Gemini CLI Configuration

Note on New Configuration Format

The format of the settings.json file has been updated to a new, more organized structure.

• The new format will be supported in the stable release starting [09/10/25].
• Automatic migration from the old format to the new format will begin on [09/17/25].

For details on the previous format, please see the v1 Configuration documentation.

Gemini CLI offers several ways to configure its behavior, including environment variables, command-line arguments, and settings files. This document outlines the different configuration methods and available settings.

Configuration layers

Configuration is applied in the following order of precedence (lower numbers are overridden by higher numbers):

1. Default values: Hardcoded defaults within the application.
2. System defaults file: System-wide default settings that can be overridden by other settings files.
3. User settings file: Global settings for the current user.
4. Project settings file: Project-specific settings.
5. System settings file: System-wide settings that override all other settings files.
6. Environment variables: System-wide or session-specific variables, potentially loaded from .env files.
7. Command-line arguments: Values passed when launching the CLI.

Settings files

Gemini CLI uses JSON settings files for persistent configuration. There are four locations for these files:

• System defaults file:
  • Location: /etc/gemini-cli/system-defaults.json (Linux), C:\ProgramData\gemini-cli\system-defaults.json (Windows) or /Library/Application Support/GeminiCli/system-defaults.json (macOS). The path can be overridden using the GEMINI_CLI_SYSTEM_DEFAULTS_PATH environment variable.
  • Scope: Provides a base layer of system-wide default settings. These settings have the lowest precedence and are intended to be overridden by user, project, or system override settings.
• User settings file:
  • Location: ~/.gemini/settings.json (where ~ is your home directory).
  • Scope: Applies to all Gemini CLI sessions for the current user. User settings override system defaults.
• Project settings file:
  • Location: .gemini/settings.json within your project's root directory.
  • Scope: Applies only when running Gemini CLI from that specific project. Project settings override user settings and system defaults.
• System settings file:
  • Location: /etc/gemini-cli/settings.json (Linux), C:\ProgramData\gemini-cli\settings.json (Windows) or /Library/Application Support/GeminiCli/settings.json (macOS). The path can be overridden using the GEMINI_CLI_SYSTEM_SETTINGS_PATH environment variable.
  • Scope: Applies to all Gemini CLI sessions on the system, for all users. System settings act as overrides, taking precedence over all other settings files. May be useful for system administrators at enterprises to have controls over users' Gemini CLI setups.

Note on environment variables in settings: String values within your settings.json files can reference environment variables using either $VAR_NAME or ${VAR_NAME} syntax. These variables will be automatically resolved when the settings are loaded. For example, if you have an environment variable MY_API_TOKEN, you could use it in settings.json like this: "apiKey": "$MY_API_TOKEN".

Note for Enterprise Users: For guidance on deploying and managing Gemini CLI in a corporate environment, please see the Enterprise Configuration documentation.

The .gemini directory in your project

In addition to a project settings file, a project's .gemini directory can contain other project-specific files related to Gemini CLI's operation, such as:

• Custom sandbox profiles (e.g., .gemini/sandbox-macos-custom.sb, .gemini/sandbox.Dockerfile).

Available settings in settings.json

Settings are organized into categories. All settings should be placed within their corresponding top-level category object in your settings.json file.

general

• general.preferredEditor (string):

  • Description: The preferred editor to open files in.
  • Default: undefined

• general.vimMode (boolean):

  • Description: Enable Vim keybindings.
  • Default: false

• general.disableAutoUpdate (boolean):

  • Description: Disable automatic updates.
  • Default: false

• general.disableUpdateNag (boolean):

  • Description: Disable update notification prompts.
  • Default: false

• general.checkpointing.enabled (boolean):

  • Description: Enable session checkpointing for recovery.
  • Default: false

ui

• ui.theme (string):

  • Description: The color theme for the UI. See Themes for available options.
  • Default: undefined

• ui.customThemes (object):

