Gemini CLI v0.40.0 adds memory, skills

This is the release where Gemini CLI starts acting like an operating layer for developer work, not just a chatty terminal wrapper.

• –The new memory stack matters more than the headline features: it turns repeated session patterns into reusable skills, which reduces prompt drift and manual re-explaining.
• –Auto-generated skills are a strong signal that Google wants the CLI to learn workflow conventions over time, but the review/discard step is the right guardrail to keep the model from codifying noise.
• –Gemma local routing is the practical flexibility win here: it gives teams a local-first option for routing decisions without forcing every interaction through hosted inference.
• –The compact UI and topic cleanup look cosmetic, but they usually indicate a product that is being tuned for longer, denser sessions where signal-to-noise starts to matter.
• –Net: this release is less about new capabilities in isolation and more about making Gemini CLI durable for real, repeated engineering workflows.