Skip to content

Gemini 3 (pro/flash) doesn't understand that a question shouldn't automatically lead to action #17028

@LyalinDotCom

Description

@LyalinDotCom

What happened?

When using the Gemini CLI with Gemini 3 (Pro/Flash), the model demonstrates a strong bias toward taking immediate action (modifying code) even when the prompt is purely an inquiry or a request for inspection.

In the example below, I asked the model to: "inspect how music playing works I often don't hear the music on startup. Any bugs?"

The model correctly analyzed the files (src/engine/Sound.ts, src/main.ts, etc.) and identified the issue (browser autoplay policies). However, instead of stopping to explain the findings or answering the question, it immediately transitioned into an Edit state and prompted me to apply a code fix to src/engine/Sound.ts.

Log snippet:

/model> inspect how music playing works i often dont ehar the music ons tartup any bugs?
...
✦ I've identified that the music often fails to start because of browser autoplay policies... I'll modify src/engine/Sound.ts...
? Edit src/engine/Sound.ts: ...

Reference Gist:
https://gist.github.com/LyalinDotCom/b499efa939b389214826720ea4c8cc63

What did you expect to happen?

I expected the model to:

  1. Read the necessary files.
  2. Report back with an explanation of how the music works and confirm if there were bugs (answering the specific question asked).
  3. Stop and wait for user input.

The model should not initiate a "write" or "edit" action unless explicitly instructed to fix the code.

Client information

Date: Jan 19, 2026
Model: Gemini 3 (Pro/Flash)

Tested using nightly builds and below

│ About Gemini CLI │
│ │
│ CLI Version 0.22.5 │
│ Git Commit 8daf2d3
│ Model gemini-3-flash-preview │
│ Sandbox no sandbox │
│ OS darwin │
│ Auth Method OAuth

Login information

N/A

Anything else we need to know?

No response

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

area/agentIssues related to Core Agent, Tools, Memory, Sub-Agents, Hooks, Agent Qualityworkstream-rollupLabel used to tag epics and features that are associated with one of the three primary workstreams🔒 maintainer only⛔ Do not contribute. Internal roadmap item.

Type

No fields configured for Bug.

Projects

Status
Closed

Milestone

No milestone

Relationships

None yet

Development

No branches or pull requests

Issue actions