Google has released Conductor, a new preview extension for Gemini CLI that introduces a structured, context-driven approach to AI-assisted software development. The extension is designed to address a common limitation of chat-based coding tools: the loss of project context across sessions.
Conductor shifts development context out of transient conversations and into persistent Markdown files stored directly in a repository. These files define product goals, architectural constraints, technology choices, and workflow preferences, and serve as the shared source of truth for both developers and AI agents. The intent is to make AI-assisted development more predictable, reviewable, and reproducible over time.
Rather than moving directly from prompt to code, Conductor encourages a planning-first workflow. Developers define specifications and implementation plans before invoking code generation, and these artifacts remain part of the codebase throughout the lifecycle of a feature. This approach is intended to support larger tasks such as feature development, refactoring, and work on established projects, where understanding existing structure and constraints is crucial.
A core concept in Conductor is the track, which represents a discrete unit of work. Each track includes a written specification and a task-oriented plan broken into phases and subtasks. Implementation proceeds only after the plan is reviewed, with progress tracked directly in the plan file. Because state is stored in the repository, work can be paused, resumed, or modified without losing context.
Early users have highlighted the track-based workflow as a practical improvement over ad-hoc prompting. Devin Dickerson, an engineering and product leader at Forrester, said:
My favorite thing about this extension is the tracks concept. I had been using the open source version of Conductor on my own prior to this release, and I ended up building my own feature slices. I can throw that away now that tracks are baked in.
Conductor also supports team-wide configuration. Projects can define shared standards such as testing strategies, coding conventions, and workflow preferences once and apply them consistently to all AI-assisted contributions. This makes the extension relevant not only for individual developers but also for teams seeking consistency across contributors and machines.
Developers experimenting with the preview have pointed to its emphasis on explicit planning and test-driven workflows. Navid Farazmand described:
I immediately tried to create something similar with .md files when Gemini CLI came out. Conductor is an order of magnitude better—especially the test-driven-development approach it takes.
Conductor is available as a preview extension for Gemini CLI and can be installed from its public GitHub repository. Google has positioned the release as an initial step, with further refinements planned as feedback from developers and teams informs future iterations.
