CLI crashes on startup when GEMINI_API_KEY contains special characters

[LUNCInsights]

Bug Report

The CLI fails to parse GEMINI_API_KEY when it contains special characters like = or +.

Version: 0.1.x
OS: Ubuntu 22.04

Steps to reproduce

1. export GEMINI_API_KEY="abc+def=ghi"
2. gemini "hello"
3. Observe: ParseError: invalid key format

Expected behavior

CLI should handle URL-safe base64 characters in API keys.

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[gemini-cli]

This is a bug causing startup crashes for certain API keys. Please provide your exact CLI version and verify if this persists in the latest release (0.55.0) as the reported version 0.1.x is outdated.

[MrTig-afk]

Hey this looks like an issue I'd like to solve as I use the CLI quite often, can I please work on this?

[MrTig-afk]

/assign

[gemini-cli]

👋 @MrTig-afk, thanks for your interest in this issue! We're reserving self-assignment for issues that have been marked with the help wanted label. Feel free to check out our list of issues that need attention.