fix(core): explicitly allow codebase_investigator and cli_help in read-only mode

[Adib234]

Summary

Explicitly allow codebase_investigator and cli_help subagents in read-only.toml.

Details

Adding these tools to plan.toml (restricted to plan mode) causes AgentRegistry to skip its dynamic ALLOW rule for these local agents. This happens because AgentRegistry only adds dynamic rules if no static rules (TOML/Settings) exist for the tool.

Since the rule in plan.toml is restricted to modes = ["plan"], it does not apply in default mode, leading the policy engine to fall back to the system's defaultDecision: PolicyDecision.ASK_USER.

Adding them explicitly to read-only.toml ensures they are correctly allowed across all modes as they are safe, read-only tools.

Related Issues

Fixes #21158

How to Validate

1. Verify packages/core/src/policy/policies/read-only.toml contains the new rules for codebase_investigator and cli_help.
2. Run policy tests: npm test -w @google/gemini-cli-core -- src/policy/policy-engine.test.ts src/policy/workspace-policy.test.ts src/availability/policyCatalog.test.ts

Also manually verified in default and auto-edit that no permission is needed to run codebase_investigator and cli_help subagent

Pre-Merge Checklist

• Updated relevant documentation and README (if needed)
• Added/updated tests (if needed) - Validated with existing policy tests.
• Noted breaking changes (if any)
• Validated on required platforms/methods:
  • MacOS
    • npm run

[gemini-cli]

Hi there! Thank you for your contribution to Gemini CLI.

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[gemini-cli]

Hi @Adib234, 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, 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 addresses a policy engine configuration issue to ensure that the codebase_investigator and cli_help tools are consistently allowed in all operational modes. By explicitly adding these read-only tools to the read-only.toml policy, it prevents unintended ASK_USER prompts that previously occurred due to how the AgentRegistry processed static versus dynamic policy rules.

Highlights

• Policy Engine Configuration: Explicitly allowed the codebase_investigator and cli_help subagents within the read-only.toml policy file.
• Rule Precedence Fix: Resolved an issue where dynamic ALLOW rules for these agents were skipped by AgentRegistry when static rules existed in plan.toml, leading to ASK_USER decisions in default mode.

Changelog

• packages/core/src/policy/policies/read-only.toml
  • Added policy rules to explicitly allow codebase_investigator.
  • Added policy rules to explicitly allow cli_help.

Activity

• Existing policy tests were used for validation.
• The changes were validated on MacOS using npm run.

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[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

The pull request correctly allows the codebase_investigator and cli_help tools in read-only mode by adding them to read-only.toml. This resolves an issue where they would otherwise require user confirmation. For improved maintainability, I've suggested consolidating the newly added policy rules into a single block, which aligns with the project's conventions.

_{Note: Security Review has been skipped due to the limited scope of the PR.}

[gemini-cli]

Thank you for linking an issue! This pull request has been automatically reopened.

[github-actions]

Size Change: -2 B (0%)

Total Size: 26 MB

ℹ️ View Unchanged

Filename	Size	Change
./bundle/gemini.js	25.5 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}

[Adib234]

/patch preview

[galz10]

/patch preview

[github-actions]

✅ Patch workflow(s) dispatched successfully!

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🚀 Patch PR Created!

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• Hotfix Branch: hotfix/v0.33.0-preview.1/0.33.0-preview.2/preview/cherry-pick-173376b/pr-21157
• Hotfix PR: #21300

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✅ Patch Release Complete!

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