Google is retiring its custom Gems feature in the Gemini app, replacing it with a system called Skills. The change was announced alongside the new Gemini 4 Argon AI model.

For personal Google accounts, users will no longer be able to create or edit Gems from October 13. Gems will automatically migrate to Skills starting November 17, 2026.

Skills are reusable instructions that can be invoked with a slash command inside a chat. Unlike Gems, multiple Skills can be stacked in a single conversation. Google says it will also detect when a Skill is relevant and apply it automatically.

Workspace customers get Skills starting October 5, with full rollout by mid-November. Business, enterprise and nonprofit accounts keep Gems until March 2027, and education accounts until June 2027.

Google’s Opal experiment for building mini apps also shuts down on November 17. Google says existing Gems will be automatically converted, with support files carried over.