Rollout begins in Gemini chat

Google says it is beginning a global rollout of skills in Gemini chat, introducing reusable instructions for recurring tasks as it prepares to replace Gems. Access for Google Workspace business, enterprise, nonprofit and education customers is scheduled for the coming weeks, according to the announcement, giving those customers a later availability window.

For people who repeatedly ask Gemini to follow the same directions, Google describes a way to call up a saved skill by entering a forward slash followed by its name in the prompt bar. The company says Gemini can also help create custom skills from conversations and run them automatically when a prompt matches. Suggested uses include preparing presentation outlines and requesting several perspectives on a topic.

Combining instructions and reference files

Google says several skills can be applied together for larger tasks. Its example combines instructions about writing style with a separate set of brand guidelines. That gives users a documented way to bring both kinds of direction into the same task when asking Gemini to create material.

The announcement also introduces skills containing reference material, including text documents, PDFs and images. Google describes that capability as available from the announcement, while placing other features in the coming weeks: sharing skills, attaching files from Google Drive and adding notebooks from Gemini Notebook. Those additions remain forthcoming in the announced transition from Gems.

When Gems support ends

Google sets different starting points for withdrawing Gems support by account type. The announcement lists November for people using personal accounts, March 2027 for Workspace business, enterprise and nonprofit customers, and June 2027 for Workspace education customers. The retirement schedule therefore depends on which category a user belongs to.

Google says existing Gems will transfer automatically into skills when Gems are withdrawn. It also says Opal, its experimental tool for building mini apps, will shut down in November alongside that stage of the transition. The automatic transfer commitment specifically concerns Gems; the announcement separately describes the closure of Opal.

Sources & context

  1. Let skills in Gemini tackle your most repetitive tasksGoogle Products

    Single-source report; claims attributed to the source, not independently verified. Source feed date (published): 2026-09-30T16:00:00.000Z. Page publication date: 2026-09-30. Study date: not established. Consulted: 2026-09-30T21:00:05.310Z.

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