feat(memory): make directory search limit on memory discovery configurable with settings.json (#4460)

docs/cli/configuration.md

@@ -429,7 +429,7 @@ This example demonstrates how you can provide general project context, specific
       - Location: The CLI searches for the configured context file in the current working directory and then in each parent directory up to either the project root (identified by a `.git` folder) or your home directory.
       - Scope: Provides context relevant to the entire project or a significant portion of it.
   3.  **Sub-directory Context Files (Contextual/Local):**
-      - Location: The CLI also scans for the configured context file in subdirectories _below_ the current working directory (respecting common ignore patterns like `node_modules`, `.git`, etc.).
+      - Location: The CLI also scans for the configured context file in subdirectories _below_ the current working directory (respecting common ignore patterns like `node_modules`, `.git`, etc.). The breadth of this search is limited to 200 directories by default, but can be configured with a `memoryDiscoveryMaxDirs` field in your `settings.json` file.
       - Scope: Allows for highly specific instructions relevant to a particular component, module, or subsection of your project.
 - **Concatenation & UI Indication:** The contents of all found context files are concatenated (with separators indicating their origin and path) and provided as part of the system prompt to the Gemini model. The CLI footer displays the count of loaded context files, giving you a quick visual cue about the active instructional context.
 - **Commands for Memory Management:**

packages/cli/src/config/config.test.ts

@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ vi.mock('@google/gemini-cli-core', async () => {
     ...actualServer,
     loadEnvironment: vi.fn(),
     loadServerHierarchicalMemory: vi.fn(
-      (cwd, debug, fileService, extensionPaths) =>
+      (cwd, debug, fileService, extensionPaths, _maxDirs) =>
         Promise.resolve({
           memoryContent: extensionPaths?.join(',') || '',
           fileCount: extensionPaths?.length || 0,
@@ -491,6 +491,7 @@ describe('Hierarchical Memory Loading (config.ts) - Placeholder Suite', () => {
         respectGitIgnore: false,
         respectGeminiIgnore: true,
       },
+      undefined, // maxDirs
     );
   });
 

packages/cli/src/config/config.ts

@@ -225,6 +225,7 @@ export async function loadHierarchicalGeminiMemory(
   currentWorkingDirectory: string,
   debugMode: boolean,
   fileService: FileDiscoveryService,
+  settings: Settings,
   extensionContextFilePaths: string[] = [],
   fileFilteringOptions?: FileFilteringOptions,
 ): Promise<{ memoryContent: string; fileCount: number }> {
@@ -242,6 +243,7 @@ export async function loadHierarchicalGeminiMemory(
     fileService,
     extensionContextFilePaths,
     fileFilteringOptions,
+    settings.memoryDiscoveryMaxDirs,
   );
 }
 
@@ -298,6 +300,7 @@ export async function loadCliConfig(
     process.cwd(),
     debugMode,
     fileService,
+    settings,
     extensionContextFilePaths,
     fileFiltering,
   );

packages/cli/src/config/settings.ts

@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@ export interface Settings {
 
   // Add other settings here.
   ideMode?: boolean;
+  memoryDiscoveryMaxDirs?: number;
 }
 
 export interface SettingsError {

packages/cli/src/ui/App.tsx

@@ -236,6 +236,7 @@ const App = ({ config, settings, startupWarnings = [], version }: AppProps) => {
         process.cwd(),
         config.getDebugMode(),
         config.getFileService(),
+        settings.merged,
         config.getExtensionContextFilePaths(),
         config.getFileFilteringOptions(),
       );
@@ -267,7 +268,7 @@ const App = ({ config, settings, startupWarnings = [], version }: AppProps) => {
       );
       console.error('Error refreshing memory:', error);
     }
-  }, [config, addItem]);
+  }, [config, addItem, settings.merged]);
 
