Frequently Asked Question

What is GEMINI.md and how does it load?

GEMINI.md is Gemini CLI's context file, the equivalent of CLAUDE.md for Claude Code and AGENTS.md for Codex. It holds persistent instructions so you are not re-explaining your project in every session.

Loading is hierarchical, from broad to narrow. A global file at ~/.gemini/GEMINI.md applies to every project. Project files are discovered in the workspace and its parent directories. Further files are picked up just in time from subdirectories as they are accessed. The contents of every discovered file are concatenated and sent with each prompt, and the CLI footer shows how many are active.

Two commands are worth knowing: /memory show prints what is currently loaded, and /memory reload re-reads the files after you edit them.

The filename is configurable. Setting context.fileName in ~/.gemini/settings.json lets you point it at AGENTS.md instead, so one file can serve several agents.