Review the Patch Before Gemini Files the Thread

At a glance

Gemini Tip

• Start a Temporary chat at gemini.google.com so a one-off review stays out of Recents and Activity.
• Paste a redacted snippet, copy findings out, then leave. Do not convert it to a saved chat.
• Verify Recents and Activity are empty. On work or school, treat admin policy and Vault as separate retention.

A normal Gemini thread is a filing cabinet. With Keep Activity on, the prompt and critique sit under Recents, which helps a reusable rubric but is the wrong default for a sensitive review that is not public yet. Temporary chat is the control for that one pass. Google documents that Temporary chats stay out of Recents and Activity, are not used to personalize later replies, and are not used to train Google’s AI models, though they are still held with your account for up to 72 hours. Leaving the thread is the user-facing cutoff. This is not a custom Gem workflow or a Drive-grounded RFC write-up.

Why it matters

Recents and Activity are a second copy of whatever you pasted, often retained for 18 months unless you change auto-delete. Temporary chat is the session-scoped switch; Keep Activity off is the account-scoped switch. On Workspace, Keep Activity defaults on and only an admin can turn it off; admins can allow Temporary chats and conversation deletion. If Vault is in play, retention still applies when the UI looks ephemeral. The one move: Temporary chat for the sensitive paste, then verify the empty trail.

How to review in Temporary chat

Use Gemini on the computer at gemini.google.com.

1. Redact first: tokens, cookies, private keys, customer IDs, internal hostnames you would not put in a public gist, and screenshots with a production URL bar. 2. Confirm the account chip. Stay on Gemini web desktop. Temporary chat is not available in Gemini in Chrome or in Google Messages. 3. Start Temporary chat (Help puts the control next to New chat). Confirm the Temporary chat label, composer wording, or temporary-chat icon at the top. 4. Work or school and the control is missing? Stop. Workspace admins control Allow temporary chats. Do not fall back to a saved chat. 5. Paste only the redacted region plus the question. Skip Connected Apps. Run the prompt below, then copy the verdict into the ticket or PR.

Review this not-yet-merged patch in Temporary chat. I will paste one redacted function or diff hunk only.
Do not assume repo-wide context, Connected Apps, or prior chats.
Flag authz bypass, injection, secret handling, unsafe deserialization, user-controlled path or query, missing permission checks, and PII logs.
For each finding: severity (blocker, should-fix, nit), exact line or symbol, why, and a minimal fix. If too small to judge, say what is missing.
End with a three-line merge note: risk, required change, residual risk.
Patch:
<paste redacted function or diff hunk>

Review this not-yet-merged patch in Temporary chat. I will paste one redacted function or diff hunk only.
Do not assume repo-wide context, Connected Apps, or prior chats.
Flag authz bypass, injection, secret handling, unsafe deserialization, user-controlled path or query, missing permission checks, and PII logs.
For each finding: severity (blocker, should-fix, nit), exact line or symbol, why, and a minimal fix. If too small to judge, say what is missing.
End with a three-line merge note: risk, required change, residual risk.
Patch:
<paste redacted function or diff hunk>

6. Leave via New chat, another conversation, or closing the tab (copy findings out first). Verify Recents is empty; open Settings & help → Activity, or Gemini Apps Activity. If Vault covers Gemini, hidden from you is not gone from the company.

Gotchas

• Temporary is not zero retention. Google keeps Temporary chats with your account for up to 72 hours, and may use the last 24 hours as context while open.
• No Gems, no Keep-Activity-gated Connected Apps, no saved personalization. A reusable rubric or Drive RFC belongs in a saved-chat workflow.
• Consumer Help and Workspace policy can differ. Believe the control you can see, then confirm policy. With Vault, delete can hide the chat while Vault keeps it. Temporary chat does not override a company ban on sending product code to an assistant.

Recommended AI prompt

Copy this paragraph into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, or whatever you use.

Help me run a one-off code review in Gemini Temporary chat at gemini.google.com (or Workspace Gemini if my admin allows Temporary chats). Give a redaction checklist, UI checks that prove Temporary chat mode, Recents and Activity verification after I leave, and the limits: 72-hour retention, no Gems, no Keep-Activity Connected Apps, personal versus work or school controls, and Vault if used. Then give a merge-note template. Desktop/Workspace only (no API or curl).