diff --git a/.gemini/settings.json b/.gemini/settings.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d27ca26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gemini/settings.json
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{
+  "hooks": [
+    {
+      "name": "manual-slop-bridge",
+      "type": "command",
+      "event": "BeforeTool",
+      "command": "python C:/projects/manual_slop/scripts/cli_tool_bridge.py"
+    }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/ai_client.py b/ai_client.py
index 77484a8..7912030 100644
--- a/ai_client.py
+++ b/ai_client.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import os
 import file_cache
 import mcp_client
 import anthropic
+from gemini_cli_adapter import GeminiCliAdapter
 from google import genai
 from google.genai import types
 from events import EventEmitter
@@ -58,6 +59,8 @@ _anthropic_history: list[dict] = []
 _anthropic_history_lock = threading.Lock()
 _send_lock = threading.Lock()
 
+_gemini_cli_adapter = None
+
 # Injected by gui.py - called when AI wants to run a command.
 # Signature: (script: str, base_dir: str) -> str | None
 confirm_and_run_callback = None
@@ -253,6 +256,7 @@ def reset_session():
     global _gemini_cache_md_hash, _gemini_cache_created_at
     global _anthropic_client, _anthropic_history
     global _CACHED_ANTHROPIC_TOOLS
+    global _gemini_cli_adapter
     if _gemini_client and _gemini_cache:
         try:
             _gemini_client.caches.delete(name=_gemini_cache.name)
@@ -263,6 +267,8 @@ def reset_session():
     _gemini_cache = None
     _gemini_cache_md_hash = None
     _gemini_cache_created_at = None
+    if _gemini_cli_adapter:
+        _gemini_cli_adapter.session_id = None
     _anthropic_client = None
     with _anthropic_history_lock:
         _anthropic_history = []
@@ -787,8 +793,46 @@ def _send_gemini(md_content: str, user_message: str, base_dir: str,
         return "\n\n".join(all_text) if all_text else "(No text returned)"
     except Exception as e: raise _classify_gemini_error(e) from e
 
+def _send_gemini_cli(md_content: str, user_message: str, base_dir: str,
+                      file_items: list[dict] | None = None,
+                      discussion_history: str = "") -> str:
+    global _gemini_cli_adapter
+    try:
+        if _gemini_cli_adapter is None:
+            _gemini_cli_adapter = GeminiCliAdapter(binary_path="gemini")
+        
+        events.emit("request_start", payload={"provider": "gemini_cli", "model": _model, "round": 0})
+        
+        # If it's a new session (session_id is None), we should ideally send the context.
+        # For now, following the simple pattern:
+        payload = user_message
+        if _gemini_cli_adapter.session_id is None:
+            # Prepend context and discussion history to the first message
+            full_prompt = f"{_get_combined_system_prompt()}\n\n<context>\n{md_content}\n</context>\n\n"
+            if discussion_history:
+                full_prompt += f"[DISCUSSION HISTORY]\n\n{discussion_history}\n\n---\n\n"
+            full_prompt += user_message
+            payload = full_prompt
 
-
+        _append_comms("OUT", "request", {"message": f"[CLI] [msg {len(payload)}]"})
+        
+        result_text = _gemini_cli_adapter.send(payload)
+        
+        usage = _gemini_cli_adapter.last_usage or {}
+        events.emit("response_received", payload={"provider": "gemini_cli", "model": _model, "usage": usage, "round": 0})
+        
+        _append_comms("IN", "response", {
+            "round": 0,
+            "stop_reason": "STOP",
+            "text": result_text,
+            "tool_calls": [],
+            "usage": usage
+        })
+        
+        return result_text
+    except Exception as e:
+        # Basic error classification for CLI
+        raise ProviderError("unknown", "gemini_cli", e)
 
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------ anthropic history management
 
