What happened?

When using GEMINI_CLI_HOME to run multiple accounts, settings.json (including customAliases) is silently ignored if placed at $GEMINI_CLI_HOME/settings.json.

The correct path is $GEMINI_CLI_HOME/.gemini/settings.json — because homedir() in paths.js returns GEMINI_CLI_HOME and then getGlobalGeminiDir() appends .gemini/.

This is not documented anywhere. The enterprise docs mention GEMINI_CLI_HOME for isolation but don't explain the .gemini/ subdirectory requirement for settings.

Steps to reproduce

1. Set up a second account: export GEMINI_CLI_HOME=~/.gemini2
2. Copy settings: cp ~/.gemini/settings.json ~/.gemini2/settings.json
3. Run with a customAlias model (e.g. a -long alias with maxOutputTokens)
4. Result: ModelNotFoundError — customAliases not loaded

Expected behavior

Either:

• Document that settings.json must be at $GEMINI_CLI_HOME/.gemini/settings.json
• Or also look for settings.json at $GEMINI_CLI_HOME/settings.json (more intuitive)

Workaround

mkdir -p ~/.gemini2/.gemini
cp ~/.gemini/settings.json ~/.gemini2/.gemini/settings.json

Client information

• CLI v0.34.0
• macOS ARM64
• Auth: OAuth (Google One AI Premium)