Google launches skills in Gemini, set to gradually replace Gems

What Google announced

On September 30, 2026, Google published a post on its official blog written by Deven Tokuno, Senior Product Manager for the Gemini app. According to Google, skills let users save their most frequently used instructions once and run them again, sparing them from retyping prompts (the requests you type to Gemini) each time. Google says skills are already available in Gemini Spark and will replace Gems as the tool for customizing instructions for specific tasks.

Google says that as of September 30, 2026, it is rolling out skills to Gemini conversations globally, and will make them available to Google Workspace Business, Enterprise, Nonprofit and Education customers in the coming weeks. According to a footnote in the post, skills are available on all Google AI subscription plans and are currently limited to users aged 18 and over, with a version for users under 18 coming soon.

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How skills work

• Quick access: According to Google, once a skill is created, you can use it again by typing "/" followed by the skill's name in the prompt bar, the box where you type your request.
• Create from conversations: Google says Gemini can help create custom skills from a conversation and run them automatically when you enter a matching prompt.
• Stacking: Google says multiple skills can be used at once, for example combining a writing style with brand guidelines.
• Reference files: Google says that, as of September 30, 2026, skills can include reference files such as plain-text documents, PDFs or images.

Use cases Google cites include preparing presentations (organizing slide outlines, speaker notes and Q&A prep), getting Gemini to match your personal writing style, and asking Gemini to consistently offer three to five different perspectives on a topic to help with brainstorming or decision-making.

Gems retirement timeline and migration

Google says that in the coming weeks, skills will gain familiar Gems features, including sharing with others and adding Google Drive files and Gemini Notebook notebooks. As these features are filled in, Google will phase out support for Gems, and says it will automatically migrate Gems to skills when Gems are retired.

What it means for everyday users

For people who regularly use Gemini for repetitive work, the main changes with skills are quicker access (just type "/"), the ability to stack multiple instruction sets, and support for attaching reference files. For users who have already built Gems, Google says regular Gems will be converted to skills automatically, so most people will not need to rebuild them manually; however, personal account users should note the November timeline, and those using Google Labs Gems or Opal will need to arrange alternatives themselves. Business and school administrators can plan internal communications around the timeline in the table.

Google official blog: Let skills in Gemini tackle your most repetitive tasks

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