Guide Stage 5 · Scale
Migrate your team's Gems to skills
Google will auto-migrate your Gems to draft skills. A draft isn't a skill people can rely on: here's how to triage, tidy and test them first.
143days until Gems stop for business accounts
Gems were Gemini's way to save a set of instructions and files for a job you do often. Google is replacing them with Skills, built on the same SKILL.md format that ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot now read. Google will turn leftover Gems into draft skills on its own, but a draft nobody has checked isn't something a team should rely on.
What's changing, and when
Per Google's announcements, as checked on 8 Oct 2026:
-
Skills arrive
Skills roll out in the Gemini app and most Workspace apps, 5 to 13 October.
happened -
Gems move to Settings
Gems leave the main menu.
-
Gems stop (business)
Gems stop working for business accounts. Remaining Gems are auto-migrated to draft skills.
-
Gems stop (education)
The date for education accounts.
Google's Skills are "built entirely on the open, Markdown-native SKILL.md standard" and work in the Gemini app and most Workspace apps. You can build one in Skill Builder or import one by upload (web and Mac only for now), and several can be layered in one prompt. One catch for now: skills don't sync between the Gemini app and Workspace apps.
The same file works on the other platforms your people use:
ChatGPT
Custom GPTs retire; Skills use the open standard. GPTs stop on 11 Dec 2026.
Gemini
Skills replace Gems, on SKILL.md. Gems stop for business accounts on 1 Mar 2027.
Microsoft 365 Copilot
Custom SKILL.md skills in declarative agents, in preview for Frontier tenants: up to 8 per agent.
Claude
Agent Skills are native. Team and Enterprise admins can provision them org-wide.
Use the date as the reason, not the deadline
Don't leave this for the week before. A migration is the one moment everyone accepts a tidy-up of the AI tools they use, so it's the best chance you'll get to retire the duplicates and fix the ones people complain about.
What a SKILL.md is
A skill is a folder. Inside it, one file called SKILL.md holds the instructions: a short header the assistant reads to decide whether the skill is relevant, then the steps, rules and output it follows when it is. Reference files (templates, style guides, price lists) sit next to it in references/.
---
name: reviewing-proposals
description: Reviews a draft client proposal against our checklist and flags gaps. Use when someone shares a proposal draft and asks for a check or a second pair of eyes.
---
# Proposal reviewer
Checks a draft against the house checklist…
## Inputs
## Workflow
## Rules
## Output
## Guardrails
## Examples- name: lowercase letters, digits and hyphens, 64 characters at most, matching the folder name.
- description: up to 1,024 characters, saying what it does and when to use it. This is what decides whether the assistant loads it, so write it in the words people use to ask.
- The body: the instructions. Keep it under 500 lines; move long material into
references/. - references/: the files it reads, one level deep, each mentioned in the body.
What migrates, and what doesn't
Most of a Gem comes across. The parts that don't are usually the parts that made it useful, so check these before you call one done.
| In a Gem | In a skill | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Instructions | SKILL.md bodyGoogle's Skills are built on the SKILL.md standard, and remaining Gems are auto-migrated to draft skills. Restructure them as steps, rules and output before you share. | Moves cleanly |
| Name | SKILL.md front matterThe name becomes a lowercase-hyphen slug (64 characters max), and the skill needs a description of what it does and when to use it. | Needs work |
| Knowledge files (up to 10) | references/ folderGems read Drive files that stay current. A skill's reference files are copies, so decide who keeps them up to date. | Needs work |
| Where it works | Gemini app and Workspace appsSkills don't yet sync between the Gemini app and Workspace apps, so check where your people will use it. | Needs work |
| Connected apps and extensions | Whatever the workspace allowsA skill describes the work; it doesn't bring its own connections. Check each connected app is switched on for the people who'll use it. | Doesn't transfer |
Convert one now
Paste a Gem's instructions below. You get a restructured SKILL.md (purpose, inputs, steps, rules, output, guardrails and a place for examples), a references/ README naming every file to move, and a list of what didn't migrate. It keeps the author's rules and adds nothing that wasn't there.
The five-step plan for a team's library
Converting one is ten minutes. Converting a team's library is a small project, and it goes faster as a project: one list, one owner per Gem, one date.
-
1
Inventory
List every Gem your teams use, not just the ones you built.
- Ask each team lead for the ones their people open weekly
- For each: owner, who uses it, how often, knowledge files, actions or connected apps
- Check shared Gems, not just your own
-
2
Triage: keep, merge or retire
Most libraries shrink by half here, and nobody misses what goes.
Keep
Used every week, has an owner, and people would notice if it vanished.
Merge
Three versions of the same thing. Keep the best instructions and one name.
Retire
Not opened in two months, no owner, or it only works because of an action that won't move.
-
3
Convert
Restructure, don't copy and paste. A Gem prompt written as one long paragraph becomes a skill with steps, rules and an output format.
- Run each keeper through the converter or rewrite it by hand
- Write the description in the words people use to ask
- Move current knowledge files into
references/; drop stale ones - Rebuild or replace anything on the "didn't migrate" list
-
4
Test
Same requests, old and new, side by side. You're checking it's no worse before you ask anyone to switch.
- Five real requests from the people who use it, including one awkward one
- One request it should refuse or hand back to a person
- Test on every assistant your people use; limits and settings differ
-
5
Announce
Tell people what's moved, where it lives and when the old one stops. Two lines each, in the channel they already use.
- Share or publish the skill to the same people who had the Gem
- Say what's different (no starter buttons; just ask)
- Name the retirements, so nobody goes looking for them
Update your AI policy
Skills are easier to share than Gems were: a workspace library, admin installs for whole groups, the same file on four platforms. That's the point, and it's also why your AI usage policy needs a paragraph on them before the library grows back.
- Who can publish a skill to the whole workspace, and who reviews it first.
- What can go in references/: no customer data, nothing confidential the skill's users couldn't already open.
- Connections: anything that calls an internal system goes through IT, as actions did.
- An owner and a review date for every shared skill, so this tidy-up is the last big one.
The free AI usage policy generator drafts the whole one-page policy, including who to ask.
Questions
When do Gems stop working?
Per Google's announcement (as of 8 October 2026), Gems move into Settings on 17 November 2026 and stop working for business accounts on 1 March 2027 (education accounts: 1 June 2027). Skills roll out from 5 to 13 October 2026.
Will Google migrate our Gems automatically?
Remaining Gems are auto-migrated to draft skills. A draft is a starting point: someone still needs to check the instructions, the files and the description before the team relies on it.
What is a Gemini skill?
Google says Skills are built entirely on the open, Markdown-native SKILL.md standard. They work in the Gemini app and most Workspace apps, can be created in Skill Builder or imported by upload (web and Mac for now), and can be layered in one prompt.
What happens to a Gem's Drive files?
A Gem can read up to 10 knowledge files, and Drive files stay current. In a skill, reference files live in its references/ folder, so agree who updates them when the source changes.
Can we use the same skill in ChatGPT, Copilot or Claude?
Yes, the format is shared: ChatGPT Skills, Claude skills and Microsoft 365 Copilot custom skills (in preview) all read SKILL.md. Test it on each assistant your people use, because limits and settings differ.
Is it safe to paste a Gem's instructions into the converter?
The converter sends what you paste to an AI model through OpenRouter, routed only to providers that don't store prompts or train on them. Take out anything confidential before you paste.