Docs: Create tools reference

[jkcinouye]

Summary

Consolidates tools pages into a single tools reference page.

Details

This page creates a consolidated list of our current tools which links out to smaller tools.

Related Issues

Fixes #19471

How to Validate

This is a docs-only change. Validate that there are no unintended changes, that the content is correct, and that it stages properly.

Pre-Merge Checklist

• Updated relevant documentation and README (if needed)
• Added/updated tests (if needed)
• Noted breaking changes (if any)
• Validated on required platforms/methods:
  • MacOS
    • npm run
    • npx
    • Docker
    • Podman
    • Seatbelt
  • Windows
    • npm run
    • npx
    • Docker
  • Linux
    • npm run
    • npx
    • Docker

[gemini-cli]

Hi @jkcinouye, thank you so much for your contribution to Gemini CLI! We really appreciate the time and effort you've put into this.

We're making some updates to our contribution process to improve how we track and review changes. Please take a moment to review our recent discussion post: Improving Our Contribution Process & Introducing New Guidelines.

Key Update: Starting January 26, 2026, the Gemini CLI project will require all pull requests to be associated with an existing issue. Any pull requests not linked to an issue by that date will be automatically closed.

Thank you for your understanding and for being a part of our community!

[gemini-code-assist]

Summary of Changes

Hello @jkcinouye, 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 significantly enhances the documentation for Gemini CLI's tool system by creating a dedicated and comprehensive tools reference. The changes involve consolidating and expanding existing information into a new, well-structured document, improving clarity and accessibility for users and developers alike. This refactoring ensures that all relevant details about tool functionality, categories, and extensibility are presented in a single, easy-to-navigate location.

Highlights

• New Tools Reference Document: A comprehensive tools.md document has been added to the docs/reference directory, providing detailed information on Gemini CLI's internal tools, their categories, usage, and extensibility.
• Documentation Restructuring: The previous tools-api.md document, which contained information about the core tools API, has been removed. Its content has been integrated and expanded into the new tools.md reference.
• Link Updates: Existing documentation files (docs/cli/enterprise.md and docs/core/index.md) have been updated to point to the new tools reference document, ensuring all links are current.
• Navigation Update: The docs/sidebar.json file has been modified to reflect the new location and title of the tools documentation, ensuring it is discoverable within the navigation structure.

Changelog

• docs/cli/enterprise.md
  • Updated the link for Model-Context Protocol (MCP) servers to point to the new mcp-server.md path.
• docs/core/index.md
  • Updated the link for 'Core tools API' to 'Core tools reference' and redirected it to the new ../reference/tools.md path.
• docs/core/tools-api.md
  • Removed the file, as its content has been superseded and integrated into the new tools reference document.
• docs/reference/tools.md
  • Added a new document providing a comprehensive reference for Gemini CLI tools, including internal tools, the /tools command, environment tools, agent workflow tools, internal coordination tools, and an 'Under the hood' section.
• docs/sidebar.json
  • Updated the sidebar entry for 'Tools API' to 'Tools reference' and adjusted its slug to point to the new docs/reference/tools path.

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[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request is a great documentation refactoring, creating a new comprehensive tools.md reference page and removing the outdated tools-api.md. The new documentation is well-structured and provides a much clearer overview of the available tools. I've identified one high-severity issue where the new documentation for the /tools command incorrectly describes its functionality regarding MCP tools, which could lead to user confusion.

[github-actions]

Size Change: -2 B (0%)

Total Size: 25.8 MB

ℹ️ View Unchanged

Filename	Size	Change
./bundle/gemini.js	25.3 MB	-2 B (0%)
./bundle/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli-devtools/dist/client/main.js	221 kB	0 B
./bundle/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli-devtools/dist/src/_client-assets.js	227 kB	0 B
./bundle/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli-devtools/dist/src/index.js	11.5 kB	0 B
./bundle/node_modules/@google/gemini-cli-devtools/dist/src/types.js	132 B	0 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-open.sb	890 B	0 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-proxied.sb	1.31 kB	0 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-restrictive-open.sb	3.36 kB	0 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-restrictive-proxied.sb	3.56 kB	0 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-strict-open.sb	4.82 kB	0 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-strict-proxied.sb	5.02 kB	0 B

_{compressed-size-action}

[g-samroberts]

I think once the conflicts are resolved it will be easier for to do a final review and stage. Lot of conflicts when my sidebar update/ top level tabs change went in, sorry!

[chrstnb]

Build failed: Build process failed with link errors:

22:54:58 [ERROR] ✗ Found 2 invalid links in 2 files.
22:54:58   └─ /docs/tools - invalid link
22:54:58   └─ /docs/cli/commands - invalid link to custom page
22:54:58 [ERROR] [starlight-links-validator-integration] An unhandled error occurred while running the "astro:build:done" hook
    Some invalid links point to custom pages which cannot be validated, see the `exclude` option for more informations at https://starlight-links-validator.vercel.app/configuration#exclude

[g-samroberts]

LGTM

[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request successfully consolidates the tools documentation into a single, comprehensive reference page, with the new tools.md file being well-structured and handling redirects and link updates correctly. However, a security audit identified two high-severity vulnerabilities: the web_fetch tool is vulnerable to Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) due to allowing local/private network access, which could be exploited via prompt injection for data exfiltration. Additionally, the "Trusted folders" mechanism is susceptible to environment variable injection, where malicious .env files could lead to Remote Code Execution (RCE) via variables like NODE_OPTIONS. Recommendations include implementing blocklists for network addresses and environment variables. Furthermore, inconsistencies in tool parameter documentation for read_file and replace tools, and some broken links in the new reference table require attention to ensure the document's accuracy and completeness.