Add Agents CLI quickstart to Get Started by eliasecchig · Pull Request #2095 · google/adk-docs

eliasecchig · 2026-08-07T22:47:57Z

Stage: https://deploy-preview-2095--adk-docs-preview.netlify.app/get-started/agents-cli/

Summary

Adds a standalone Agents CLI quickstart alongside the language quickstarts, so the choice between adk create and agents-cli create is visible up front.

Changes

docs/get-started/agents-cli.md (new), following the structure of the language quickstarts
docs/get-started/index.md: Agents CLI card
mkdocs.yml: nav entry
docs/assets/agents-cli-lifecycle.png: lifecycle diagram

Agents CLI is currently explained only under Deploy > Agent Runtime and in the Coding with AI tutorial, so readers reach it either not at all or with the impression that it only configures AI coding assistants. Add a quickstart alongside the language quickstarts, and a card on the Get Started index so the choice is made up front.

Lead with the coding agent as the intended way to use Agents CLI, add the lifecycle diagram and the seven skills, and say the CLI has more than 25 commands so the skills do not read as the whole product. Name the real Phase 0 questions (tools, inputs and outputs, success criteria) and close the loop in Next steps, where evaluation grades against those criteria. Drop the manual command section in favour of the upstream manual workflow tutorial, drop the playground production warning, and use Antigravity rather than Antigravity CLI to match the rest of the docs.

netlify · 2026-08-07T22:48:03Z

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joefernandez · 2026-08-14T17:00:22Z

+    [skills](https://agentskills.io/what-are-skills). Most agents list them
+    through a `/skills` command or a settings panel.
+
+Then tell it what you want to build:


be more specific:

tell it --> tell the coding agent

Done. bb56950

joefernandez · 2026-08-14T17:00:34Z

@@ -0,0 +1,214 @@
+# Agents CLI Quickstart for ADK
+
+[Agents CLI in Agent Platform](https://google.github.io/agents-cli/) is a CLI


The purpose of this introduction is to explain that you can use Agent CLI to setup and install ADK, and briefly why a developer might chose to do that. Make sure you mention that this setup can work with multiple coding agents.

Rewrite this introduction. Keep it focused: 3-4 sentences max.

Rewrote to 4 sentences: what Agents CLI does (installs ADK + scaffolds + teaches your coding agent), which agents it works with (Antigravity, Claude Code, Codex, any skill-aware agent), and when to reach for it. bb56950

joefernandez · 2026-08-14T17:00:36Z

+Google Cloud**: scaffolding, evaluation, deployment, and observability. Your
+agents are built with the Agent Development Kit (ADK).
+
+![The ten stages of the agent development lifecycle](/assets/agents-cli-lifecycle.png)


This introduction is completely overblown. It's not appropriate to be putting the equivalent of a full-page advertisement for Agents CLI into what is supposed to be a "quickstart". A quickstart is supposed to be quick: To the point, no fluff. Get it working and get on to the next thing.

Remove everything from the image down to the "Prerequisites" heading.

Trimmed as suggested — dropped the coding-agent-path paragraph, the "Agents CLI is optional" paragraph, and the seven-skills table. Kept the lifecycle diagram (see reply on the image comment). Intro → diagram → Prerequisites in ~11 lines now instead of ~33. bb56950

joefernandez · 2026-08-14T17:10:47Z

+gcloud auth application-default login
+```
+
+??? tip "Using a Gemini API key instead"


This should be the default option, not the alternative.

Done — Gemini API key is the default snippet now; Google Cloud is the linked alternative below it. bb56950

joefernandez · 2026-08-14T17:11:53Z

+your Application Default Credentials and needs no further setup:
+
+```shell
+gcloud auth application-default login


do not present this dependency on Google Cloud the default option.

ADK is committed to being platform agnostic, and presenting Google Cloud as a default implementation contradicts that.

