Agents Command (/agents)

Browse, select, and switch between custom agents, or monitor active and completed background subagents directly inside an interactive TUI panel.

Before you begin

• Install Antigravity CLI
• Understand the Asynchronous execution model

Overview

The /agents command opens the interactive Agent Manager Panel. This interface serves two distinct purposes:

1. Custom Agent Selection & Discovery: Choose between the default agent and custom workflow-specific agents, or discover where to define new agents locally and globally.
2. Subagent Monitoring & Control: Track, inspect, or terminate background subagents running concurrently during your active session.

Note

Subagent Specification: For complete details on subagent lifecycle states, inter-agent communication, and custom Markdown agent specifications (.md), consult the Antigravity 2.0 Subagents Documentation and CLI Subagents Guide.

To open the panel inside the TUI, type /agents and press Enter:

/agents

---

Custom Agent Selection & Discovery

Antigravity CLI supports loading custom agent definitions with specialized system instructions and tool permissions. The Available Agents section lists all agents currently available to your session.

1. Switching between agents

• Select: Use ↑/↓ to highlight an agent (Default agent or a custom agent) under Available Agents, then press Enter.
• Status Indicator: A green circle (●) indicates the active or prepared agent.
• Apply & Exit: Press Esc to close the panel and apply your selection.

Note

If you are currently inside an active conversation, switching custom agents automatically forks your current session ([ Switch will fork the current conversation on exit ]) so you do not lose context. If you start from a fresh session, the switch applies directly ([ Switch will create a new conversation on exit ]).

2. Creating custom agents

The header of the /agents panel displays exact template locations for creating new custom agents:

Create New Agents
  Workspace: {workspace}/.agents/agents/{agent_name}/agent.md
  Global: ~/.gemini/config/agents/{agent_name}/agent.md

To create a custom agent that is available across all your workspaces and projects, place it under your global customization directory (~/.gemini/config/agents/). Create a directory matching your agent name and add an agent.md file with YAML frontmatter:

mkdir -p ~/.gemini/config/agents/code-reviewer
cat << 'EOF' > ~/.gemini/config/agents/code-reviewer/agent.md
---
name: code-reviewer
description: Rigorous code review specialist focusing on edge cases and security.
---
You are an expert code reviewer. Analyze diffs carefully and verify edge cases.
EOF

When you reopen /agents, the CLI automatically discovers code-reviewer and lists it under Available Agents. If you need an agent scoped strictly to a single project repository, place it inside that workspace’s .agents/agents/ directory (for example, /home/user/projects/my-app/.agents/agents/code-reviewer/agent.md). You can also package and distribute custom agents inside Plugins.

---

Subagent Monitoring & Control

When your primary agent delegates tasks (such as running tests or querying large codebases), the spawned threads appear in the /agents panel under Subagents, grouped by their triggering prompt.

1. Inspecting subagent progress

• Group Toggling: Press Enter on a subagent group header (▸ Subagents (1 running, 2 done)) to expand or collapse (▾) that group.
• Status Indicators: Each subagent row displays a live lifecycle state:
  • running: Actively executing tools or generating reasoning steps.
  • done: Successfully completed its assigned background task.
  • error: Encountered a terminal failure during execution.
  • killed: Terminated manually by the user or parent process.
• Detail View: Highlight a specific subagent row and press Enter to open the full-screen Subagent Detail View. This view displays the subagent’s complete internal thoughts, tool calls, and execution stdout. Press Esc to return to the list.

2. Terminating active subagents

If a background subagent loops or runs longer than needed, you can kill it immediately without leaving your session:

1. Open /agents and highlight the running subagent row.
2. Press K to kill the active subagent and all its child threads.

3. Inline tool approvals

If a subagent attempts a protected operation (such as modifying a file or running a shell command in a sandboxed environment), the authorization prompt displays inline in the /agents panel. You can press A to approve or D to deny directly from the list.

---

Panel Keybindings Reference

When focused inside the /agents panel, the following keyboard shortcuts apply:

Key	Action	Behavior
↑ / ↓	Navigate	Move the cursor between headers, subagents, and available agents.
Enter	Select / Toggle	Expand/collapse groups, open Subagent Detail View, or select a custom agent.
K	Kill Active Subagent	Instantly cancel (CancelSubagent) the highlighted running subagent.
Esc	Go Back	Exit the panel, return to the prompt box, and apply any prepared agent switch.

---

Common mistakes

Mistake	Why it fails	Fix
Expecting custom agent switches to modify turn history	Switching agents forks the conversation to preserve historical integrity	Continue your workflow in the newly forked session
Placing agent files directly in config root	Scanner looks specifically inside agents/ directories	Move definition to .agents/agents/<name>/agent.md
Pressing K on completed subagents	Only targets active (running) subagent processes	Press Enter to inspect completed logs instead

---

Next steps

• Background tasks & subagents: Learn more about the multi-threaded asynchronous execution architecture.
• Plugins & Skills: Discover how to bundle custom agents, skills, and MCP configs into shareable plugins.
• Permissions & Sandbox: Configure security guardrails and approval rules for background subagents.