feat(tool): retain ask_user question in text history by RaphaelDDL · Pull Request #29022 · google-gemini/gemini-cli

RaphaelDDL · 2026-08-24T18:51:09Z

Summary

Implements ui.keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory settings option.

Details

When ask_user tool is used, we have a nice question GUI, but after answering, the question is lost and if/when we resume a session or simply want to remember what were our choices during a session, it's impossible as there's no question visible. Gemini might still have it in it's context, but the human context is completely lost.

Related Issues

Closes #29021

How to Validate

Set the following in .gemini/settings.json

  "ui": {
    "keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory": true
  }

Prompt gemini to ask you a random question using ask_user tool, examples:

ask me a random question using ask_user tool
use ask_user tool to ask me 3 questions at once so I can see the multiple question flow

Pre-Merge Checklist

Examples

Current behavior/keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory=false or not set

keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory=true

gemini-code-assist · 2026-08-24T18:51:18Z

Summary of Changes

Hello, I'm Gemini Code Assist¹! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request adds a new configuration setting, ui.keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory, which improves session transparency by ensuring that questions posed via the ask_user tool remain visible in the chat history after being answered. This addresses the issue where the context of user choices was lost in the conversation flow, making it easier for users to review past interactions.

Highlights

New Configuration Option: Introduced ui.keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory to allow users to retain questions from the ask_user tool in the chat history.
Enhanced UI Feedback: Updated the ask_user tool to display both the question and the user's answer in the chat history when the new setting is enabled.
Testing and Documentation: Added comprehensive unit tests for the new configuration and updated the CLI documentation to reflect the new setting.

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google-cla · 2026-08-24T18:51:20Z

Thanks for your pull request! It looks like this may be your first contribution to a Google open source project. Before we can look at your pull request, you'll need to sign a Contributor License Agreement (CLA).

View this failed invocation of the CLA check for more information.

For the most up to date status, view the checks section at the bottom of the pull request.

github-actions · 2026-08-24T18:51:22Z

📊 PR Size: size/L

Lines changed: 292
Additions: +276
Deletions: -16
Files changed: 10

github-actions · 2026-08-24T18:51:53Z

🛑 Action Required: Evaluation Approval

Steering changes have been detected in this PR. To prevent regressions, a maintainer must approve the evaluation run before this PR can be merged.

Maintainers:

Go to the Workflow Run Summary.
Click the yellow 'Review deployments' button.
Select the 'eval-gate' environment and click 'Approve'.

Once approved, the evaluation results will be posted here automatically.

gemini-code-assist

Code Review

This pull request introduces a new configuration option, ui.keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory, which allows users to keep questions from the ask_user tool visible in their chat history. The changes span documentation, CLI settings schema, configuration loading, tool invocation logic, and comprehensive unit tests. The reviewer's feedback correctly points out that the optional chaining and nullish coalescing operator used when loading this setting in packages/cli/src/config/config.ts are redundant, as the configuration schema already guarantees the default value is populated.

_{Note: Security Review did not run due to the size of the PR.}

gemini-code-assist · 2026-08-24T18:53:55Z

+    keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory:
+      settings.ui?.keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory ?? false,


According to the repository guidelines, we should rely on the schema as the single source of truth for configuration defaults and avoid redundant nullish coalescing operators. Since settings is a MergedSettings object, all properties defined in the schema (including settings.ui.keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory) are guaranteed to be populated with their default values. Therefore, the optional chaining and nullish coalescing operator are redundant here.

keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory: settings.ui.keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory,

References

Rely on the schema as the single source of truth for configuration defaults, avoiding redundant nullish coalescing operators.

@gemini-code-assist I followed the other pre-existing options such as toolSandboxing, loadMemoryFromIncludeDirectories and others which either have || false or ?? false. Should I change nevertheless?

Consistency with the existing codebase is important. If the current pattern in packages/cli/src/config/config.ts relies on these defensive checks, it is acceptable to follow that pattern for now to maintain consistency. While relying solely on the schema is the ideal state, refactoring existing patterns should ideally be done as a separate, codebase-wide improvement rather than within a feature PR. Please feel free to align with the existing style.

RaphaelDDL requested review from a team as code owners August 24, 2026 18:51

github-actions Bot added the size/l A large sized PR label Aug 24, 2026

RaphaelDDL had a problem deploying to eval-gate August 24, 2026 18:51 — with GitHub Actions Error

gemini-code-assist Bot reviewed Aug 24, 2026

View reviewed changes

feat(tool): retain ask_user question in text history

4fdb1b4

RaphaelDDL force-pushed the main branch from 313ca72 to 4fdb1b4 Compare August 24, 2026 18:58

RaphaelDDL had a problem deploying to eval-gate August 24, 2026 18:59 — with GitHub Actions Error

gemini-cli Bot added the area/core Issues related to User Interface, OS Support, Core Functionality label Aug 24, 2026

Merge branch 'main' into main

d786477

RaphaelDDL requested a deployment to eval-gate August 24, 2026 19:59 — with GitHub Actions Waiting

This was referenced Aug 24, 2026

📊 AI CLI 工具社区动态日报 2026-08-25 junlinzhao327-oss/big_model_radar#441

Open

📊 AI CLI 工具社区动态日报 2026-08-25 96loveslife/big_model_radar#380

Open

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feat(tool): retain ask_user question in text history - #29022

feat(tool): retain ask_user question in text history#29022
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		settings.ui?.keepAskUserQuestionsInHistory ?? false,

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RaphaelDDL commented Aug 24, 2026 •

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