By Deven Tokuno, Senior Product Manager, Gemini App
Skills let users save frequently used instructions and run them repeatedly instead of rewriting prompts. Already available in Gemini Spark, skills will soon replace Gems as Gemini's way to customize instructions for specific tasks.
Google is rolling out skills in Gemini chat worldwide. They are available across all Google AI subscription tiers for adults aged 18 and over, with availability for users under 18 coming soon. Google Workspace business, enterprise, nonprofit and education customers will gain access in the coming weeks.
Reuse instructions to save time
After creating a skill, users can invoke it by typing a forward slash (/) followed by its name in the prompt bar. Examples include:
- Presentation preparation: Create outlines, develop talking points and practice answers to difficult questions for a class or project pitch.
- Writing in a personal style: Use Gemini's knowledge of a user's writing style across Workspace apps to draft faster while retaining control over the result.
- Exploring different perspectives: Ask Gemini to routinely offer three to five viewpoints to support brainstorming, argument development or decision-making.
Gemini can help create custom skills from conversations and run them automatically when a prompt matches. Users can also combine skills for larger jobs, such as applying both a writing style and brand guidelines to produce on-brand material in their own voice. Skills can now include reference files, including plain-text documents, PDFs and images.
Moving from Gems to skills
In the coming weeks, skills will gain features previously available in Gems, including sharing and the ability to add Google Drive files and Gemini Notebook notebooks.
Google plans to end support for Gems in November 2026 for personal accounts, March 2027 for Workspace business, enterprise and nonprofit customers, and June 2027 for Workspace education customers. Existing Gems will automatically migrate to skills when Gems are discontinued. More transition details are available in the help center.
Google's Opal experiment for building mini apps will also shut down in November; see the Opal FAQ for details. Gems by Google Labs will likewise be discontinued, but they will not migrate to skills.