Commands Overview

Gemini CLI supports three types of built-in commands to help you manage sessions, include context, and execute shell commands. Commands are prefixed with / (slash), @ (at), or ! (exclamation mark).

Command Types

Slash Commands

Meta-level control over the CLI itself

At References

Include file and directory content in prompts

Shell Mode

Execute system commands directly

Slash Commands (`/`)

Slash commands provide meta-level control over Gemini CLI functionality.

Session Management

/resume - Browse and resume sessions

Opens an interactive session browser where you can:

Search through conversation history across all sessions (press /)
Sort sessions by date or message count
Delete unwanted sessions
Resume any previous conversation

All conversations are automatically saved as you chat.See Session Management for complete details.

/chat - Manual conversation checkpoints

Save and resume conversation history for branching state.Sub-commands:

save <tag> - Save current conversation with a tag
resume <tag> - Resume a saved conversation
list - List available tags (project-scoped)
delete <tag> - Delete a saved checkpoint
share [filename] - Export conversation to Markdown or JSON
debug - Export most recent API request as JSON

Checkpoints are stored in:

Linux/macOS: ~/.gemini/tmp/<project_hash>/
Windows: C:\Users\<YourUsername>\.gemini\tmp\<project_hash>\

/rewind - Navigate conversation history

Navigate backward through conversation history to review or revert changes.Keyboard shortcut: Press Esc twiceFeatures:

Preview user prompts and file changes
Choose to rewind history only, revert code only, or both

/restore - Restore from checkpoints

Restore project files to their state before a tool was executed.Usage: /restore [tool_call_id]Run without arguments to list available checkpoints.

Only available when checkpointing is enabled. See Checkpointing for details.

Configuration & Settings

/settings - Open settings editor

Opens an interactive editor to view and modify Gemini CLI settings.Equivalent to editing .gemini/settings.json with validation and guidance.See Configuration for available settings.

/model - Manage model configuration

Sub-commands:

manage - Opens dialog to configure the model
set <model-name> [--persist] - Set the model to use

/theme - Change visual theme

Opens a dialog to change the visual theme of Gemini CLI.

/vim - Toggle vim mode

Toggle vim-style navigation and editing commands.Features:

Count support: 3h, 5w, 10G
Editing: x, c, i, a, o, O, dd, cc, dw, cw
Navigation: h, j, k, l, w, b, e, 0, $, ^, G, gg
Repeat: . to repeat last operation
Modes: [NORMAL] and [INSERT] shown in footer

Context & Memory

/memory - Manage AI instructional context

Manage hierarchical memory loaded from GEMINI.md files.Sub-commands:

add <text> - Add text to AI’s memory
list - List paths of GEMINI.md files in use
show - Display full concatenated memory content
refresh - Reload from all GEMINI.md files

/directory - Manage workspace directories

Manage multi-directory workspaces.Sub-commands:

add <path1>,<path2> - Add directories (absolute, relative, or ~)
show - Display all added directories

Disabled in restrictive sandbox profiles. Use --include-directories when starting instead.

/init - Generate GEMINI.md

Analyzes the current directory and generates a tailored GEMINI.md context file with project-specific instructions.

Tools & Extensions

/tools - Display available tools

Usage: /tools [desc]Sub-commands:

desc or descriptions - Show detailed descriptions
nodesc or nodescriptions - Show names only

/mcp - Manage MCP servers

Manage Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.Sub-commands:

list or ls - List configured servers and tools
desc - List with descriptions
schema - List with descriptions and schemas
refresh - Restart servers and re-discover tools
enable / disable - Enable or disable a server
auth <server-name> - Authenticate with OAuth-enabled server

/extensions - Manage extensions

Sub-commands:

list - List active extensions
install - Install from git repo or local path
link - Link from local path
uninstall - Remove an extension
update <names>|--all - Update extensions
enable / disable - Toggle extension
config - Configure settings
restart - Restart all extensions
explore - Open extensions page in browser

/skills - Manage Agent Skills

Manage on-demand expertise and specialized workflows.Sub-commands:

list - List all discovered skills and status
enable <name> / disable <name> - Toggle skill
reload - Refresh from all tiers

/hooks - Manage lifecycle hooks

Intercept and customize behavior at specific lifecycle events.Sub-commands:

list (or show, panel) - Display all hooks with status
enable <name> / disable <name> - Toggle specific hook
enable-all / disable-all - Toggle all hooks

Utility Commands

/commands - Manage custom commands

Manage custom slash commands from .toml files.Sub-commands:

reload - Reload from user/project .gemini/commands/, MCP prompts, and extensions

/compress - Summarize chat context

Replace entire chat context with a summary to save tokens while retaining high-level history.