   // Watch for model changes (e.g., from Flash fallback)
   useEffect(() => {

packages/cli/src/ui/commands/memoryCommand.test.ts

@@ -9,7 +9,12 @@ import { memoryCommand } from './memoryCommand.js';
 import { type CommandContext, SlashCommand } from './types.js';
 import { createMockCommandContext } from '../../test-utils/mockCommandContext.js';
 import { MessageType } from '../types.js';
-import { getErrorMessage } from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
+import { LoadedSettings } from '../../config/settings.js';
+import {
+  getErrorMessage,
+  loadServerHierarchicalMemory,
+  type FileDiscoveryService,
+} from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
 
 vi.mock('@google/gemini-cli-core', async (importOriginal) => {
   const original =
@@ -20,9 +25,12 @@ vi.mock('@google/gemini-cli-core', async (importOriginal) => {
       if (error instanceof Error) return error.message;
       return String(error);
     }),
+    loadServerHierarchicalMemory: vi.fn(),
   };
 });
 
+const mockLoadServerHierarchicalMemory = loadServerHierarchicalMemory as Mock;
+
 describe('memoryCommand', () => {
   let mockContext: CommandContext;
 
@@ -139,19 +147,37 @@ describe('memoryCommand', () => {
 
   describe('/memory refresh', () => {
     let refreshCommand: SlashCommand;
-    let mockRefreshMemory: Mock;
+    let mockSetUserMemory: Mock;
+    let mockSetGeminiMdFileCount: Mock;
 
     beforeEach(() => {
       refreshCommand = getSubCommand('refresh');
-      mockRefreshMemory = vi.fn();
+      mockSetUserMemory = vi.fn();
+      mockSetGeminiMdFileCount = vi.fn();
+      const mockConfig = {
+        setUserMemory: mockSetUserMemory,
+        setGeminiMdFileCount: mockSetGeminiMdFileCount,
+        getWorkingDir: () => '/test/dir',
+        getDebugMode: () => false,
+        getFileService: () => ({}) as FileDiscoveryService,
+        getExtensionContextFilePaths: () => [],
+        getFileFilteringOptions: () => ({
+          ignore: [],
+          include: [],
+        }),
+      };
+
       mockContext = createMockCommandContext({
         services: {
-          config: {
+          config: Promise.resolve(mockConfig),
-            refreshMemory: mockRefreshMemory,
+          settings: {
-            // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
+            merged: {
-          } as any,
+              memoryDiscoveryMaxDirs: 1000,
+            },
+          } as LoadedSettings,
         },
       });
+      mockLoadServerHierarchicalMemory.mockClear();
     });
 
     it('should display success message when memory is refreshed with content', async () => {
@@ -161,7 +187,7 @@ describe('memoryCommand', () => {
         memoryContent: 'new memory content',
         fileCount: 2,
       };
-      mockRefreshMemory.mockResolvedValue(refreshResult);
+      mockLoadServerHierarchicalMemory.mockResolvedValue(refreshResult);
 
       await refreshCommand.action(mockContext, '');
 
@@ -173,7 +199,13 @@ describe('memoryCommand', () => {
         expect.any(Number),
       );
 
-      expect(mockRefreshMemory).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+      expect(loadServerHierarchicalMemory).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+      expect(mockSetUserMemory).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        refreshResult.memoryContent,
+      );
+      expect(mockSetGeminiMdFileCount).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+        refreshResult.fileCount,
+      );
 
       expect(mockContext.ui.addItem).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
         {
@@ -188,11 +220,13 @@ describe('memoryCommand', () => {
       if (!refreshCommand.action) throw new Error('Command has no action');
 
       const refreshResult = { memoryContent: '', fileCount: 0 };
-      mockRefreshMemory.mockResolvedValue(refreshResult);
+      mockLoadServerHierarchicalMemory.mockResolvedValue(refreshResult);
 
       await refreshCommand.action(mockContext, '');
 
-      expect(mockRefreshMemory).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+      expect(loadServerHierarchicalMemory).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+      expect(mockSetUserMemory).toHaveBeenCalledWith('');
+      expect(mockSetGeminiMdFileCount).toHaveBeenCalledWith(0);
 
       expect(mockContext.ui.addItem).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
         {
@@ -207,11 +241,13 @@ describe('memoryCommand', () => {
       if (!refreshCommand.action) throw new Error('Command has no action');
 
       const error = new Error('Failed to read memory files.');
-      mockRefreshMemory.mockRejectedValue(error);
+      mockLoadServerHierarchicalMemory.mockRejectedValue(error);
 
       await refreshCommand.action(mockContext, '');
 