  • Description: Custom theme definitions.
  • Default: {}

• ui.hideWindowTitle (boolean):

  • Description: Hide the window title bar.
  • Default: false

• ui.hideTips (boolean):

  • Description: Hide helpful tips in the UI.
  • Default: false

• ui.hideBanner (boolean):

  • Description: Hide the application banner.
  • Default: false

• ui.hideFooter (boolean):

  • Description: Hide the footer from the UI.
  • Default: false

• ui.showMemoryUsage (boolean):

  • Description: Display memory usage information in the UI.
  • Default: false

• ui.showLineNumbers (boolean):

  • Description: Show line numbers in the chat.
  • Default: false

• ui.showCitations (boolean):

  • Description: Show citations for generated text in the chat.
  • Default: false

• ui.accessibility.disableLoadingPhrases (boolean):

  • Description: Disable loading phrases for accessibility.
  • Default: false

ide

• ide.enabled (boolean):

  • Description: Enable IDE integration mode.
  • Default: false

• ide.hasSeenNudge (boolean):

  • Description: Whether the user has seen the IDE integration nudge.
  • Default: false

privacy

• privacy.usageStatisticsEnabled (boolean):
  • Description: Enable collection of usage statistics.
  • Default: true

model

• model.name (string):

  • Description: The Gemini model to use for conversations.
  • Default: undefined

• model.maxSessionTurns (number):

  • Description: Maximum number of user/model/tool turns to keep in a session. -1 means unlimited.
  • Default: -1

• model.summarizeToolOutput (object):

  • Description: Enables or disables the summarization of tool output. You can specify the token budget for the summarization using the tokenBudget setting. Note: Currently only the run_shell_command tool is supported. For example {"run_shell_command": {"tokenBudget": 2000}}
  • Default: undefined

• model.chatCompression.contextPercentageThreshold (number):

  • Description: Sets the threshold for chat history compression as a percentage of the model's total token limit. This is a value between 0 and 1 that applies to both automatic compression and the manual /compress command. For example, a value of 0.6 will trigger compression when the chat history exceeds 60% of the token limit.
  • Default: 0.7

• model.skipNextSpeakerCheck (boolean):

  • Description: Skip the next speaker check.
  • Default: false

context

• context.fileName (string or array of strings):

  • Description: The name of the context file(s).
  • Default: undefined

• context.importFormat (string):

  • Description: The format to use when importing memory.
  • Default: undefined

• context.discoveryMaxDirs (number):

  • Description: Maximum number of directories to search for memory.
  • Default: 200

• context.includeDirectories (array):

  • Description: Additional directories to include in the workspace context. Missing directories will be skipped with a warning.
  • Default: []

• context.loadFromIncludeDirectories (boolean):

  • Description: Controls the behavior of the /memory refresh command. If set to true, GEMINI.md files should be loaded from all directories that are added. If set to false, GEMINI.md should only be loaded from the current directory.
  • Default: false

• context.fileFiltering.respectGitIgnore (boolean):

  • Description: Respect .gitignore files when searching.
  • Default: true

• context.fileFiltering.respectGeminiIgnore (boolean):

  • Description: Respect .geminiignore files when searching.
  • Default: true

• context.fileFiltering.enableRecursiveFileSearch (boolean):

  • Description: Whether to enable searching recursively for filenames under the current tree when completing @ prefixes in the prompt.
  • Default: true

tools

• tools.sandbox (boolean or string):

  • Description: Sandbox execution environment (can be a boolean or a path string).
  • Default: undefined

• tools.usePty (boolean):

  • Description: Use node-pty for shell command execution. Fallback to child_process still applies.
  • Default: false

• tools.core (array of strings):

  • Description: This can be used to restrict the set of built-in tools with an allowlist. See Built-in Tools for a list of core tools. The match semantics are the same as tools.allowed.
  • Default: undefined

• tools.exclude (array of strings):