Also, connecting to Google Cloud is non-trivial (especially from a standing start) and there are multiple connection paths, you can present a simple one, but also provide a link to the Cloud connection guide for more details: https://adk.dev/get-started/google-cloud/

Agreed — reordered so the Gemini API key path is the default snippet. Google Cloud moved into a collapsed ??? note linking to get-started/google-cloud.md for the full connection guide (quotas, regions, enterprise auth). bb56950

joefernandez · 2026-08-14T17:26:02Z

+
+    Check that the Agents CLI skills are available in your environment.
+
+=== "Any other agent"


don't make this a tab, use a note to explain this, because it's not an equivalent instruction to the other options:

??? note "Using other coding agents" Agents CLI works with any coding agent that...

Done — moved out of the tabs into ??? note "Using other coding agents" right below the three tabs. bb56950

joefernandez · 2026-08-14T17:29:15Z

+Your coding agent activates the `google-agents-cli-workflow` and
+`google-agents-cli-scaffold` skills. It asks clarifying questions about the
+tools your agent calls, the inputs and outputs you expect, and the success
+criteria to evaluate against, then scaffolds the project:


add an explanatory sentence at the end of this paragraph. What are these commands you are presenting? Is the reader supposed to execute them? is the coding agent running this?

Added an explanatory sentence at the end of the paragraph: "It runs the commands below on your behalf — you can also run them directly in a terminal if you prefer." Matches the pattern you called out on L185. bb56950

joefernandez · 2026-08-14T17:31:06Z

+
+## Run your agent
+
+Ask your coding agent to start the local playground, or run it yourself:


Here you explain the intended use of the command that follow. Do the same on line 152 (see comment).

Done — L152 now matches this pattern (see reply on that thread). bb56950

joefernandez · 2026-08-14T17:36:32Z

+## Installation
+
+Install Agents CLI by running the following command. This is the only command
+you run yourself; the rest of this guide goes through your coding agent.


Does this step install ADK libraries? I assume "yes", but that's not clear. State that clearly in this introduction paragraph, otherwise it seems like the reader is just installing Agents CLI.

Clarified: uvx google-agents-cli setup now explicitly states it installs the agents-cli command, the ADK Python packages your project will need, AND the ADK skills. Reader no longer has to guess whether they still owe a separate pip install google-adk. bb56950

joefernandez · 2026-08-14T17:40:07Z

+    [:octicons-arrow-right-24: Start with Agents CLI](agents-cli.md) <br>
 </div>

+The language quickstarts start from a single-file agent and teach ADK itself.


remove this paragraph. this is unnecessary and almost no one is going to read it, regardless, because of it's placement.

Removed. bb56950

joefernandez · 2026-08-14T17:43:08Z

remove. (see later comments on why)

Kept the lifecycle diagram in — visual reference for the 10-stage lifecycle at a glance. Cut everything else you flagged (coding-agent-path paragraph, seven-skills table, "Agents CLI is optional" paragraph). Happy to drop the image too if you'd still prefer, just wanted to preserve at least one visual anchor for scope. bb56950

- Tighten intro to 3-4 sentences; drop the coding-agent-path paragraph, the "optional / ordinary ADK agents" paragraph, and the seven-skills table (kept the lifecycle diagram) - Installation: state clearly that setup also installs the ADK Python packages, not just the CLI - Authenticate: swap the default to the Gemini API key path; move Google Cloud into a linked note pointing to the Google Cloud setup guide - Build your agent: replace prose in each tab with a command block containing verification steps as comments; move "Any other agent" out of the tabs into a note; "tell it" -> "tell the coding agent" - Add explanatory sentence before the scaffold command block clarifying that the coding agent runs the commands (and the reader can too) - Get Started index: drop the language-quickstarts-vs-Agents-CLI framing paragraph (unlikely to be read in that position)

eliasecchig added 2 commits August 8, 2026 00:18

joefernandez reviewed Aug 14, 2026

View reviewed changes

pierpaolo28 approved these changes Aug 16, 2026

View reviewed changes

		@@ -0,0 +1,214 @@
		# Agents CLI Quickstart for ADK

		[Agents CLI in Agent Platform](https://google.github.io/agents-cli/) is a CLI


		Check that the Agents CLI skills are available in your environment.

		=== "Any other agent"


		## Run your agent

		Ask your coding agent to start the local playground, or run it yourself:

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eliasecchig commented Aug 7, 2026 •

edited by joefernandez

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joefernandez Aug 14, 2026 •

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