Behavioral Evals
Published by google-gemini in gemini-cli
What this skill does
Guidance for creating, running, fixing, and promoting behavioral evaluations. Use when verifying agent decision logic, debugging failures, debugging prompt steering, or adding workspace regression tests.
Add Behavioral Evals to your agent
Review the source and files first. When you are ready, copy the prompt instruction or use the CLI command supported by your environment.
Install with a prompt
Paste this into a compatible coding agent:
add this skill "behavioral-evals" from https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cliInstall with the CLI
Run this command in a controlled environment after reviewing the repository:
npx skills add https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli --skill behavioral-evalsSkill instructions
Behavioral Evals
Overview
Behavioral evaluations (evals) are tests that validate the agent's decision-making (e.g., tool choice) rather than pure functionality. They are critical for verifying prompt changes, debugging steerability, and preventing regressions.
[!NOTE] Single Source of Truth: For core concepts, policies, running tests, and general best practices, always refer to evals/README.md.
🔄 Workflow Decision Tree
- Does a prompt/tool change need validation?
- No -> Normal integration tests.
- Yes -> Continue below.
- Is it UI/Interaction heavy?
- Yes -> Use
appEvalTest(AppRig). See creating.md. - No -> Use
evalTest(TestRig). See creating.md.
- Yes -> Use
- Is it a new test?
- Yes -> Set policy to
USUALLY_PASSES. - No ->
ALWAYS_PASSES(locks in regression).
- Yes -> Set policy to
- Are you fixing a failure or promoting a test?
- Fixing -> See fixing.md.
- Promoting -> See promoting.md.
📋 Quick Checklist
1. Setup Workspace
Seed the workspace with necessary files using the files object to simulate a realistic scenario (e.g., NodeJS project with package.json).
- Details in creating.md
2. Write Assertions
Audit agent decisions using rig.setBreakpoint() (AppRig only) or index verification on rig.readToolLogs().
- Details in creating.md
3. Verify
Run single tests locally with Vitest. Confirm stability locally before relying on CI workflows.
- See evals/README.md for running commands.
📦 Bundled Resources
Detailed procedural guides:
- creating.md: Assertion strategies, Rig selection, Mock MCPs.
- fixing.md: Step-by-step automated investigation, architecture diagnosis guidelines.
- promoting.md: Candidate identification criteria and threshold guidelines.
Files included
- assets/interactive_eval.ts.txt
- assets/standard_eval.ts.txt
- references/creating.md
- references/fixing.md
- references/promoting.md
- references/running.md
- SKILL.md