  • Description: Tool names to exclude from discovery.
  • Default: undefined

• tools.allowed (array of strings):

  • Description: A list of tool names that will bypass the confirmation dialog. This is useful for tools that you trust and use frequently. For example, ["run_shell_command(git)", "run_shell_command(npm test)"] will skip the confirmation dialog to run any git and npm test commands. See Shell Tool command restrictions for details on prefix matching, command chaining, etc.
  • Default: undefined

• tools.discoveryCommand (string):

  • Description: Command to run for tool discovery.
  • Default: undefined

• tools.callCommand (string):

  • Description: Defines a custom shell command for calling a specific tool that was discovered using tools.discoveryCommand. The shell command must meet the following criteria:
    • It must take function name (exactly as in function declaration) as first command line argument.
    • It must read function arguments as JSON on stdin, analogous to functionCall.args.
    • It must return function output as JSON on stdout, analogous to functionResponse.response.content.
  • Default: undefined

mcp

• mcp.serverCommand (string):

  • Description: Command to start an MCP server.
  • Default: undefined

• mcp.allowed (array of strings):

  • Description: An allowlist of MCP servers to allow.
  • Default: undefined

• mcp.excluded (array of strings):

  • Description: A denylist of MCP servers to exclude.
  • Default: undefined

security

• security.folderTrust.enabled (boolean):

  • Description: Setting to track whether Folder trust is enabled.
  • Default: false

• security.auth.selectedType (string):

  • Description: The currently selected authentication type.
  • Default: undefined

• security.auth.enforcedType (string):

  • Description: The required auth type (useful for enterprises).
  • Default: undefined

• security.auth.useExternal (boolean):

  • Description: Whether to use an external authentication flow.
  • Default: undefined

advanced

• advanced.autoConfigureMemory (boolean):

  • Description: Automatically configure Node.js memory limits.
  • Default: false

• advanced.dnsResolutionOrder (string):

  • Description: The DNS resolution order.
  • Default: undefined

• advanced.excludedEnvVars (array of strings):

  • Description: Environment variables to exclude from project context.
  • Default: ["DEBUG","DEBUG_MODE"]

• advanced.bugCommand (object):

  • Description: Configuration for the bug report command.
  • Default: undefined

mcpServers

Configures connections to one or more Model-Context Protocol (MCP) servers for discovering and using custom tools. Gemini CLI attempts to connect to each configured MCP server to discover available tools. If multiple MCP servers expose a tool with the same name, the tool names will be prefixed with the server alias you defined in the configuration (e.g., serverAlias__actualToolName) to avoid conflicts. Note that the system might strip certain schema properties from MCP tool definitions for compatibility. At least one of command, url, or httpUrl must be provided. If multiple are specified, the order of precedence is httpUrl, then url, then command.

• mcpServers.<SERVER_NAME> (object): The server parameters for the named server.
  • command (string, optional): The command to execute to start the MCP server via standard I/O.
  • args (array of strings, optional): Arguments to pass to the command.
  • env (object, optional): Environment variables to set for the server process.
  • cwd (string, optional): The working directory in which to start the server.
  • url (string, optional): The URL of an MCP server that uses Server-Sent Events (SSE) for communication.
  • httpUrl (string, optional): The URL of an MCP server that uses streamable HTTP for communication.
  • headers (object, optional): A map of HTTP headers to send with requests to url or httpUrl.
  • timeout (number, optional): Timeout in milliseconds for requests to this MCP server.
  • trust (boolean, optional): Trust this server and bypass all tool call confirmations.
  • description (string, optional): A brief description of the server, which may be used for display purposes.
  • includeTools (array of strings, optional): List of tool names to include from this MCP server. When specified, only the tools listed here will be available from this server (allowlist behavior). If not specified, all tools from the server are enabled by default.
  • excludeTools (array of strings, optional): List of tool names to exclude from this MCP server. Tools listed here will not be available to the model, even if they are exposed by the server. Note: excludeTools takes precedence over includeTools - if a tool is in both lists, it will be excluded.

telemetry

Configures logging and metrics collection for Gemini CLI. For more information, see Telemetry.

