Google just made its biggest play yet in the AI coding wars. The company launched Jules Tools - a command-line interface and public API that plugs its coding agent directly into developer terminals, CI/CD pipelines, and tools like Slack. This marks a strategic shift from web-only access to deep workflow integration, as tech giants race to own the future of AI-assisted software development.
Google just fired a major shot in the AI coding assistant wars. The search giant's Jules coding agent is breaking out of its web-only prison with new command-line tools and a public API that let developers plug it directly into their existing workflows.
Until now, Jules - Google's asynchronous coding agent - lived exclusively on its website and GitHub. But on Thursday, the company unveiled Jules Tools, a CLI that brings the AI agent right into developer terminals. No more context switching between browser tabs and GitHub repos. Developers can now delegate coding tasks and validate results without ever leaving their command line environment.
"We want to reduce context switching for developers as much as possible," Kathy Korevec, director of product at Google Labs, told TechCrunch. It's a smart move that addresses one of the biggest friction points developers face when using AI coding tools.
But here's where it gets interesting - Google already has Gemini CLI, another AI command-line tool powered by the same Gemini 2.5 Pro model. So why launch Jules Tools? Korevec explains that Jules is designed for "very scoped tasks" while Gemini CLI requires users to be "a lot more iterative." Think of Jules as the focused specialist versus Gemini's generalist approach.
The real game-changer is the newly public API. Google had been using it internally, but now developers can integrate Jules with their IDEs, CI/CD systems, and basically anywhere they want AI coding assistance. VSCode integration? Check. Slack workflows? Possible. Custom toolchain plugins? All on the table.
"Developers can extend the tool into their existing workflows where they have a lot of muscle memory and familiarity," Korevec said. It's exactly the kind of deep integration that could give Jules an edge over competitors like GitHub Copilot, which operates more as a suggestion engine than a workflow-integrated agent.
The timing isn't coincidental. Microsoft's GitHub Copilot dominates the AI coding space, while pushes CodeWhisperer and experiments with coding capabilities in ChatGPT. Every major tech company wants to own the developer relationship, and coding assistants are becoming the battleground.