-      expect(mockRefreshMemory).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+      expect(loadServerHierarchicalMemory).toHaveBeenCalledOnce();
+      expect(mockSetUserMemory).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(mockSetGeminiMdFileCount).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
 
       expect(mockContext.ui.addItem).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
         {
@@ -243,7 +279,7 @@ describe('memoryCommand', () => {
         expect.any(Number),
       );
 
-      expect(mockRefreshMemory).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+      expect(loadServerHierarchicalMemory).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     });
   });
 });

packages/cli/src/ui/commands/memoryCommand.ts

@@ -4,7 +4,10 @@
  * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
  */
 
-import { getErrorMessage } from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
+import {
+  getErrorMessage,
+  loadServerHierarchicalMemory,
+} from '@google/gemini-cli-core';
 import { MessageType } from '../types.js';
 import {
   CommandKind,
@@ -81,10 +84,20 @@ export const memoryCommand: SlashCommand = {
         );
 
         try {
-          const result = await context.services.config?.refreshMemory();
+          const config = await context.services.config;
+          if (config) {
+            const { memoryContent, fileCount } =
+              await loadServerHierarchicalMemory(
+                config.getWorkingDir(),
+                config.getDebugMode(),
+                config.getFileService(),
+                config.getExtensionContextFilePaths(),
+                config.getFileFilteringOptions(),
+                context.services.settings.merged.memoryDiscoveryMaxDirs,
+              );
+            config.setUserMemory(memoryContent);
+            config.setGeminiMdFileCount(fileCount);
 
-          if (result) {
-            const { memoryContent, fileCount } = result;
             const successMessage =
               memoryContent.length > 0
                 ? `Memory refreshed successfully. Loaded ${memoryContent.length} characters from ${fileCount} file(s).`

packages/core/src/config/config.test.ts

@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ import {
 } from '../core/contentGenerator.js';
 import { GeminiClient } from '../core/client.js';
 import { GitService } from '../services/gitService.js';
-import { loadServerHierarchicalMemory } from '../utils/memoryDiscovery.js';
 
 // Mock dependencies that might be called during Config construction or createServerConfig
 vi.mock('../tools/tool-registry', () => {
@@ -313,39 +312,4 @@ describe('Server Config (config.ts)', () => {
       expect(config.getTelemetryOtlpEndpoint()).toBe(DEFAULT_OTLP_ENDPOINT);
     });
   });
-
-  describe('refreshMemory', () => {
-    it('should update memory and file count on successful refresh', async () => {
-      const config = new Config(baseParams);
-      const mockMemoryData = {
-        memoryContent: 'new memory content',
-        fileCount: 5,
-      };
-
-      (loadServerHierarchicalMemory as Mock).mockResolvedValue(mockMemoryData);
-
-      const result = await config.refreshMemory();
-
-      expect(loadServerHierarchicalMemory).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
-        config.getWorkingDir(),
-        config.getDebugMode(),
-        config.getFileService(),
-        config.getExtensionContextFilePaths(),
-        config.getFileFilteringOptions(),
-      );
-
-      expect(config.getUserMemory()).toBe(mockMemoryData.memoryContent);
-      expect(config.getGeminiMdFileCount()).toBe(mockMemoryData.fileCount);
-      expect(result).toEqual(mockMemoryData);
-    });
-
-    it('should propagate errors from loadServerHierarchicalMemory', async () => {
-      const config = new Config(baseParams);
-      const testError = new Error('Failed to load memory');
-
-      (loadServerHierarchicalMemory as Mock).mockRejectedValue(testError);
-
-      await expect(config.refreshMemory()).rejects.toThrow(testError);
-    });
-  });
 });

packages/core/src/config/config.ts

@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ import { WebSearchTool } from '../tools/web-search.js';
 import { GeminiClient } from '../core/client.js';
 import { FileDiscoveryService } from '../services/fileDiscoveryService.js';
 import { GitService } from '../services/gitService.js';
-import { loadServerHierarchicalMemory } from '../utils/memoryDiscovery.js';
 import { getProjectTempDir } from '../utils/paths.js';
 import {
   initializeTelemetry,
@@ -577,21 +576,6 @@ export class Config {
     return this.gitService;
   }
 
