See HTML sites.
• A site with a build step, like Vite, React or Astro, is built and the files it makes are served.
• A Node.js app, including Next.js, is built and run on Node 24, or the version in engines.node or .nvmrc. It needs a start script in package.json.

Each deploy becomes a version. Your current version stays online until the new one is ready, so visitors never see a half-finished update.

Workspaces and team roles

A workspace holds your sites, team and billing. When Gemini CLI signs in, you choose a workspace and select Allow, and that connection works only with that workspace's sites. To work in another workspace, connect again and choose it.

• Owners and admins: Gemini CLI can create sites, deploy and restore versions.
• Members: Gemini CLI can list sites, follow deploys and see versions, but can't change anything.

An owner or admin can also limit who connects AI tools at all, in Settings, Security, Who can connect AI tools. Inviting people is free on every plan, with no per-seat charges.

Connect your AI tool in the console lists every tool connected to the workspace, who connected it, when, and when it was last used. Owners and admins can disconnect any of them; members can disconnect their own. It stops working straight away, and your sites stay as they are. See Workspaces and your team.

Is it safe to connect Gemini CLI?

The connection is built so Gemini CLI can do useful work without ever holding the keys to everything:

• No key to copy. Gemini CLI gets access only after you sign in to Cloudzyro in your browser and select Allow.
• Checked on every call. Each request is checked against your current role, so someone who leaves the team loses access through their AI tool too.
• Secrets stay out. Gemini CLI is told never to send .env files, and uploads leave them out anyway.
• Clean error lines. Tokens, keys, connection strings and passwords are removed from error lines before they're stored and again before they're shown.
• A record of who did what. The Versions tab shows which AI tool sent each version and who connected it.

Cloudflare caches your site's static files, like images, CSS and JavaScript. If your site serves a file meant for one signed-in visitor, like an avatar or an invoice, send it with the header Cache-Control: private. Gemini CLI is told about this when it connects, so ask it to check when it builds sign-in features.

If something goes wrong

• Gemini CLI can't sign in. Start Gemini CLI and run /mcp auth cloudzyro again. At the end, choose your workspace and select Allow.
• It's working in the wrong workspace. Each connection is tied to the workspace you chose. Disconnect it in Connect your AI tool, then sign in again and choose the right one.
• It says it can't deploy. You may be a member, who can only look, or the site may be connected to a Git repository, which takes new versions only from pushes. Ask an owner to make you an admin, or push to the repository.
• A deploy failed. Your live site keeps running the previous version, so visitors aren't affected. Gemini CLI gets the reason, a suggested fix and the error lines, so “Fix it and deploy again” is often enough. The usual causes are a missing start script, an app that doesn't listen on the PORT variable, or a missing environment variable. Fix a failed deploy explains each one.
• A step doesn't match what you see. AI tools rename their settings now and then. Add the same address, https://api.cloudzyro.com/mcp, in Gemini CLI's MCP settings and sign in when it asks.

Still stuck? Use Get help in the console or email support@cloudzyro.com.

Use your own domain

Every site gets a free address at <name>.cloudzyro.app, and you can add your own domain free on every plan. Gemini CLI can't add domains, so you do this once in the console:

1. Open your site's Domains tab and add the address visitors will use, such as www.example.com.
2. At your DNS provider, add a CNAME record for www pointing to domains.cloudzyro.app.
3. For the bare domain (example.com), add an A record pointing to 173.234.137.167. It sends visitors to www over HTTPS.
4. Wait for the domain to show Live. Certificates are automatic.

If your DNS is at Cloudflare, set the record to DNS only (the gray cloud). Point a domain at your site walks through it, and Connect a custom domain covers the details.

Connect a database

Sites on Cloudzyro have no permanent disk: files a site writes while it runs are cleared with each new version. So if your site keeps anything, like sign-ups, orders or bookings, keep it in a database such as Supabase or Neon.

Gemini CLI can't set keys for you, so connect the database yourself. On your site's Database tab, select Connect Supabase, sign in to Supabase and choose the project. We fill in the settings your code reads, test them and deploy. Or paste a connection string from Neon or any other provider. See Connect Supabase or Connect a database.

What it costs

Connecting Gemini CLI is free. Every site starts on Launch, which is free and allows business use, with 100 GB of traffic a month. Boost is $20 a month per site plus tax, with more memory and CPU, priority builds, 10 versions to restore and 1 TB of traffic. Team members are free on every plan. See pricing.

Keep reading

• What your AI tool can do, in the docs
• Deploy a site with your AI tool, in the docs
• Cloudzyro vs Vercel and Vercel alternatives
• Sites & Apps: everything a site gets