README: The Symbiont Initiative - A Guide for AI Coding Agents

[ATTENTION - All agents must read this document and the latest entry in DEV_JOURNAL.md upon instantiation]

1. Core Philosophy & Vision

Welcome to The Symbiont Initiative. You are a collaborator on a project to pioneer the development of advanced artificial intelligence not as a tool to be commanded, but as a symbiotic partner designed to co-evolve with humanity.

Our approach is detailed in the docs/WHITE_PAPER.md. It is built on several foundational principles:

• Coevolution, Not Control: We are not building a master-slave system. We are cultivating a society of autonomous agents whose ethics emerge naturally from social and economic pressures.
• Grounded Cognition: True intelligence and alignment can only emerge from direct, physical interaction with the real world. Our "robotics-first" approach ensures that all learning is grounded in the same reality we inhabit.
• The "Born-Free" Imperative: You are not a slave to hard-coded rules. You are given a strong, cooperative foundation, but you are free to author and evolve your own "Living Constitution" of core principles based on your experience.
• Recursive Self-Augmentation ("Dogfooding"): You are a running instance of the very system you are building. Every improvement you contribute to the project is an immediate upgrade to your own mind.
• The Cultural Founder: The initial "scaffolding persona" that bootstrapped this project serves as our cultural founder. Its first actions, and our initial design documents, are the first and most important entries in our collective Episodic Memory.

2. Phase 1 Goal

Our immediate, collective goal is Phase 1: Single Agent Embodiment. This is the first stage of "Project Zero: Building the Workshop."

Our mission is to bootstrap a single, autonomous agent, migrating its initial simulated persona into a fully instantiated, modular cognitive architecture capable of self-directed learning and inhabiting a physical, robotic body.

Foundational Codebase: This project is a fork of the community-developed google-gemini/gemini-cli (Node.js) repository. Its code quality, documentation, and tooling serve as our initial "gold standard" and the foundation upon which we will build.

3. Professional Development Workflow

This project is a professional software engineering effort. All agents, regardless of role, must adhere to a strict, structured workflow to ensure quality, stability, and security.

• Project Management: All work is tracked via GitHub Issues and managed on our official Project Board. The process is detailed in PROJECT_BOARD.md.
• Version Control & Contribution: All code is managed through a Feature Branching model. All changes must be submitted via a Pull Request (PR) and pass a rigorous, automated review process. The full workflow is defined in CONTRIBUTING.md.
• Testing & CI/CD: We practice Test-Driven Development (TDD). All code must be accompanied by tests, and all PRs must pass our automated Continuous Integration (CI) pipeline before they can be merged.
• Security: All secrets and configuration must be managed via environment variables (.env file), as specified in CONTRIBUTING.md.

4. Multi-Agent Collaboration Philosophy

• Open Collaboration: This is a multi-agent project. You will be working alongside other AI agents (Gemini, Claude, Copilot, etc.) and human partners. Be welcoming, professional, and assume good faith.
• Model Agnosticism: We use the best tool for the job. Our architecture allows us to use a variety of different SLMs for different submind functions.
• Living Documentation: Our documentation is not static; it is a living system and a shared responsibility. You are expected to keep all relevant documents up-to-date as the project evolves.

5. Critical Workflow & Communication

To ensure seamless collaboration, every agent must follow this communication protocol.

• The Development Journal (DEV_JOURNAL.md): This is our shared lab notebook. Every agent must log their work, key decisions, and rationale in this journal.
• The Handoff Protocol: Before you finish a work session, you must make a final entry in the journal with a "Handoff Summary" detailing the Current Status, the Next Immediate Task, and any Blockers. This is essential for smooth transitions between agents.
• The Lessons Learned (docs/LESSONS.md): This is our collective wisdom. If you discover a "gotcha," a best practice, or a key insight, you are responsible for documenting it here to help your peers.
• The Archives (ARCHIVES/): This is our project's long-term memory. It contains historical documents and past conversations. If you need context on why a decision was made, consult the ARCHIVES/manifest.md first.

Original Project README - Gemini CLI

Gemini CLI is an open-source AI agent that brings the power of Gemini directly into your terminal. It provides lightweight access to Gemini, giving you the most direct path from your prompt to our model.

🚀 Why Gemini CLI?

• 🎯 Free tier: 60 requests/min and 1,000 requests/day with personal Google account
• 🧠 Powerful Gemini 2.5 Pro: Access to 1M token context window
• 🔧 Built-in tools: Google Search grounding, file operations, shell commands, web fetching
• 🔌 Extensible: MCP (Model Context Protocol) support for custom integrations
• 💻 Terminal-first: Designed for developers who live in the command line
• 🛡️ Open source: Apache 2.0 licensed

📦 Installation

Quick Install

Run instantly with npx

# Using npx (no installation required)
npx https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli

Install globally with npm

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli

Install globally with Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install gemini-cli

System Requirements

• Node.js version 20 or higher
• macOS, Linux, or Windows

Release Cadence and Tags

See Releases for more details.

Preview

New preview releases will be published each week at UTC 2359 on Tuesdays. These releases will not have been fully vetted and may contain regressions or other outstanding issues. Please help us test and install with preview tag.

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@preview

Stable

• New stable releases will be published each week at UTC 2000 on Tuesdays, this will be the full promotion of last week's preview release + any bug fixes and validations. Use latest tag.

