Setting the file. One moment.
Subchapter 12.4
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Skills speak in actions (“dispatch a subagent”, “create a todo”, “read a file”). On Gemini CLI these resolve to the tools below.
| Action skills request | Gemini CLI equivalent |
|---|
| Read a file | read_file |
| Read multiple files at once | read_many_files |
| Create a new file | write_file |
| Edit a file | replace |
| Run a shell command | run_shell_command |
| Search file contents | grep_search |
| Find files by name | glob |
| List files and subdirectories | list_directory |
| Fetch a URL | web_fetch |
| Search the web | google_web_search |
| Invoke a skill | activate_skill |
Dispatch a subagent (Subagent (general-purpose): template) | invoke_agent with agent_name: "generalist" (invocable via @generalist chat syntax — see Subagent support) |
| Multiple parallel dispatches | Multiple invoke_agent calls in the same response |
| Task tracking (“create a todo”, “mark complete”) | write_todos (statuses: pending, in_progress, completed, cancelled, blocked) |
When a skill mentions “your instructions file”, on Gemini CLI this is GEMINI.md. Gemini CLI loads GEMINI.md hierarchically: global at ~/.gemini/GEMINI.md, project-level files in workspace directories and their ancestors, and sub-directory GEMINI.md files when a tool accesses files in those directories.
User-level skills live at ~/.gemini/skills/, with ~/.agents/skills/ as a cross-runtime alias (shared with Codex and Copilot CLI). When both directories exist at the same scope, .agents/skills/ takes precedence. Each skill is a subdirectory containing a SKILL.md (with name and description frontmatter).
Gemini CLI dispatches subagents through the invoke_agent tool, which takes agent_name and prompt parameters. The same dispatch is also surfaced as a chat-syntax shortcut: typing @generalist <prompt> is equivalent to calling invoke_agent with agent_name: "generalist". Built-in agent names include generalist, cli_help, codebase_investigator, and (with browser tooling enabled) browser_agent.
Skills dispatch with Subagent (general-purpose): and either reference a prompt-template file (e.g., superpowers:subagent-driven-development‘s ./implementer-prompt.md) or supply an inline prompt. On Gemini CLI:
| Skill dispatch form | Gemini CLI equivalent |
|---|---|
References a *-prompt.md template (implementer, task-reviewer, code-reviewer, etc.) | Fill the template, then invoke_agent with agent_name: "generalist" and the filled prompt |
References superpowers:requesting-code-review‘s ./code-reviewer.md | invoke_agent with agent_name: "generalist" and the filled review template |
| Inline prompt (no template referenced) | invoke_agent with agent_name: "generalist" and your inline prompt |
Skills provide prompt templates with placeholders like {WHAT_WAS_IMPLEMENTED} or [FULL TEXT of task]. Fill all placeholders before passing the complete prompt to invoke_agent. The prompt template itself contains the agent’s role, review criteria, and expected output format — the subagent will follow it.
Gemini CLI supports parallel subagent dispatch. Issue multiple invoke_agent calls in the same response (or multiple @generalist invocations in one prompt) to run independent subagent work in parallel. Keep dependent tasks sequential, but do not serialize independent subagent tasks just to preserve a simpler history.
These tools are unique to Gemini CLI:
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
save_memory (legacy) | Persist facts across sessions when experimental.memoryV2 = false |
get_internal_docs | Look up Gemini CLI’s bundled documentation |
ask_user | Pose structured questions to the user (text / single-select / multi-select) |
enter_plan_mode / exit_plan_mode | Switch into and out of read-only plan mode |
update_topic | Update the current conversation’s topic / strategic-intent metadata |
complete_task | Signal that a Gemini subagent has completed and return its result to the parent agent |
tracker_create_task, tracker_update_task, tracker_get_task, tracker_list_tasks, tracker_add_dependency, tracker_visualize | Rich task tracker with dependency and visualization support |
read_mcp_resource, list_mcp_resources | MCP resource access |