@@ -1276,6 +1320,8 @@ def send(
     with _send_lock:
         if _provider == "gemini":
             return _send_gemini(md_content, user_message, base_dir, file_items, discussion_history)
+        elif _provider == "gemini_cli":
+            return _send_gemini_cli(md_content, user_message, base_dir, file_items, discussion_history)
         elif _provider == "anthropic":
             return _send_anthropic(md_content, user_message, base_dir, file_items, discussion_history)
         raise ValueError(f"unknown provider: {_provider}")
diff --git a/gemini_cli_adapter.py b/gemini_cli_adapter.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4e9fa4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gemini_cli_adapter.py
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+import subprocess
+import json
+import sys
+
+class GeminiCliAdapter:
+    def __init__(self, binary_path="gemini"):
+        self.binary_path = binary_path
+        self.last_usage = None
+        self.session_id = None
+
+    def send(self, message):
+        """
+        Sends a message to the Gemini CLI and processes the streaming JSON output.
+        """
+        command = [self.binary_path, 'run', message, '--output-format', 'stream-json']
+        if self.session_id:
+            command.extend(['--resume', self.session_id])
+
+        accumulated_text = ""
+        
+        # Using subprocess.Popen as requested
+        process = subprocess.Popen(
+            command,
+            stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+            text=True
+        )
+
+        try:
+            # Read stdout line by line
+            for line in process.stdout:
+                line = line.strip()
+                if not line:
+                    continue
+
+                try:
+                    data = json.loads(line)
+                    msg_type = data.get("type")
+
+                    if msg_type == "message":
+                        # Append message text to results
+                        accumulated_text += data.get("text", "")
+
+                    elif msg_type == "result":
+                        # Capture final usage and session persistence
+                        self.last_usage = data.get("usage")
+                        self.session_id = data.get("session_id")
+
+                    elif msg_type in ("status", "tool_use"):
+                        # Log status/tool_use to stderr for debugging
+                        sys.stderr.write(f"GeminiCliAdapter [{msg_type}]: {line}\n")
+                        sys.stderr.flush()
+
+                except json.JSONDecodeError:
+                    # Skip lines that are not valid JSON
+                    continue
+
+            process.wait()
+        except Exception as e:
+            process.kill()
+            raise e
+
+        return accumulated_text
diff --git a/tests/test_ai_client_cli.py b/tests/test_ai_client_cli.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7dfae03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_ai_client_cli.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import pytest
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+import ai_client
+
+def test_ai_client_send_gemini_cli():
+    """
+    Verifies that 'ai_client.send' correctly interacts with 'GeminiCliAdapter'
+    when the 'gemini_cli' provider is specified.
+    """
+    test_message = "Hello, this is a test prompt for the CLI adapter."
+    test_response = "This is a dummy response from the Gemini CLI."
+
+    # Set provider to gemini_cli
+    ai_client.set_provider("gemini_cli", "gemini-2.0-flash")
+
+    # 1. Mock 'ai_client.GeminiCliAdapter' (which we will add)
+    with patch('ai_client.GeminiCliAdapter') as MockAdapterClass:
+        mock_adapter_instance = MockAdapterClass.return_value
+        mock_adapter_instance.send.return_value = test_response
+        mock_adapter_instance.last_usage = {"total_tokens": 100}
+
+        # Verify that 'events' are emitted correctly
+        with patch.object(ai_client.events, 'emit') as mock_emit:
+            response = ai_client.send(
+                md_content="<context></context>",
+                user_message=test_message,
+                base_dir="."
+            )
+
+            # Check that the adapter's send method was called.
+            mock_adapter_instance.send.assert_called()
+
+            # Verify that the expected lifecycle events were emitted.
+            emitted_event_names = [call.args[0] for call in mock_emit.call_args_list]
+            assert 'request_start' in emitted_event_names
+            assert 'response_received' in emitted_event_names
+
+            # Verify that the combined text returned by the adapter is returned by 'ai_client.send'.
+            assert response == test_response
diff --git a/tests/test_gemini_cli_adapter.py b/tests/test_gemini_cli_adapter.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..79651d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_gemini_cli_adapter.py
