Gemini CLI Built the Ask‑User UI That MCP Elicitation Still Needs

Elicitation is the moment an agent has to stop and ask you a question — a human speed bump that keeps automation honest. This week, Gemini CLI users reported MCP servers failing with a “Method not found” error when elicitation is required. But inside the Gemini CLI codebase, the missing UI is already there: a full ask‑user dialog with review and safety cues.

In Gemini CLI, tool confirmations branch into an ask_user path that renders AskUserDialog directly. That dialog isn’t a toy. It’s a multi‑step prompt flow with a review screen, warnings for unanswered questions, and keyboard‑driven navigation. In other words, it’s already built to satisfy the MCP spec’s requirement that clients present clear, reviewable user interactions for elicitation.

Meanwhile, Codex already treats MCP elicitation as a first‑class workflow. Its MCP connection manager queues elicitation requests and emits an ElicitationRequest event for the UI to resolve. The Codex shell‑tool MCP server even uses elicitation as the approval gate for “prompt” decisions before escalating commands outside the sandbox.

The contrast is revealing: Gemini is investing in human‑grade interaction primitives inside the terminal, but its MCP client path still breaks when a server asks for input mid‑tool. Codex is doing the opposite — the protocol plumbing exists, and the UI pathways already know how to handle the request. Two stacks, same destination, different order of operations.

Why it matters: MCP adoption is accelerating because it’s the “universal power adapter” for tools, but the real trust checkpoint is elicitation. Gemini’s AskUserDialog suggests the UI foundation is ready; wiring it into MCP would turn a brittle protocol edge into a confident, human‑in‑the‑loop experience.

Open question: once Gemini CLI’s MCP client can surface elicitation requests, will it become the default safe‑prompt UX for the whole ecosystem? If you’re building MCP servers or CLI agents, now’s the moment to pressure‑test your elicitation flows and share what breaks.

Sources

• Gemini CLI ask_user → AskUserDialog: packages/cli/src/ui/components/messages/ToolConfirmationMessage.tsx
• AskUserDialog review UI: packages/cli/src/ui/components/AskUserDialog.tsx
• Codex MCP elicitation dispatch: codex-rs/core/src/mcp_connection_manager.rs
• Codex shell-tool MCP elicitation approvals: shell-tool-mcp/README.md
• MCP elicitation spec: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25/client/elicitation
• Gemini CLI MCP docs: https://geminicli.com/docs/tools/mcp-server/
• Gemini CLI community overview: https://dev.to/googleai/getting-started-with-gemini-cli-17nm
• Gemini CLI issue (elicitation error): https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/issues/22249