@ operator for referencing local files bug

[tonyzzr]

What happened?

the @ operator for referencing local files is recognized as part of the folder name --- and it is not occational, it is persisitent

What did you expect to happen?

@ operator should not be included as part of file/folder name

Client information

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ │
│ About Gemini CLI │
│ │
│ CLI Version 0.1.18 │
│ Git Commit cd7e60e │
│ Model gemini-2.5-pro │
│ Sandbox no sandbox │
│ OS darwin │
│ Auth Method OAuth │
│ │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Login information

No response

Anything else we need to know?

No response

[TheNexusGene]

Won't help then ig; can't just show everytjing. On public forum if it's suppose to be a quiet endeavor. Let us know if you want any assistance. -137451921129154222

…

On Sat, Aug 9, 2025 at 16:48 Zhuorui Zhang ***@***.***> wrote: *tonyzzr* created an issue (google-gemini/gemini-cli#5903) <#5903> What happened? the @ operator for referencing local files is recognized as part of the folder name --- and it is not occational, it is persisitent image.png (view on web) <https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/e9e3892e-4e3b-4464-8886-1e3b65297332> What did you expect to happen? @ operator should not be included as part of file/folder name Client information ╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮ │ │ │ About Gemini CLI │ │ │ │ CLI Version 0.1.18 │ │ Git Commit cd7e60e <cd7e60e> │ │ Model gemini-2.5-pro │ │ Sandbox no sandbox │ │ OS darwin │ │ Auth Method OAuth │ │ │ ╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯ Login information *No response* Anything else we need to know? *No response* — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#5903>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BVK5EFZOODYMFO6V6DBIMZT3MZUBRAVCNFSM6AAAAACDQMO5F2VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43ASLTON2WKOZTGMYDMOBXGM4DAOI> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[jacob314]

Just to make sure I understand, were you trying to write to the devlogs/ folder or a folder callled @devlogs/?

[tonyzzr]

Just to make sure I understand, were you trying to write to the devlogs/ folder or a folder callled @devlogs/?

thanks for following up!

i had an exisitng folder named devlogs/ , and i was asking gemini CLI to create a subfoler with today's date (2025-08-09) as its name inside devlogs/ so it should be devlogs/2025-08-09/. how i let CLI know is i used @ operator to reference devlogs/ instead of directly typing it as normal text

what i end up to have is: CLI created a new folder called @devlogs/ and its subfolder @devlogs/2025-08-09/.
so my exisitng devlogs/ folder was left empty

[jacob314]

@devlogs/ tells gemini CLI to read the folder devlogs/ In your case you should have just typed devlogs/ instead of adding the@. We should consider how to improve the documentation for @` to make its function clearer.

[tonyzzr]

@devlogs/ tells gemini CLI to read the folder devlogs/ In your case you should have just typed devlogs/ instead of adding the@. We should consider how to improve the documentation for @` to make its function clearer.

oh i see. thank you for the explanation! i was thinking using @ might provide more precise info to gemini that i was refering to the local folder rather than something else.

i would suggest to add a note for this specific case to the original doc:

At commands (@)
At commands are used to include the content of files or directories as part of your prompt to Gemini. These commands include git-aware filtering.

@<path_to_file_or_directory>

Description: Inject the content of the specified file or files into your current prompt. This is useful for asking questions about specific code, text, or collections of files.
Examples:
@path/to/your/file.txt Explain this text.
@src/my_project/ Summarize the code in this directory.
What is this file about? @README.md

Note: When creating new folders (e.g., folder/subfolder), do not use @ in the path.
Use the plain path (folder/subfolder) instead.
Using @ in a folder creation command will make a folder literally named @folder/ instead of referencing the existing folder/ directory.