AI: Gemini CLI doesn't work anymore!!!（vesion 0.16+ Error: read_many_files tool not found.）

[felbry]

Summary

Automatically downloaded and upgraded Gemini CLI to 0.16， When the conversation contains files，Error: read_many_files tool not found.

https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/discussions/12970

Zed Version and System Specs

Zed: v0.212.7 (Zed) OS: macOS 15.7.2 Memory: 16 GiB Architecture: x86_64

If applicable, attach your Zed.log file to this issue.

Zed.log

[KieranP]

Same issue. Wasn't sure if I set it up correctly. The Gemini CLI seems to be working fine (asking for permission when needed), so I guess I'll have to use that to prompt for now instead of Zed.

Edit: Looks like Gemini removed the command: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/discussions/12970

[ziimakc]

Any workarounds?

[CHE1RON]

@felbry I suggest changing the issue title to emphasise the graveness of the error, in essence leading to Gemini CLI being rendered useless, despite the fact that the team has "partnered with Google to integrate Gemini CLI as the initial reference implementation" for the agent client protocol 🤔

[felbry]

@CHE1RON Alright, I gave it a shot and made some changes

[stabldev]

@ziimakc this is what im currently doing. set this in .zed/settings.json:

  "agent_servers": {
    "gemini": {
      "ignore_system_version": false
    }
  },

try this: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/releases/tag/v0.18.0-preview.0 (they've re-added read_many_files tool in this release) with sudo npm -g @google/[email protected]. see if that works, for some reason it didnt work for me ("Loading..." isnt resolving). i didnt dive much into that, for now im using 0.14.0 which has this tool. lets wait for a stable release from their side.

[CHE1RON]

The issue over there, just for completeness: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/issues/13328

@stabldev Thanks for the tip! Using your config with v0.14.0 works for me, although I get a Tool call not found every now and then:

Thanks also to the Zed team for a truly great developer experience so far! 🙏

[vcastellm]

Worked for me with the downgrade, additionally add:

general.disableAutoUpdate to true, to avoid the auto update at least temporarily

[aliismael]

Thanks everyone, and thank you to the Zed team for this wonderful IDE.

I install Gemini-cli on my macOS using brew:

$ brew info gemini-cli
==> gemini-cli: stable 0.17.1 (bottled)
Interact with Google Gemini AI models from the command-line
https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli
Installed
/opt/homebrew/Cellar/gemini-cli/0.17.1 (42,940 files, 309.7MB) *
  Poured from bottle using the formulae.brew.sh API on 2025-11-22 at 19:58:30
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/HEAD/Formula/g/gemini-cli.rb
License: Apache-2.0
==> Dependencies
Required: node ✔
==> Analytics

With Gemini-cli version 0.17.1, nothing worked so far to fix this issue. Gemini-3-Pro responded with this:

# summary
The error "Error: read_many_files tool not found" when using the latest Gemini CLI with Zed IDE indicates a known issue related to the deprecation of the read_many_files tool and how Zed interacts with the Gemini CLI.

# Explanation of the Issue:
Deprecation of read_many_files: The read_many_files tool was deprecated in recent versions of Gemini CLI. The model is now expected to use multiple parallel calls to the read_file tool instead, which is considered a more standard and optimized approach.

# Zed's Interaction: 
When Zed IDE attaches files to prompts using the embeddedContext capability in an Agent Client Protocol (ACP) request, the Gemini CLI, particularly in ACP mode, might not correctly expose the read_file tool to the underlying model, leading to the model attempting to use the deprecated read_many_files tool. 

Tool Not Found: Since read_many_files is no longer available, the CLI returns the "tool not found" error.

[yawn]

v18 is out and has the fix in it. Regardless my current Zed is stuck in "loading" when using the Gemini Agent, so maybe it's not fully there?

[CHE1RON]

Same here!

[stabldev]

v18 is out and has the fix in it. Regardless my current Zed is stuck in "loading" when using the Gemini Agent, so maybe it's not fully there?

same reason why im using v0.14.0

[dushmanta05]

I had the issue copying the prompt I send and pasting it (the file are now raw names not beautified file icon) works.

[kurokirasama]

v18 is out and has the fix in it. Regardless my current Zed is stuck in "loading" when using the Gemini Agent, so maybe it's not fully there?

same here

[yeskunall]

The stuck in “Loading...” state is probably related to https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/43561 and not this issue.

[Rishirandhawa]

Didn't look like anyone at google paying attention to this issue. I have created a patch to fix this. Use it if anyone wants - https://github.com/Rishirandhawa/gemini-cli-acp-patch