• Properties:
  • enabled (boolean): Whether or not telemetry is enabled.
  • target (string): The destination for collected telemetry. Supported values are local and gcp.
  • otlpEndpoint (string): The endpoint for the OTLP Exporter.
  • otlpProtocol (string): The protocol for the OTLP Exporter (grpc or http).
  • logPrompts (boolean): Whether or not to include the content of user prompts in the logs.
  • outfile (string): The file to write telemetry to when target is local.

Example settings.json

Here is an example of a settings.json file with the nested structure, new as of v0.3.0:

{
  "general": {
    "vimMode": true,
    "preferredEditor": "code"
  },
  "ui": {
    "theme": "GitHub",
    "hideBanner": true,
    "hideTips": false
  },
  "tools": {
    "sandbox": "docker",
    "discoveryCommand": "bin/get_tools",
    "callCommand": "bin/call_tool",
    "exclude": ["write_file"]
  },
  "mcpServers": {
    "mainServer": {
      "command": "bin/mcp_server.py"
    },
    "anotherServer": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["mcp_server.js", "--verbose"]
    }
  },
  "telemetry": {
    "enabled": true,
    "target": "local",
    "otlpEndpoint": "http://localhost:4317",
    "logPrompts": true
  },
  "privacy": {
    "usageStatisticsEnabled": true
  },
  "model": {
    "name": "gemini-1.5-pro-latest",
    "maxSessionTurns": 10,
    "summarizeToolOutput": {
      "run_shell_command": {
        "tokenBudget": 100
      }
    }
  },
  "context": {
    "fileName": ["CONTEXT.md", "GEMINI.md"],
    "includeDirectories": ["path/to/dir1", "~/path/to/dir2", "../path/to/dir3"],
    "loadFromIncludeDirectories": true,
    "fileFiltering": {
      "respectGitIgnore": false
    }
  },
  "advanced": {
    "excludedEnvVars": ["DEBUG", "DEBUG_MODE", "NODE_ENV"]
  }
}

Shell History

The CLI keeps a history of shell commands you run. To avoid conflicts between different projects, this history is stored in a project-specific directory within your user's home folder.

• Location: ~/.gemini/tmp/<project_hash>/shell_history
  • <project_hash> is a unique identifier generated from your project's root path.
  • The history is stored in a file named shell_history.

Environment Variables & .env Files

Environment variables are a common way to configure applications, especially for sensitive information like API keys or for settings that might change between environments. For authentication setup, see the Authentication documentation which covers all available authentication methods.

The CLI automatically loads environment variables from an .env file. The loading order is:

1. .env file in the current working directory.
2. If not found, it searches upwards in parent directories until it finds an .env file or reaches the project root (identified by a .git folder) or the home directory.
3. If still not found, it looks for ~/.env (in the user's home directory).

Environment Variable Exclusion: Some environment variables (like DEBUG and DEBUG_MODE) are automatically excluded from being loaded from project .env files to prevent interference with gemini-cli behavior. Variables from .gemini/.env files are never excluded. You can customize this behavior using the advanced.excludedEnvVars setting in your settings.json file.

