ADK Code Reference

SkillAI & models

This skill turns your coding assistant into an expert at building AI agents on Google Cloud. Once added, it can help you create agents, check how well they work, and deploy them to Google Cloud. It includes Google's agents command line tool to support that work.

Use ADK Code Reference in Claude, ChatGPT or Ahel Desktop

Free. Sign in, add ADK Code Reference and connect your AI. About a minute.

Also: Claude Code · Cursor · Codex

Then ask your AI: use the ADK Code Reference skill

Details

Instructions available. Your AI can read the instructions. Execution depends on the setup they require.

After adding it, ask your coding assistant to build and test a first agent, then deploy it to Google Cloud. The underlying project lives at github.com/google/agents-cli.

ADK Code ReferenceStart free

What your AI can do with it

  • Create AI agents with expert-level guidance
  • Evaluate agents to see how well they perform
  • Deploy finished agents to Google Cloud
  • Work with Google's agents command line tool

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by google/agents-cli in skills/google-agents-cli-adk-code/SKILL.md and read by Ahel’s review.

Activate /google-agents-cli-workflow first for required development phases and scaffolding steps.

1. Study Recipes (No Project Needed)

Python — read the topic index in references/samples.md before answering "how do I build X". Worked implementations exist for: sandboxed/per-user code execution, agent-loadable SKILL.md skills, cross-session memory, approval gates before risky actions, tool guardrails, per-user credentials, and scheduled/event-driven runs.

Go — read the upstream examples/. clone the repo and read the one matching the capability you need before implementing it.

2. Prerequisites for Writing Code

Do NOT write agent code until a project is scaffolded.

  1. Verify project: run agents-cli info (proceed if config exists).
  2. New project: run agents-cli scaffold create <name> — add --agent adk_go for Go.
  3. Existing code: run agents-cli scaffold enhance ..

Quick Reference — Most Common Patterns

See references/adk-python.md and references/adk-go.md for Python and Go code examples, respectively.


References

Use the cheatsheets for common patterns. For deep knowledge, fetch the docs index or inspect the installed package.

ReferenceLanguageWhen to read
references/samples.mdPythonTopic-indexed catalog of ADK reference recipes. Read in workflow Phase 1 — before scaffolding and before writing code — maps a capability to the recipe that implements it.
references/adk-python.mdPythonCore ADK API: Agent, tools, callbacks, plugins, state, artifacts, multi-agent systems, SequentialAgent / ParallelAgent / LoopAgent, custom BaseAgent, ManagedAgent (server-hosted first-party agents), A2A protocol, A2UI. Default for most agents.
references/adk-python-workflows.mdPythonGraph-based Workflow API (ADK Python 2.0): nodes, edges, fan-out/fan-in, HITL, parallel processing. Use when you need explicit graph topology.
references/adk-python-live.mdPythonLive and voice agents: Runner.run_live, LiveRequestQueue, model and regional availability, voice/speech_config, VAD, session limits, /run_live serving. Use for real-time voice or video agents.
references/adk-go.mdGoCore ADK Go API: llmagent, tools, callbacks, plugins, state, artifacts, multi-agent systems, sequential/parallel/loop agents, custom agents, the runner, serving over HTTP, A2A protocol, and ambient triggers. Default for most agents.
references/adk-go-workflows.mdGoGraph-based Workflow API: nodes, edges, fan-out/fan-in, HITL, parallel processing. Use when you need explicit graph topology.
examples/GoRunnable upstream programs — the closest thing to a recipe catalog for Go.
curl https://adk.dev/llms.txtPythonDocs index (every page title + URL). Fetch it, then WebFetch the specific page for anything beyond the cheatsheets.
Installed ADK packagePythonExact signatures and symbols — inspect the source (see "Inspecting ADK Source Code" in references/adk-python.md).

Related Skills

  • /google-agents-cli-workflow — Development workflow, coding guidelines, and operational rules
  • /google-agents-cli-scaffold — Project creation and enhancement with agents-cli scaffold create / scaffold enhance
  • /google-agents-cli-eval — Evaluation methodology, dataset schema, and the eval-fix loop
  • /google-agents-cli-deploy — Deployment targets, CI/CD pipelines, and production workflows

Signals

GitHub stars
6k
Forks
687
Last commit
Sep 2026
Installs
481k installs

Ahel review

  • K1binfo
    installs-packages (in references/adk-python.md)

Automated review, not a security audit. Ruleset v1+k2.

Advanced
Item type
skill
Key
google-agents-cli-adk-code
Source
github.com/google/agents-cli