-  async refreshMemory(): Promise<{ memoryContent: string; fileCount: number }> {
-    const { memoryContent, fileCount } = await loadServerHierarchicalMemory(
-      this.getWorkingDir(),
-      this.getDebugMode(),
-      this.getFileService(),
-      this.getExtensionContextFilePaths(),
-      this.getFileFilteringOptions(),
-    );
-
-    this.setUserMemory(memoryContent);
-    this.setGeminiMdFileCount(fileCount);
-
-    return { memoryContent, fileCount };
-  }
-
   async createToolRegistry(): Promise<ToolRegistry> {
     const registry = new ToolRegistry(this);
 

packages/core/src/utils/memoryDiscovery.test.ts

@@ -319,18 +319,35 @@ My code memory
     });
   });
 
-  it('should respect MAX_DIRECTORIES_TO_SCAN_FOR_MEMORY during downward scan', async () => {
+  it('should respect the maxDirs parameter during downward scan', async () => {
-    // the max depth is 200 so it will give up before searching all these.
+    const consoleDebugSpy = vi
-    for (let i = 0; i < 250; i++) {
+      .spyOn(console, 'debug')
+      .mockImplementation(() => {});
+
+    for (let i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
       await createEmptyDir(path.join(cwd, `deep_dir_${i}`));
     }
 
-    // "much_deeper" is alphabetically after "deep_dir_*" so it won't be loaded
+    // Pass the custom limit directly to the function
-    await createTestFile(
+    await loadServerHierarchicalMemory(
-      path.join(cwd, 'much_deeper', DEFAULT_CONTEXT_FILENAME),
+      cwd,
-      'Ignored memory',
+      true,
+      new FileDiscoveryService(projectRoot),
+      [],
+      {
+        respectGitIgnore: true,
+        respectGeminiIgnore: true,
+      },
+      50, // maxDirs
     );
 
+    expect(consoleDebugSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.stringContaining('[DEBUG] [BfsFileSearch]'),
+      expect.stringContaining('Scanning [50/50]:'),
+    );
+
+    vi.mocked(console.debug).mockRestore();
+
     const result = await loadServerHierarchicalMemory(
       cwd,
       false,

packages/core/src/utils/memoryDiscovery.ts

@@ -33,8 +33,6 @@ const logger = {
     console.error('[ERROR] [MemoryDiscovery]', ...args),
 };
 
-const MAX_DIRECTORIES_TO_SCAN_FOR_MEMORY = 200;
-
 interface GeminiFileContent {
   filePath: string;
   content: string | null;
@@ -90,6 +88,7 @@ async function getGeminiMdFilePathsInternal(
   fileService: FileDiscoveryService,
   extensionContextFilePaths: string[] = [],
   fileFilteringOptions: FileFilteringOptions,
+  maxDirs: number,
 ): Promise<string[]> {
   const allPaths = new Set<string>();
   const geminiMdFilenames = getAllGeminiMdFilenames();
@@ -194,7 +193,7 @@ async function getGeminiMdFilePathsInternal(
 
     const downwardPaths = await bfsFileSearch(resolvedCwd, {
       fileName: geminiMdFilename,
-      maxDirs: MAX_DIRECTORIES_TO_SCAN_FOR_MEMORY,
+      maxDirs,
       debug: debugMode,
       fileService,
       fileFilteringOptions: mergedOptions, // Pass merged options as fileFilter
@@ -295,6 +294,7 @@ export async function loadServerHierarchicalMemory(
   fileService: FileDiscoveryService,
   extensionContextFilePaths: string[] = [],
   fileFilteringOptions?: FileFilteringOptions,
+  maxDirs: number = 200,
 ): Promise<{ memoryContent: string; fileCount: number }> {
   if (debugMode)
     logger.debug(
@@ -311,6 +311,7 @@ export async function loadServerHierarchicalMemory(
     fileService,
     extensionContextFilePaths,
     fileFilteringOptions || DEFAULT_MEMORY_FILE_FILTERING_OPTIONS,
+    maxDirs,
   );
   if (filePaths.length === 0) {
     if (debugMode) logger.debug('No GEMINI.md files found in hierarchy.');