Google Workspace Skills are reusable, stackable custom instructions for Gemini, designed for Workspace and Gemini-app users who repeat the same drafting, analysis, or teaching tasks and want to encode them once. They replace the older Gems system with a more composable format.
Core Features
- Stack multiple skills in a single prompt, such as pairing a brand-voice skill with a newsletter skill.
- Built on the open, Markdown-native SKILL.md standard, so skills copy between platforms.
- Inline in unified chat threads across Docs, Gmail, Sheets, and the Gemini app.
- Skill builder in Google Docs lets teams author and share skills with each other.
- Reference files including text, PDF, and images, with Drive and sharing-link support arriving next.
Use Cases
- Marketers drafting on-brand blog posts and social copy at scale.
- Educators building lesson-planning and grading skills.
- Operations teams standardizing vendor-evaluation or reporting workflows.
- Analysts layering research and writing instructions in one step.
Pricing
Included with eligible Google Workspace editions, from Business Starter upward, and with personal Google accounts for users over 18, at no separate fee. The rollout began October 5, 2026 for Workspace and October 13 for the Gemini app, completing by mid-November. Skills replace Gems, which sunset for business users no sooner than March 1, 2027.
Our Take
Best for teams already inside Google Workspace who want repeatable, portable instructions without adopting a new tool. The trade-off is the staged rollout and that skills do not yet sync between the Gemini app and Workspace apps. See more in our Productivity category.