• GEMINI_API_KEY:
  • Your API key for the Gemini API.
  • One of several available authentication methods.
  • Set this in your shell profile (e.g., ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshrc) or an .env file.
• GEMINI_MODEL:
  • Specifies the default Gemini model to use.
  • Overrides the hardcoded default
  • Example: export GEMINI_MODEL="gemini-2.5-flash"
• GOOGLE_API_KEY:
  • Your Google Cloud API key.
  • Required for using Vertex AI in express mode.
  • Ensure you have the necessary permissions.
  • Example: export GOOGLE_API_KEY="YOUR_GOOGLE_API_KEY".
• GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT:
  • Your Google Cloud Project ID.
  • Required for using Code Assist or Vertex AI.
  • If using Vertex AI, ensure you have the necessary permissions in this project.
  • Cloud Shell Note: When running in a Cloud Shell environment, this variable defaults to a special project allocated for Cloud Shell users. If you have GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT set in your global environment in Cloud Shell, it will be overridden by this default. To use a different project in Cloud Shell, you must define GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT in a .env file.
  • Example: export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT="YOUR_PROJECT_ID".
• GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS (string):
  • Description: The path to your Google Application Credentials JSON file.
  • Example: export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="/path/to/your/credentials.json"
• OTLP_GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT:
  • Your Google Cloud Project ID for Telemetry in Google Cloud
  • Example: export OTLP_GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT="YOUR_PROJECT_ID".
• GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION:
  • Your Google Cloud Project Location (e.g., us-central1).
  • Required for using Vertex AI in non express mode.
  • Example: export GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION="YOUR_PROJECT_LOCATION".
• GEMINI_SANDBOX:
  • Alternative to the sandbox setting in settings.json.
  • Accepts true, false, docker, podman, or a custom command string.
• SEATBELT_PROFILE (macOS specific):
  • Switches the Seatbelt (sandbox-exec) profile on macOS.
  • permissive-open: (Default) Restricts writes to the project folder (and a few other folders, see packages/cli/src/utils/sandbox-macos-permissive-open.sb) but allows other operations.
  • strict: Uses a strict profile that declines operations by default.
  • <profile_name>: Uses a custom profile. To define a custom profile, create a file named sandbox-macos-<profile_name>.sb in your project's .gemini/ directory (e.g., my-project/.gemini/sandbox-macos-custom.sb).
• DEBUG or DEBUG_MODE (often used by underlying libraries or the CLI itself):
  • Set to true or 1 to enable verbose debug logging, which can be helpful for troubleshooting.
  • Note: These variables are automatically excluded from project .env files by default to prevent interference with gemini-cli behavior. Use .gemini/.env files if you need to set these for gemini-cli specifically.
• NO_COLOR:
  • Set to any value to disable all color output in the CLI.
• CLI_TITLE:
  • Set to a string to customize the title of the CLI.
• CODE_ASSIST_ENDPOINT:
  • Specifies the endpoint for the code assist server.
  • This is useful for development and testing.

Command-Line Arguments

Arguments passed directly when running the CLI can override other configurations for that specific session.

