diff --git a/actions/setup/sh/convert_gateway_config_gemini.sh b/actions/setup/sh/convert_gateway_config_gemini.sh
index 1fc86ce58a..ce2aa4cdd2 100644
--- a/actions/setup/sh/convert_gateway_config_gemini.sh
+++ b/actions/setup/sh/convert_gateway_config_gemini.sh
@@ -94,7 +94,9 @@ jq --arg urlPrefix "$URL_PREFIX" '
       # Fix the URL to use the correct domain
       .url |= (. | sub("^http://[^/]+/mcp/"; $urlPrefix + "/mcp/"))
     )
-  )
+  ) |
+  # Allow Gemini CLI to read files from /tmp/gh-aw/ (e.g. MCP payload files)
+  .includeDirectories = ["/tmp/gh-aw/"]
 ' "$MCP_GATEWAY_OUTPUT" > "$GEMINI_SETTINGS_FILE"
 
 echo "Gemini configuration written to $GEMINI_SETTINGS_FILE"