Google details Gems to skills migration, including free access

As we spotted over the weekend, Gemini is replacing Gems with skills, and Google today fully detailed the migration.

The news today is that skills are now available in the Gemini chat experience after debuting in the Spark agent. These reusable instructions for common tasks can be invoked with a / command from the main prompt box instead of having to launch via the Gem manager. This offers a more unified experience in the long run.

Example skills include preparing for presentations, matching writing styles, and getting different perspectives.

Skills will gain feature parity with Gems over the coming weeks. This includes the ability to share skills with others using links, and adding Google Drive files or notebooks for context. 

Gemini will automatically migrate Gems to skills, with the new feature available for all free users who don’t have Spark. 

Personal Google Accounts will lose access to Gems starting in November. The migration will happen for Google Workspace business, enterprise, and non-profit customers in March 2027, while education users have until June 2027.

Skills start rolling out today to Gemini chat users globally. All other customers can expect access in the coming weeks.