Instruction assembly reader
Gemini CLI system-prompt architecture
Gemini CLI documents a replaceable and exportable base system prompt, dynamic injection of enabled capabilities, hierarchical GEMINI.md context, and approval-aware tools.
Publication context
Read the provenance first
No exported or runtime prompt was collected. The page maps first-party documentation and preserves the distinction between built-in prompt, override, dynamic substitutions, and project context.
- Source tier
- Tier A · vendor-published
- Confidence
- high
- Reviewed
- Aug 11, 2026
- Completeness
- partial
- Checksum
- sha256:8afca99720239…
- Raw artifact
- No prompt artifact available
The reader maps prompt replacement, dynamic substitutions, GEMINI.md context, and tool confirmation under stable anchors.
Built-in prompt export and override
Editorial normalization: Gemini CLI documents a complete built-in system-prompt override through GEMINI_SYSTEM_MD and a separate GEMINI_WRITE_SYSTEM_MD workflow for exporting the current default prompt for review.
Reading note. The override is a replacement rather than a merge; Promptcred does not execute either environment-variable workflow.
Dynamic skills, subagents, and tools
Source-led map: Custom system prompts can dynamically include available agent skills, subagents, and tool names. The resolved instruction assembly therefore depends on enabled capabilities.
Reading note. A static base file alone is not enough to describe every runtime assembly.
GEMINI.md context hierarchy
Editorial normalization: Global, workspace, and just-in-time GEMINI.md files provide hierarchical project context. They are distinct from the base system prompt and may load at different scopes.
Reading note. The documentation separates stable operational instructions from evolving project and task strategy.
Tools, security, and confirmation
Editorial normalization: Gemini CLI evaluates tool requests against security policies; file mutation and shell execution require confirmation, while sandboxing and trusted folders add execution boundaries.
Reading note. The permission boundary is enforced by the CLI harness, not only by prompt wording.
Evidence and provenance
Tier A · vendor-published: Gemini CLI system-prompt override documentation — Vendor documentation supports a Tier A architecture record and a limited prompt-intelligence page.
Tier A · vendor-published: Gemini CLI GEMINI.md context documentation — Vendor-published documentation supports the project-context claims.
Tier A · vendor-published: Gemini CLI tools reference — Vendor-published documentation supports the capability and confirmation record.
Snapshot evidence
What this snapshot includes and leaves out.
- Product surface
- Gemini CLI
- Model context
- Configurable Gemini modelThe selected documentation describes the CLI instruction architecture rather than pinning one universal model snapshot.
- Checksum scope
- Four-section source-led instruction-assembly map; UTF-8, LF line endings.
- Raw mode
- The CLI can export its current default prompt, but Promptcred does not run that workflow or present the result as an immutable universal artifact.