Google Agent Development Kit rules for agents, tools, sessions, memory, artifact

When to use this skill

Google Agent Development Kit rules for agents, tools, sessions, memory, artifacts, evaluation, and deployment

Source

Synced from https://github.com/PatrickJS/awesome-cursorrules/tree/main/rules/google-adk.mdc.

Google ADK Rules

Agent Design

• Keep each agent focused on a clear goal, persona, and tool set.
• Use LLM agents for flexible reasoning and workflow agents for deterministic orchestration.
• Write instructions that define task boundaries, tool-use rules, and escalation behavior.
• Split multi-agent systems by responsibility rather than by implementation convenience.
• Keep model choices configurable.

Tools

• Give tools narrow, typed inputs and outputs.
• Validate tool arguments before performing side effects.
• Keep secrets, credentials, and privileged APIs out of agent prompts.
• Handle tool errors explicitly and return actionable failure messages.
• Be aware of ADK tool limitations; some built-in tools cannot be combined with other tools on the same agent.

Sessions, State, and Memory

• Use session state for current-conversation data.
• Use memory for cross-session recall and retrieval.
• Keep state small and serializable.
• Do not store large files or binary payloads in session state.
• Make state keys stable and documented.

Artifacts

• Use artifacts for generated files, uploaded files, reports, images, audio, and other binary data.
• Configure an artifact service in the runner before relying on artifact operations.
• Version artifact filenames intentionally and avoid overwriting semantically different outputs.
• Store only references or summaries in state when full content belongs in artifacts.

Evaluation and Deployment

• Add tests for tool behavior, agent routing, prompt regressions, and unsafe tool calls.
• Use trace or event logs to debug agent decisions.
• Keep local development, staging, and production configuration separate.
• Add observability for latency, tool failures, token use, and handoff failures.

Common Mistakes

• Do not make one agent responsible for every workflow.
• Do not let tools accept arbitrary shell, SQL, or HTTP input without validation.
• Do not rely on prompt text for access control.
• Do not hide important side effects behind generic tool names.