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Gemini Gems Retiring: Skills Replace Them, 4 Steps Before November

2026-10-18cdnping editors4 min read

The Gemini Gems retirement now has a schedule. On September 30, 2026, Google launched skills in Gemini and said they will replace Gems. Gems stop being supported on personal accounts in November, and they will be converted to skills automatically at that point. So your Gems still work today, but if you've built a daily workflow on one, back up its instructions and check the migration result before November.

This article is current as of October 2026. For facts, defer to Google's official blog post.

#What exactly happened?

According to the official blog, Gemini introduced skills on September 30:

• Save an instruction you use often once, then call it later by typing "/" plus the skill name in the prompt box.
• Gemini can generate a custom skill from your conversation and run it automatically when a prompt matches.
• Multiple skills can be stacked, for example a writing style plus brand guidelines.
• A skill can include reference files such as plain text, PDFs, and images.
• Skills for individual users are available on all Google AI subscription tiers. For now they are limited to users 18 and older, with minors listed as "coming soon". Workspace business, enterprise, nonprofit, and education customers get them "in the coming weeks".

#When do Gems stop working?

The official text only says "November" and gives no exact date. When support ends, Gems are migrated to skills automatically.

Two other things will not be migrated or will shut down with them. Gems by Google Labs will be retired and will not be migrated to skills. Opal, the mini-app experiment, also closes in November. If you used either, save your content yourself.

#Will I lose my Gem?

Ordinary Gems are converted automatically. The risks are that the converted skill may not behave exactly like the original, and that some features are missing for now. Google states that features people like in Gems, including sharing with others, connecting Google Drive files, and notebooks from Gemini Notebook, are "coming soon" to skills and are not there yet. If a Gem depends on any of these, work out a stopgap first.

#What should I do before November?

#Step 1: Back up the instruction text of every Gem

Open the Gem's edit page and copy the full instructions into a local text file. Put the Gem's name and the date in the file name. Also note which knowledge files it uses and where the originals are stored. This is the one fallback that doesn't depend on the quality of Google's migration.

#Step 2: Rank them by importance

Separate the ones you use every day, the ones other people use, and the ones you tried once. You can drop or defer the last two groups and focus on the first.

#Step 3: Verify each one after migration

Once the automatic migration is done, run the same set of typical inputs through each one and check against this list:

• Typing "/" finds a skill with the matching name.
• The format, tone, and length of the output match the original Gem.
• The reference files you attached before are still there.
• A Gem you shared with coworkers can still be used by them (Google says sharing is coming soon, so check the official page).
• When several skills are stacked, their instructions don't conflict.

#Step 4: Rewrite the Gem as a skill if needed

Here is an example, not an official template. An old Gem's instructions may be one long persona description. When you turn it into skills, consider splitting it up:

• A writing-style skill by itself, for example "conversational, short sentences, few adjectives".
• A brand-guidelines skill by itself, for example "standard spelling of product names, banned-word list".
• Sample articles you need, attached as reference files.

Once split, you can stack them as needed, which is easier to maintain than one all-in-one Gem. For the exact fields and limits of a skill, check the Gemini Help Center.

#What if you also use the Gemini API?

Gems and skills are features of the Gemini app, which is separate from API calls. Changes on the API side are a different thread. See these articles: Gemini 3.7 Flash and 3.5 Flash deprecation and auto-routing, the two Gemini API price increases timeline, and Gemini 2.5 access restrictions and migration paths. To track this kind of change systematically, read how to find out right away when an LLM API price changes.

#How do I keep up with later changes?

Skill sharing, Drive integration, and the Workspace rollout dates are all still in progress, and Google's wording is "coming soon". cdnping's /en/changes monitors official update pages such as Gemini's and logs additions and removals line by line, with an RSS feed you can subscribe to. If you suspect a problem with the Gemini service itself, check /en/down/gemini or /en/status/gemini.

#Sources

• Google official blog: Automate tasks with skills (September 30, 2026)