@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+import unittest
+from unittest.mock import patch, MagicMock
+import json
+import subprocess
+import io
+import sys
+import os
+
+# Ensure the project root is in sys.path to resolve imports correctly
+sys.path.append(os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "..")))
+
+from gemini_cli_adapter import GeminiCliAdapter
+
+class TestGeminiCliAdapter(unittest.TestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.adapter = GeminiCliAdapter(binary_path="gemini")
+
+    @patch('subprocess.Popen')
+    def test_send_starts_subprocess_with_correct_args(self, mock_popen):
+        """
+        Verify that send(message) correctly starts the subprocess with 
+        --output-format stream-json and the provided message.
+        """
+        # Setup mock process with a minimal valid JSONL termination
+        process_mock = MagicMock()
+        process_mock.stdout = io.StringIO(json.dumps({"type": "result", "usage": {}}) + "\n")
+        process_mock.poll.return_value = 0
+        process_mock.wait.return_value = 0
+        mock_popen.return_value = process_mock
+
+        message = "Hello Gemini CLI"
+        self.adapter.send(message)
+
+        # Verify subprocess.Popen call
+        mock_popen.assert_called_once()
+        args, kwargs = mock_popen.call_args
+        cmd = args[0]
+        
+        # Check mandatory CLI components
+        self.assertIn("gemini", cmd)
+        self.assertIn("--output-format", cmd)
+        self.assertIn("stream-json", cmd)
+        self.assertIn(message, cmd)
+        
+        # Check process configuration
+        self.assertEqual(kwargs.get('stdout'), subprocess.PIPE)
+        self.assertEqual(kwargs.get('text'), True)
+
+    @patch('subprocess.Popen')
+    def test_send_parses_jsonl_output(self, mock_popen):
+        """
+        Verify that it correctly parses multiple JSONL 'message' events 
+        and returns the combined text.
+        """
+        jsonl_output = [
+            json.dumps({"type": "message", "text": "The quick brown "}),
+            json.dumps({"type": "message", "text": "fox jumps."}),
+            json.dumps({"type": "result", "usage": {"prompt_tokens": 5, "candidates_tokens": 5}})
+        ]
+        stdout_content = "\n".join(jsonl_output) + "\n"
+        
+        process_mock = MagicMock()
+        process_mock.stdout = io.StringIO(stdout_content)
+        # Mock poll sequence: running, running, finished
+        process_mock.poll.side_effect = [None, None, 0]
+        process_mock.wait.return_value = 0
+        mock_popen.return_value = process_mock
+
+        result = self.adapter.send("test message")
+
+        self.assertEqual(result, "The quick brown fox jumps.")
+
+    @patch('subprocess.Popen')
+    def test_send_handles_tool_use_events(self, mock_popen):
+        """
+        Verify that it correctly handles 'tool_use' events in the stream 
+        by continuing to read until the final 'result' event.
+        """
+        jsonl_output = [
+            json.dumps({"type": "message", "text": "Calling tool..."}),
+            json.dumps({"type": "tool_use", "name": "read_file", "args": {"path": "test.txt"}}),
+            json.dumps({"type": "message", "text": "\nFile read successfully."}),
+            json.dumps({"type": "result", "usage": {}})
+        ]
+        stdout_content = "\n".join(jsonl_output) + "\n"
+
+        process_mock = MagicMock()
+        process_mock.stdout = io.StringIO(stdout_content)
+        process_mock.poll.side_effect = [None, None, None, 0]
+        process_mock.wait.return_value = 0
+        mock_popen.return_value = process_mock
+
+        result = self.adapter.send("read test.txt")
+
+        # Result should contain the combined text from all 'message' events
+        self.assertEqual(result, "Calling tool...\nFile read successfully.")
+
+    @patch('subprocess.Popen')
+    def test_send_captures_usage_metadata(self, mock_popen):
+        """
+        Verify that usage data is extracted from the 'result' event.
+        """
+        usage_data = {"total_tokens": 42}
+        jsonl_output = [
+            json.dumps({"type": "message", "text": "Finalizing"}),
+            json.dumps({"type": "result", "usage": usage_data})
+        ]
+        stdout_content = "\n".join(jsonl_output) + "\n"
+
+        process_mock = MagicMock()
+        process_mock.stdout = io.StringIO(stdout_content)
+        process_mock.poll.side_effect = [None, 0]
+        process_mock.wait.return_value = 0
+        mock_popen.return_value = process_mock
+
+        self.adapter.send("usage test")
+
+        # Verify the usage was captured in the adapter instance
+        self.assertEqual(self.adapter.last_usage, usage_data)
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    unittest.main()