Gemini Skills Are Replacing Gems: How to Use Them in 10 Minutes

I walk you through what Gemini skills are, why Google is turning Gems into skills, and three ways to create your own. I also show you the exact skill I use every week to write my YouTube descriptions, and how I keep my skills so they work in whichever AI tool I'm using.

If you've built Gems in Gemini, or you find yourself typing the same prompt over and over, this is for you. My goal is to help you write a job down once and stop explaining yourself to AI every week.

Key Takeaways

• I show you where Gems and Gemini skills live, and what's changing as Gems become skills.
• I walk you through three ways to create a Gemini skill, including uploading a skills file, which is the method I prefer.
• I explain why I keep my skills tool agnostic, so the same file works in Gemini, Claude or ChatGPT.

What Are Gemini Skills?

A Gemini skill is a set of saved instructions that teaches Gemini how to do one job the same way every time. You call it into any chat when you need it, instead of opening a separate Gem.

Google is moving Gems over to skills. Inside my account there's a notice from Google that says "Gemini gems will become skills starting March 2027." That's the date for business Workspace accounts like mine. Personal Google accounts start switching from November 17, 2026.

Part of the reason for the change is that it falls in line with the terminology ChatGPT and Claude already use. They call them skills too. But it also lets you use skills more effectively, because they're built right into Gemini rather than sitting in a separate Gem.

Where to Find Your Gems and Gemini Skills

To see if you have any Gems in your account, open the sidebar in Gemini, click More, then Gems, and open your Gem manager. This is where you'll see Google's notice about the switch, plus the pre-made Gems from Google and any you've created yourself. I set up a lot of mine in my Gemini Gems video.

As Gems are being phased out, I'd focus on skills from here on. Rather than create a new Gem, I'd go straight ahead and create a skill.

Skills live under Customize, alongside Discover and Connectors. That's the skills page. If you haven't made any yet, it'll be empty, and Google shows a few recommended skills you can check out and add to your account.

What Gemini Skills Do for You

If you find yourself prompting a lot, or using the same prompt to get the same kind of response, that prompt is a good candidate for a skill. Instead of pasting it in every time, you save it once and call on it whenever you need it.

I covered some of the prompts I use every week in my post on 5 Gemini prompts that save you hours. Any prompt you repeat like that can become a skill.

Think about the repetitive tasks you do every day or every week, and how you could turn each one into a skill. That's how you get to the end result a lot quicker.

3 Ways to Create a Gemini Skill

On the skills page, click the Create dropdown. You get three options: create with Gemini, create manually, or upload a skill you've already built.

1. Create a Skill Manually

Click Create manually and Gemini asks for three things:

• Name: what you'll call the skill.
• Description: what you want it to do.
• Instructions: how you want it to carry out that skill or task.

This works well if you already know exactly what you want.

2. Create a Skill With Gemini

If you want a bit more help, choose Create with Gemini. Gemini asks you three questions: what task or workflow the skill should handle, when it should trigger, and what the ideal output looks like. Once it knows the ideal output, it can work backwards.

If you have no idea where to start with your first skill, I'd start with your brand voice. I paste in something like this:

"I want to create a skill called brand voice. Interview me so that we can create this skill together."

That's it. Gemini comes back with a list of questions. If it's too much at once, tell it "Great, ask me these one at a time," and it will. That gives you time to think and give a good answer to each one.

I always use the dictation function for this rather than typing. I just speak from the heart. It doesn't matter if there are ums and ahs in it or if you make a mistake. The AI pulls out what it needs. Keep going until you've answered all of Gemini's questions and it's ready to create your skill.

3. Upload a Skills File (My Preferred Method)

The third way, and the one I use most, is uploading a skills file you already have. Click Upload, select the file, and Gemini reads it and pulls out the name, description and instructions for you.

The one I uploaded is a skill I use every week. It's called YouTube description, and it takes the content of my video and writes the YouTube description for me, exactly the same way week in, week out. Once I'm happy with what Gemini has pulled out, I click Create, and a few seconds later the skill is active in my skills library.

What a Gemini Skills File Looks Like

If you've never seen a skills file, it's simple. It's a markdown file called SKILL.md, which is just plain text with a little formatting. That's the format AI tools like to read.

Mine has a name, a description (write a YouTube description, timestamps and hashtags for my channel), and then the instructions I've written for how I like it presented on my channel.

You don't have to write these files yourself. If you ask an AI to create a skill, this is what it generates for you. But it's worth reading through your skills file. If you're getting a different result than you wanted, the answer is usually in the small print, and you can change that part.

Once you have the file, you can store it somewhere safe and upload it to another AI tool to see how it works there.

How to Use a Gemini Skill in Any Chat

To use a skill, open a new chat in Gemini and type the @ symbol. A list comes up, and skills are at the top. Click your skill, then carry on with your prompt.

Here's how I run my YouTube description skill:

1. I open a new chat and type @, then pick my YouTube description skill.
2. I give Gemini as much data as I can. I go to YouTube, open the video's captions, and copy the full transcript.
3. I paste the captions into the chat with the skill loaded and hit return.

About 20 seconds later, I had a full YouTube description laid out exactly how I like it: a short intro, a link before the fold, what viewers will learn, chapters, the link again at the end, and a set of tags.

Use Your Skills in Any AI Tool

The skill I uploaded isn't tied to Gemini. I can take that same skill and the same transcript and use them in ChatGPT, Claude or Grok, whichever I like, and it should give me a very similar result.

That's the bit I'd focus on. These AI tools are changing their names and features all the time. Gems become skills. Something else will change next year. What matters is understanding what a skill does and how to use it in your tool of choice.

I run a lot of my business on skills in Claude, which I cover in how I use Claude to run a one-person online business. ChatGPT has its own way of saving instructions too, which I cover in my post on ChatGPT Projects.

If a better tool came out next week, I could take my whole list of skills and use them there. Nothing has to be rebuilt.

Conclusion

Gemini skills are replacing Gems, and they're a better way to save the jobs you repeat. I create mine in one of three ways and use them in any chat with @.

You can follow the same simple steps:

• Check your Gem manager for Google's notice and your existing Gems
• Create your first skill, starting with your brand voice
• Upload any skills files you already have
• Call a skill into any chat with @
• Keep your skills files somewhere safe so they work in any AI tool

Write the job down once, and it works wherever you take it.