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gemini-cli: native keytar module fails to load on macOS #277548

@stevenzeck

Description

@stevenzeck

brew config AND brew doctor output OR brew gist-logs <formula> link

HOMEBREW_VERSION: 5.1.6
ORIGIN: https://github.com/Homebrew/brew
HEAD: 299ab19496df6fc76e8356c0b87100ff91ef827e
Last commit: 27 hours ago
Branch: stable
Core tap JSON: 13 Apr 23:07 UTC
Core cask tap JSON: 13 Apr 23:07 UTC
HOMEBREW_PREFIX: /opt/homebrew
HOMEBREW_CASK_OPTS: []
HOMEBREW_DOWNLOAD_CONCURRENCY: 20
HOMEBREW_FORBID_PACKAGES_FROM_PATHS: set
HOMEBREW_MAKE_JOBS: 10
Homebrew Ruby: 4.0.2 => /opt/homebrew/Library/Homebrew/vendor/portable-ruby/4.0.2_1/bin/ruby
CPU: deca-core 64-bit arm_donan
Clang: 21.0.0 build 2100
Git: 2.50.1 => /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/git
Curl: 8.7.1 => /usr/bin/curl
macOS: 26.4.1-arm64
CLT: 26.4.0.0.1774242506
Xcode: 26.4
Metal Toolchain: N/A
Rosetta 2: false

Verification

  • My brew doctor output says Your system is ready to brew. and am still able to reproduce my issue.
  • I ran brew update and am still able to reproduce my issue.
  • I have resolved all warnings from brew doctor and that did not fix my problem.
  • I searched for recent similar issues at https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/issues?q=is%3Aissue and found no duplicates.
  • My issue is not about a failure to build a formula from source.

What were you trying to do (and why)?

Use gemini-cli installed via Homebrew.

What happened (include all command output)?

When running gemini commands, they run, but they also include this warning:

Keychain initialization encountered an error: Cannot find module '../build/Release/keytar.node'
Require stack:
- /opt/homebrew/Cellar/gemini-cli/0.37.1/libexec/lib/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli/node_modules/keytar/lib/keytar.js
Using FileKeychain fallback for secure storage.
Loaded cached credentials.

What did you expect to happen?

That warning message shouldn't be there. The gemini-cli installed via Homebrew should correctly compile and link the @github/keytar native module during installation, enabling native macOS Keychain support and eliminating the fallback error.

Step-by-step reproduction instructions (by running brew commands)

1. `brew install gemini-cli`
2. `gemini --list-sessions`

Result:

No previous sessions found for this project.Keychain initialization encountered an error: Cannot find module '../build/Release/keytar.node'
Require stack:
- /opt/homebrew/Cellar/gemini-cli/0.37.1/libexec/lib/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli/node_modules/keytar/lib/keytar.js
Using FileKeychain fallback for secure storage.
Loaded cached credentials.

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