Specification: Gemini CLI Headless Integration

Overview

This track integrates the gemini CLI as a headless backend provider for Manual Slop. This allows users to leverage their Gemini subscription and the CLI's advanced features (e.g., specialized sub-agents like codebase_investigator, structured JSON streaming, and robust session management) directly within the Manual Slop GUI.

Goals

Add "Gemini CLI" as a selectable AI provider in Manual Slop.
Support both persistent interactive sessions and one-off task-specific delegation (e.g., running gemini investigate).
Implement a secure "BeforeTool" hook to ensure all CLI-initiated tool calls are intercepted and confirmed via the Manual Slop GUI.
Capture and display the CLI's visually enriched output (via JSONL stream) within the existing discussion history.

Functional Requirements

1. Gemini CLI Provider Adapter

Implementation: Create a GeminiCliAdapter class (or extend ai_client.py) that wraps the gemini CLI subprocess.
Communication: Use --output-format stream-json to receive real-time updates (text chunks, tool calls, status).
Session Management: Support session persistence by tracking the session ID and passing it to subsequent CLI calls.
Authentication:
- Provide a "Login to Gemini CLI" action in the GUI that triggers gemini login.
- Support passing an API key via environment variables if configured in manual_slop.toml.

2. GUI Intercepted Tool Execution

Mechanism: Use the Gemini CLI's BeforeTool hook.
Hook Helper: A small Python script scripts/cli_tool_bridge.py will be registered as the BeforeTool hook.
IPC: This bridge script will communicate with Manual Slop's HookServer (extending it to support synchronous "ask" requests).
Confirmation: When a tool is requested, the bridge blocks until the user confirms/denies the action in the GUI, returning the decision as JSON to the CLI.

3. Visual & Telemetry Integration

Rich Output: Parse the stream-json events to display markdown content and tool status in the GUI.
Telemetry: Extract and display token usage and latency metrics provided by the CLI's result event.

Non-Functional Requirements

Performance: The subprocess bridge should introduce minimal latency (<100ms overhead for communication).
Reliability: Gracefully handle CLI crashes or timeouts by reporting errors in the GUI and allowing session resets.

Acceptance Criteria

User can select "Gemini CLI" in the Provider dropdown.
User can successfully send messages and receive streamed responses from the CLI.
Any tool call (PowerShell/MCP) initiated by the CLI triggers the standard Manual Slop confirmation modal.
Tools only execute after user approval; rejection correctly notifies the CLI agent.
Session history is maintained correctly across multiple turns when using the CLI provider.

Out of Scope

Full terminal emulation (ANSI color support) within the GUI; the focus is on structured text and data.
Migrating existing raw client_api sessions to CLI sessions.

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