• --model <model_name> (-m <model_name>):
  • Specifies the Gemini model to use for this session.
  • Example: npm start -- --model gemini-1.5-pro-latest
• --prompt <your_prompt> (-p <your_prompt>):
  • Used to pass a prompt directly to the command. This invokes Gemini CLI in a non-interactive mode.
• --prompt-interactive <your_prompt> (-i <your_prompt>):
  • Starts an interactive session with the provided prompt as the initial input.
  • The prompt is processed within the interactive session, not before it.
  • Cannot be used when piping input from stdin.
  • Example: gemini -i "explain this code"
• --sandbox (-s):
  • Enables sandbox mode for this session.
• --sandbox-image:
  • Sets the sandbox image URI.
• --debug (-d):
  • Enables debug mode for this session, providing more verbose output.
• --all-files (-a):
  • If set, recursively includes all files within the current directory as context for the prompt.
• --help (or -h):
  • Displays help information about command-line arguments.
• --show-memory-usage:
  • Displays the current memory usage.
• --yolo:
  • Enables YOLO mode, which automatically approves all tool calls.
• --approval-mode <mode>:
  • Sets the approval mode for tool calls. Available modes:
    • default: Prompt for approval on each tool call (default behavior)
    • auto_edit: Automatically approve edit tools (replace, write_file) while prompting for others
    • yolo: Automatically approve all tool calls (equivalent to --yolo)
  • Cannot be used together with --yolo. Use --approval-mode=yolo instead of --yolo for the new unified approach.
  • Example: gemini --approval-mode auto_edit
• --allowed-tools <tool1,tool2,...>:
  • A comma-separated list of tool names that will bypass the confirmation dialog.
  • Example: gemini --allowed-tools "ShellTool(git status)"
• --telemetry:
  • Enables telemetry.
• --telemetry-target:
  • Sets the telemetry target. See telemetry for more information.
• --telemetry-otlp-endpoint:
  • Sets the OTLP endpoint for telemetry. See telemetry for more information.
• --telemetry-otlp-protocol:
  • Sets the OTLP protocol for telemetry (grpc or http). Defaults to grpc. See telemetry for more information.
• --telemetry-log-prompts:
  • Enables logging of prompts for telemetry. See telemetry for more information.
• --checkpointing:
  • Enables checkpointing.
• --extensions <extension_name ...> (-e <extension_name ...>):
  • Specifies a list of extensions to use for the session. If not provided, all available extensions are used.
  • Use the special term gemini -e none to disable all extensions.
  • Example: gemini -e my-extension -e my-other-extension
• --list-extensions (-l):
  • Lists all available extensions and exits.
• --proxy:
  • Sets the proxy for the CLI.
  • Example: --proxy http://localhost:7890.
• --include-directories <dir1,dir2,...>:
  • Includes additional directories in the workspace for multi-directory support.
  • Can be specified multiple times or as comma-separated values.
  • 5 directories can be added at maximum.
  • Example: --include-directories /path/to/project1,/path/to/project2 or --include-directories /path/to/project1 --include-directories /path/to/project2
• --screen-reader:
  • Enables screen reader mode, which adjusts the TUI for better compatibility with screen readers.
• --version:
  • Displays the version of the CLI.

Context Files (Hierarchical Instructional Context)

While not strictly configuration for the CLI's behavior, context files (defaulting to GEMINI.md but configurable via the context.fileName setting) are crucial for configuring the instructional context (also referred to as "memory") provided to the Gemini model. This powerful feature allows you to give project-specific instructions, coding style guides, or any relevant background information to the AI, making its responses more tailored and accurate to your needs. The CLI includes UI elements, such as an indicator in the footer showing the number of loaded context files, to keep you informed about the active context.

• Purpose: These Markdown files contain instructions, guidelines, or context that you want the Gemini model to be aware of during your interactions. The system is designed to manage this instructional context hierarchically.

Example Context File Content (e.g., GEMINI.md)

Here's a conceptual example of what a context file at the root of a TypeScript project might contain:

# Project: My Awesome TypeScript Library

## General Instructions:

- When generating new TypeScript code, please follow the existing coding style.
- Ensure all new functions and classes have JSDoc comments.
- Prefer functional programming paradigms where appropriate.
- All code should be compatible with TypeScript 5.0 and Node.js 20+.

## Coding Style:

- Use 2 spaces for indentation.
- Interface names should be prefixed with `I` (e.g., `IUserService`).
- Private class members should be prefixed with an underscore (`_`).
- Always use strict equality (`===` and `!==`).

## Specific Component: `src/api/client.ts`

- This file handles all outbound API requests.
- When adding new API call functions, ensure they include robust error handling and logging.
- Use the existing `fetchWithRetry` utility for all GET requests.

## Regarding Dependencies:

- Avoid introducing new external dependencies unless absolutely necessary.
- If a new dependency is required, please state the reason.

This example demonstrates how you can provide general project context, specific coding conventions, and even notes about particular files or components. The more relevant and precise your context files are, the better the AI can assist you. Project-specific context files are highly encouraged to establish conventions and context.

