Google is replacing Gemini Gems with Skills on November 17
Gemini's custom assistants are becoming Skills, reusable instructions you call with a slash in chat. Here is what happens to your Gems and how to get ready.
The custom assistants you built inside Gemini, known as Gems, now have an expiration date. Google is replacing them with Skills, and for personal accounts the switch starts on November 17, 2026, according to Notebookcheck.
If you already have Gems set up, you can relax a bit. Google says it will automatically turn them into Skills, along with the files it supports.
What Skills are
A Skill is a set of reusable instructions you can trigger in any Gemini chat. Think of the jobs you repeat every week: writing in a particular style, preparing a meeting agenda, or looking at a topic from several angles. Instead of re-explaining everything each time, you save it once and call it when you need it.
The difference from Gems is in how you use them. Per Notebookcheck, you type a slash in the chat and pick a Skill, and you can combine several at once. Gems were harder to stack, since each one worked like its own mini app.
What happens to your Gems
Automatic migration covers Gems you made, Google’s premade ones and shared ones. If you would rather do it yourself, you can recreate them manually before the deadline.
The schedule depends on your account type:
| Account type | Gems support ends |
|---|---|
| Personal | November 2026 |
| Google Workspace (business, enterprise, nonprofit) | March 2027 |
| Google Workspace for Education | June 2027 |
Watch out for knowledge files
If any of your Gems rely on attached reference files, act early. Notebookcheck advises downloading those files first because some formats may not transfer to Skills. There is no list of which types get left behind.
Canaltech lays out the manual route for anyone who wants to be safe:
- Open the Gems list in Gemini’s sidebar, edit the Gem and download the files from its knowledge base. Keep them in a folder named in lowercase with hyphens.
- Go to Settings > Skills and either create the Skill manually or ask Gemini to help. Copy over the old Gem’s name, description and instructions.
- Download the new Skill’s .zip file, unpack it, add a SKILL.md file and upload the full folder to replace the original. The folder name has to match the Skill’s name exactly.
For a brand new Skill with no Gem behind it, you use the same menu: set a name, a description and clear instructions about when to use it and what the answer should look like. Adding examples helps Gemini get the format right.
Who can use it, and the privacy catch
Notebookcheck reports that Skills are currently limited to Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra subscribers, and it is unclear whether free accounts will get them. You also need to be over 18 and use a personal Google account.
There is a new requirement too: the Keep Activity setting has to be on. It used to be needed only for adding Drive files. With it enabled, your chats stay in your account, and Google reviewers may read some of them and keep them for up to three years. If that bothers you, weigh it before you migrate.
Features still on the way
According to Android Central, Skills should pick up features that Gems already had over the coming weeks, including sharing with other people and adding files from Google Drive and notebooks from Gemini Notebook.
Our take
For daily Gemini users, the change makes sense. Stacking instructions in one chat is more flexible than opening a different Gem for each task. The sticking points are the entry cost, since access is tied to paid plans right now, and the requirement to keep activity history on. If a Gem matters for your job or studies, copy its instructions and files before November 17 and check the result after the migration.