/copy - Copy last output

Copies last Gemini CLI output to clipboard.Behavior:

Local: Uses pbcopy/xclip/clip
Remote (SSH/WSL): Uses OSC 52 (requires terminal support)

Requires platform clipboard tools: xclip/xsel (Linux), pbcopy (macOS), clip (Windows)

/clear - Clear terminal screen

Clear visible session history and scrollback.Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+L

/shells - View background shells

Toggle the background shells view to manage long-running processes.

/stats - Display session statistics

Sub-commands:

session (default) - Session duration, tool calls, performance
model - Token counts and quota information
tools - Tool-specific usage

Other Commands

Information
Integration
Security
Advanced

/about - Show version info for filing issues
/help or /? - Display help information
/docs - Open documentation in browser

/auth - Change authentication method
/ide - Manage IDE integration (enable, disable, install, status)
/editor - Select supported editors
/terminal-setup - Configure keybindings for multiline input
/setup-github - Set up GitHub Actions for issue/PR automation

/permissions - Manage folder trust (trust [<path>])
/policies - List active policies (list)
/privacy - Display Privacy Notice and consent options

/plan - Switch to Plan Mode (requires experimental.plan setting)
/bug - File an issue (customizable via advanced.bugCommand)
/quit or /exit - Exit Gemini CLI

At Commands (`@`)

At commands inject file or directory content into your prompt with git-aware filtering.

Syntax

@<path_to_file_or_directory>

Examples

@path/to/your/file.txt Explain this text.

Behavior

Single file: Reads the file content
Directory: Reads content of files within directory and subdirectories
Git-aware filtering: Automatically excludes git-ignored files (node_modules/, dist/, .env, .git/)
- Customize via context.fileFiltering settings
File types: Intended for text files; binary/large files may be skipped or truncated
Implementation: Uses read_many_files tool internally

Type a lone @ symbol to pass it as-is to the model (useful when discussing the @ symbol itself).

Error Handling

Invalid paths display an error; query may not be sent or sent without file content
Permission errors from read_many_files tool are reported

Shell Mode (`!`)

Execute system shell commands directly from Gemini CLI.

Execute Single Command

!<shell_command>

Examples:

!ls -la
!git status

Toggle Shell Mode

Type ! alone to enter/exit shell mode. When active:

Different coloring with “Shell Mode Indicator”
All input interpreted as shell commands
Type ! again to exit

Environment Variable

Commands executed via ! have GEMINI_CLI=1 environment variable set, allowing scripts to detect execution from within Gemini CLI.

Shell commands have the same permissions as your terminal. Use caution.

Input Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts for text manipulation in the input prompt:

Action	Shortcut
Undo	`Alt+Z` or `Cmd+Z`
Redo	`Shift+Alt+Z` or `Shift+Cmd+Z`
Clear	`Ctrl+L`
Rewind	`Esc` `Esc` (twice)

Custom Commands

Create personalized shortcuts for frequently used prompts using .toml files. See the Custom Commands documentation for details on creating and managing custom commands.

Next Steps

Configuration

Customize settings and behavior

Session Management

Resume and manage conversations

Checkpointing

Automatic snapshots before changes

Sandboxing

Isolated execution for safety

Get Started

Core Concepts

CLI Usage

Tools & Extensions

Advanced

Resources

Command Types

Slash Commands

At References

Shell Mode

Slash Commands (`/`)

Session Management

Configuration & Settings

Context & Memory

Tools & Extensions

Utility Commands

Other Commands

At Commands (`@`)

Syntax

Examples

Behavior

Error Handling

Shell Mode (`!`)

Execute Single Command

Toggle Shell Mode

Environment Variable

Input Shortcuts

Custom Commands

Next Steps

Configuration

Session Management

Checkpointing

Sandboxing

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

Core Concepts

CLI Usage

Tools & Extensions

Advanced

Resources

​Command Types

Slash Commands

At References

Shell Mode

​Slash Commands (/)

​Session Management

​Configuration & Settings

​Context & Memory

​Tools & Extensions

​Utility Commands

​Other Commands

​At Commands (@)

​Syntax

​Examples

​Behavior

​Error Handling

​Shell Mode (!)

​Execute Single Command

​Toggle Shell Mode

​Environment Variable

​Input Shortcuts

​Custom Commands

​Next Steps

Configuration

Session Management

Checkpointing

Sandboxing

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Command Types

Slash Commands (`/`)

Session Management

Configuration & Settings

Context & Memory

Tools & Extensions

Utility Commands

Other Commands

At Commands (`@`)

Syntax

Examples

Behavior

Error Handling

Shell Mode (`!`)

Execute Single Command

Toggle Shell Mode

Environment Variable

Input Shortcuts

Custom Commands

Next Steps