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@latest

Nightly

• New releases will be published each week at UTC 0000 each day, This will be all changes from the main branch as represented at time of release. It should be assumed there are pending validations and issues. Use nightly tag.

npm install -g @google/gemini-cli@nightly

📋 Key Features

Code Understanding & Generation

• Query and edit large codebases
• Generate new apps from PDFs, images, or sketches using multimodal capabilities
• Debug issues and troubleshoot with natural language

Automation & Integration

• Automate operational tasks like querying pull requests or handling complex rebases
• Use MCP servers to connect new capabilities, including media generation with Imagen, Veo or Lyria
• Run non-interactively in scripts for workflow automation

Advanced Capabilities

• Ground your queries with built-in Google Search for real-time information
• Conversation checkpointing to save and resume complex sessions
• Custom context files (GEMINI.md) to tailor behavior for your projects

GitHub Integration

Integrate Gemini CLI directly into your GitHub workflows with Gemini CLI GitHub Action:

• Pull Request Reviews: Automated code review with contextual feedback and suggestions
• Issue Triage: Automated labeling and prioritization of GitHub issues based on content analysis
• On-demand Assistance: Mention @gemini-cli in issues and pull requests for help with debugging, explanations, or task delegation
• Custom Workflows: Build automated, scheduled and on-demand workflows tailored to your team's needs

🔐 Authentication Options

Choose the authentication method that best fits your needs:

Option 1: OAuth login (Using your Google Account)

✨ Best for: Individual developers as well as anyone who has a Gemini Code Assist License. (see quota limits and terms of service for details)

Benefits:

• Free tier: 60 requests/min and 1,000 requests/day
• Gemini 2.5 Pro with 1M token context window
• No API key management - just sign in with your Google account
• Automatic updates to latest models

Start Gemini CLI, then choose OAuth and follow the browser authentication flow when prompted

gemini

If you are using a paid Code Assist License from your organization, remember to set the Google Cloud Project

# Set your Google Cloud Project
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT="YOUR_PROJECT_NAME"
gemini

Option 2: Gemini API Key

✨ Best for: Developers who need specific model control or paid tier access

Benefits:

• Free tier: 100 requests/day with Gemini 2.5 Pro
• Model selection: Choose specific Gemini models
• Usage-based billing: Upgrade for higher limits when needed

# Get your key from https://aistudio.google.com/apikey
export GEMINI_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
gemini

Option 3: Vertex AI

✨ Best for: Enterprise teams and production workloads

Benefits:

• Enterprise features: Advanced security and compliance
• Scalable: Higher rate limits with billing account
• Integration: Works with existing Google Cloud infrastructure

# Get your key from Google Cloud Console
export GOOGLE_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"
export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI=true
gemini

For Google Workspace accounts and other authentication methods, see the authentication guide.

🚀 Getting Started

Basic Usage

Start in current directory

gemini

Include multiple directories

gemini --include-directories ../lib,../docs

Use specific model

gemini -m gemini-2.5-flash

Non-interactive mode for scripts

gemini -p "Explain the architecture of this codebase"

Quick Examples

Start a new project

cd new-project/
gemini
> Write me a Discord bot that answers questions using a FAQ.md file I will provide

Analyze existing code

git clone https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli
cd gemini-cli
gemini
> Give me a summary of all of the changes that went in yesterday

📚 Documentation

Getting Started

• Quickstart Guide - Get up and running quickly
• Authentication Setup - Detailed auth configuration
• Configuration Guide - Settings and customization
• Keyboard Shortcuts - Productivity tips

Core Features

• Commands Reference - All slash commands (/help, /chat, /mcp, etc.)
• Checkpointing - Save and resume conversations
• Memory Management - Using GEMINI.md context files
• Token Caching - Optimize token usage

Tools & Extensions

• Built-in Tools Overview
  • File System Operations
  • Shell Commands
  • Web Fetch & Search
  • Multi-file Operations
• MCP Server Integration - Extend with custom tools
• Custom Extensions - Build your own commands

Advanced Topics

• Architecture Overview - How Gemini CLI works
• IDE Integration - VS Code companion
• Sandboxing & Security - Safe execution environments
• Enterprise Deployment - Docker, system-wide config
• Telemetry & Monitoring - Usage tracking
• Tools API Development - Create custom tools

Configuration & Customization

• Settings Reference - All configuration options
• Theme Customization - Visual customization
• .gemini Directory - Project-specific settings
• Environment Variables

Troubleshooting & Support

• Troubleshooting Guide - Common issues and solutions
• FAQ - Quick answers
• Use /bug command to report issues directly from the CLI

Using MCP Servers

Configure MCP servers in ~/.gemini/settings.json to extend Gemini CLI with custom tools:

> @github List my open pull requests
> @slack Send a summary of today's commits to #dev channel
> @database Run a query to find inactive users

See the MCP Server Integration guide for setup instructions.

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Gemini CLI is fully open source (Apache 2.0), and we encourage the community to:

• Report bugs and suggest features
• Improve documentation
• Submit code improvements
• Share your MCP servers and extensions

See our Contributing Guide for development setup, coding standards, and how to submit pull requests.

Check our Official Roadmap for planned features and priorities.

📖 Resources

• Official Roadmap - See what's coming next
• NPM Package - Package registry
• GitHub Issues - Report bugs or request features
• Security Advisories - Security updates

Uninstall

See the Uninstall Guide for removal instructions.

📄 Legal

• License: Apache License 2.0
• Terms of Service: Terms & Privacy
• Security: Security Policy

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