🎥 Gemini-CLI Vision Extension

Webcam + ASL + AI Image + AI Video — all from Gemini-CLI.
Capture frames, interpret American Sign Language, and transform your webcam feed into AI-generated art or animation — entirely by prompt or slash command.

🧠 What It Does

The Gemini-CLI Vision Extension brings real-time visual reasoning to your terminal.

It connects your webcam (or tethered iPhone) to Gemini’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) ecosystem, enabling natural, multimodal interactions such as:

“Can you take a capture of me using device 0?”
“...and use Banana to transform it into a sketch using a fine-point pen.”
“...and then take that sketch and turn it into a music video.”
“Let’s chat in ASL — I’ll sign my question.”

You can issue these commands two ways:

1. Natural Language (NL) — just ask Gemini in plain English.
2. Slash Commands (structured) — use /vision:* commands for precise control.

You can even skip the live camera and use any static image in your working folder.

⚙️ Setup

1. Install

gemini extensions install https://github.com/automateyournetwork/GeminiCLI_Vision_Extension.git

1. Mac Permissions If prompted, allow Camera access to your terminal (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera). Your iPhone or other tethered cameras may appear as extra devices — and yes, you can use them.

🖥️ Core Commands Command Description /vision:devices Discover connected cameras (indexes, resolutions, FPS). Start here. /vision:start Open a selected device. You can specify width, height, fps, and backend. /vision:status Show whether a camera is open and its properties. /vision:capture Capture a single frame and optionally send it directly to Gemini. /vision:burst Capture a sequence of frames (for ASL or motion analysis). /vision:stop Release the camera safely.

You can run these directly, or ask naturally:

“List my available cameras.” “Open my iPhone camera and take a photo.” “Stop the camera.”

🎨 Modalities 1️⃣ Devices Run:

/vision:devices

Lists all available cameras.

✅ macOS: Build in camera usually device 0; iPhone Camera often shows up as device 1.

Example natural language:

“Show me my connected cameras.”

Then:

/vision:start camera_index=0 width=640 height=480 fps=15

2️⃣ Capture Take a single frame:

/vision:capture

or naturally:

“Can you take a capture of me using device 0?”

You’ll get a saved image and an @attachment you can reuse in a follow-up turn.

3️⃣ Banana Mode 🍌 (AI Image Generation) Transform your webcam capture into AI-generated artwork:

/vision:banana "Turn this into a watercolor portrait"

Natural language:

“Take a capture and use Banana to transform it into a sketch using a fine-point pen.”

Behind the scenes:

Captures a frame

Sends it to Gemini 2.5 Flash Image

Saves generated images (e.g. banana_001.png)

Emits @attachments for chaining

Use for:

Style transfers

Poster or thumbnail mockups

Cinematic selfies or sketches

4️⃣ Veo Mode 🎬 (AI Video Generation) Turn stills or Banana images into short AI videos with Veo 3:

/vision:veo "Animate this sketch into a short music video"

or

“...and then take that sketch and turn it into a music video.”

Uses Banana output (or live capture)

Runs Veo 3.0 / 3.1 for image-conditioned generation

Outputs real .mp4 files

Supports aspect_ratio, resolution, seed, and more

5️⃣ ASL Mode 🤟 (American Sign Language) Chat in ASL directly through your webcam:

/vision:asl

Gemini:

Captures a short burst of frames

Transcribes your signing

Responds naturally in English

Use /vision:asl_veo to go further:

Understands your ASL input

Generates an ASL gloss reply

Animates a generic avatar replying in ASL using Veo

Example:

“Let’s chat in ASL — I’ll sign my question.”

🔄 Typical Flow

/vision:devices
/vision:start camera_index=0
/vision:capture
/vision:banana "Make this look like a Pixar movie poster"
/vision:veo "Animate the poster into a trailer opening"
/vision:stop

Or conversationally:

“Open my main camera, take a selfie, turn it into a Pixar-style poster, and animate it into a short trailer.”

🧩 Architecture

flowchart TD
    A[Camera Device(s)\n/webcam/iPhone/static image] -->|/vision:devices| B[Capture]
    B -->|/vision:capture| C[Banana 🍌 AI Image]
    C -->|/vision:veo| D[Veo 🎬 AI Video]
    B -->|/vision:asl| E[ASL 🤟 Interpreter]
    E -->|/vision:asl_veo| F[Veo Avatar Reply in ASL]
    B -->|Attachments| G[Gemini Context / Multimodal Chain]

    subgraph Gemini CLI
    A
    B
    C
    D
    E
    F
    G
    end

Flow Summary:

/vision:devices — detect cameras

/vision:start — open camera

/vision:capture — grab frame

/vision:banana — AI-stylize image

/vision:veo — animate into video

/vision:asl — communicate via ASL

/vision:asl_veo — reply back in sign language

🧠 Under the Hood Runs as an MCP server using FastMCP (no HTTP)

Uses OpenCV for frame capture

Uses Google Gemini 2.5 for image reasoning (Banana)

Uses Veo 3 for AI video generation

Uses Gemini Flash multimodal for ASL understanding

Saves all outputs as real files (.jpg, .png, .mp4) — no base64 bloat

GEMINI_API_KEY and GOOGLE_API_KEY (for Veo3) in your environment

🛡️ Safety Always obtain consent before capturing people.

Stop your camera when done (/vision:stop).

Avoid personal likeness prompts in Veo.

Use safe, creative prompt phrasing.

💡 Example Prompts Natural Language

“Can you take a capture of me using device 0?” “Make this capture look like a pencil sketch.” “Animate this into a 10-second video.” “Let’s chat in ASL.”

Slash Command

/vision:capture
/vision:banana "Sketch in fine point pen"
/vision:veo "Turn it into a music video"
/vision:asl_veo duration_ms=20000 aspect_ratio="16:9" resolution="1080p"

👤 Author John Capobianco Head of Developer Relations — Selector AI

📍 Creator of the Gemini-CLI multimodal suite: /talk, /listen, /vision, /computeruse, /packet_buddy, /subnetcalculator, /file_search

“The CLI is dead — long live the multimodal CLI.”

🎬 Demo Video

Check out this quick walkthrough showing the Vision Extension in action—webcam capture, Banana (image generation), and Veo (video generation).

https://youtu.be/0LIPzVDF4LU?si=upktxT1c-AxY3z2a