Send `Accept: text/markdown` HTTP header when fetching URLs in fallback mode.

[guilleiguaran]

What would you like to be added?

The web_fetch tool should send an Accept: text/markdown, */* HTTP header when fetching URLs in fallback mode.

Why is this needed?

Currently, the WebFetch fallback fetches URLs without content negotiation. This means servers that can provide markdown default to HTML, which we then convert to text using html-to-text. This conversion loses formatting, code blocks, and structure.

By adding Accept: text/markdown, */*, servers that support markdown will return native markdown directly, providing:

• Better quality content (no lossy HTML-to-text conversion)
• Preserved formatting, code blocks, and structure
• Cleaner context for the LLM

Servers without markdown support will continue returning HTML as before (fully backward compatible).

Additional context

• Other CLI agents like Claude Code already support this
• Only affects fallback path (not the primary Gemini API fetch)

[ronyjsro4]

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Guillermo Iguaran ***@***.***> Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2025, 22:10 Subject: [google-gemini/gemini-cli] Send `Accept: text/markdown` HTTP header when fetching URLs in fallback mode. (Issue #13513) To: google-gemini/gemini-cli ***@***.***> Cc: Subscribed ***@***.***> *guilleiguaran* created an issue (google-gemini/gemini-cli#13513) <#13513> What would you like to be added? The web_fetch tool should send an Accept: text/markdown, */* HTTP header when fetching URLs in fallback mode. Why is this needed? Currently, the WebFetch fallback fetches URLs without content negotiation. This means servers that can provide markdown default to HTML, which we then convert to text using html-to-text. This conversion loses formatting, code blocks, and structure. By adding Accept: text/markdown, */*, servers that support markdown will return native markdown directly, providing: - Better quality content (no lossy HTML-to-text conversion) - Preserved formatting, code blocks, and structure - Cleaner context for the LLM Servers without markdown support will continue returning HTML as before (fully backward compatible). Additional context - Other CLI agents like Claude Code already support this - Only affects fallback path (not the primary Gemini API fetch) — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#13513>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BRJ7KRX2VDGZHQKFGW5ZIY335XRYZAVCNFSM6AAAAACMWYVI4OVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43ASLTON2WKOZTGY2DOOJXGU2TOMQ> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[gemini-cli]

Hello! As part of our effort to keep our backlog manageable and focus on the most active issues, we are tidying up older reports.

It looks like this issue hasn't been active for a while, so we are closing it for now. However, if you are still experiencing this bug on the latest stable build, please feel free to comment on this issue or create a new one with updated details.

Thank you for your contribution!