• Hierarchical Loading and Precedence: The CLI implements a sophisticated hierarchical memory system by loading context files (e.g., GEMINI.md) from several locations. Content from files lower in this list (more specific) typically overrides or supplements content from files higher up (more general). The exact concatenation order and final context can be inspected using the /memory show command. The typical loading order is:
  1. Global Context File:
     • Location: ~/.gemini/<configured-context-filename> (e.g., ~/.gemini/GEMINI.md in your user home directory).
     • Scope: Provides default instructions for all your projects.
  2. Project Root & Ancestors Context Files:
     • Location: The CLI searches for the configured context file in the current working directory and then in each parent directory up to either the project root (identified by a .git folder) or your home directory.
     • Scope: Provides context relevant to the entire project or a significant portion of it.
  3. Sub-directory Context Files (Contextual/Local):
     • Location: The CLI also scans for the configured context file in subdirectories below the current working directory (respecting common ignore patterns like node_modules, .git, etc.). The breadth of this search is limited to 200 directories by default, but can be configured with the context.discoveryMaxDirs setting in your settings.json file.
     • Scope: Allows for highly specific instructions relevant to a particular component, module, or subsection of your project.
• Concatenation & UI Indication: The contents of all found context files are concatenated (with separators indicating their origin and path) and provided as part of the system prompt to the Gemini model. The CLI footer displays the count of loaded context files, giving you a quick visual cue about the active instructional context.
• Importing Content: You can modularize your context files by importing other Markdown files using the @path/to/file.md syntax. For more details, see the Memory Import Processor documentation.
• Commands for Memory Management:
  • Use /memory refresh to force a re-scan and reload of all context files from all configured locations. This updates the AI's instructional context.
  • Use /memory show to display the combined instructional context currently loaded, allowing you to verify the hierarchy and content being used by the AI.
  • See the Commands documentation for full details on the /memory command and its sub-commands (show and refresh).

By understanding and utilizing these configuration layers and the hierarchical nature of context files, you can effectively manage the AI's memory and tailor the Gemini CLI's responses to your specific needs and projects.

Sandboxing

The Gemini CLI can execute potentially unsafe operations (like shell commands and file modifications) within a sandboxed environment to protect your system.

Sandboxing is disabled by default, but you can enable it in a few ways:

• Using --sandbox or -s flag.
• Setting GEMINI_SANDBOX environment variable.
• Sandbox is enabled when using --yolo or --approval-mode=yolo by default.

By default, it uses a pre-built gemini-cli-sandbox Docker image.

For project-specific sandboxing needs, you can create a custom Dockerfile at .gemini/sandbox.Dockerfile in your project's root directory. This Dockerfile can be based on the base sandbox image:

FROM gemini-cli-sandbox

# Add your custom dependencies or configurations here
# For example:
# RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y some-package
# COPY ./my-config /app/my-config

When .gemini/sandbox.Dockerfile exists, you can use BUILD_SANDBOX environment variable when running Gemini CLI to automatically build the custom sandbox image:

BUILD_SANDBOX=1 gemini -s

Usage Statistics

To help us improve the Gemini CLI, we collect anonymized usage statistics. This data helps us understand how the CLI is used, identify common issues, and prioritize new features.

What we collect:

• Tool Calls: We log the names of the tools that are called, whether they succeed or fail, and how long they take to execute. We do not collect the arguments passed to the tools or any data returned by them.
• API Requests: We log the Gemini model used for each request, the duration of the request, and whether it was successful. We do not collect the content of the prompts or responses.
• Session Information: We collect information about the configuration of the CLI, such as the enabled tools and the approval mode.

What we DON'T collect:

• Personally Identifiable Information (PII): We do not collect any personal information, such as your name, email address, or API keys.
• Prompt and Response Content: We do not log the content of your prompts or the responses from the Gemini model.
• File Content: We do not log the content of any files that are read or written by the CLI.

How to opt out:

You can opt out of usage statistics collection at any time by setting the usageStatisticsEnabled property to false under the privacy category in your settings.json file:

{
  "privacy": {
    "usageStatisticsEnabled": false
  }
}