Creating Gemini Spark Skills
To create a skill fast:
- Go to gemini.google.com → sidebar → Switch to Spark → Skills.
- Click Create manually.
- Fill in:
- Name: lowercase, hyphenated (e.g.,
bank-statement-formatter) - Description: what the skill does, in plain language
- Instructions: step-by-step behavior Gemini should follow
- Name: lowercase, hyphenated (e.g.,
- Click Create.
For file-based skills, prepare a SKILL.md in a folder root (or zipped), then use Upload instead of manual creation.
Progress:
- Decide creation method (Gemini-assisted, template, manual, or upload)
- Draft name, description, and instructions
- Validate file requirements (if uploading)
- Create and review the skill
- Enable/disable automatic use as needed
- Test skill in a Spark task via
/skill-name - Iterate: edit conversationally or directly
Step-by-step:
-
Choose a creation method:
- Create with Gemini: click "Create with Gemini" on Skills page, describe the goal conversationally.
- Prefilled template: pick one under "Recommended," edit name/description/instructions.
- Blank template: click "Create manually," fill in fields from scratch.
- Upload: prepare a
SKILL.md(or zip containing one at root) and upload it. - From a task: in Spark Tasks, type "Create a skill based on these instructions: <instructions>" and submit.
-
Meet file requirements if uploading:
- Plain-text formats only (
.txt,.md,.py,.sh,.json,.yaml,.csv,.html,.css, etc.) — no binaries, PDFs, images, or docx. SKILL.mdmust sit in the root folder.- Skill name inside the file must be lowercase-hyphenated.
- Total upload size ≤ 100 MB.
- No scripts that call external websites/APIs.
- Strip hidden files (
.DS_Store,.pyc) before zipping.
- Plain-text formats only (
-
Review and finalize: After any creation method, review the auto-generated or drafted skill, edit as needed, then click Create (or Save for edits).
-
Enable/disable automatic use: Skills that are "Enabled" can be auto-applied by Gemini when relevant. Toggle via skill page → More → Disable/Enable.
-
Use in a task: Type
/in a Spark task thread and select the skill, or let Gemini auto-detect relevance. Combine multiple skills for complex workflows. -
Maintain: Edit fields directly, use "Edit with Gemini" for conversational updates, "Replace skill" to swap the uploaded file, or "Download" to export as
.zip. Delete is permanent — no undo.
Example 1: Manual creation Input: User wants a skill for grading essays without giving away answers. Output:
- Name:
essay-feedback-coach - Description: "Reviews student essays and gives feedback without providing direct answers."
- Instructions: "When given an essay draft, identify structural and grammatical issues, ask guiding questions instead of rewriting sentences, and reference the student's past feedback history if provided. Never supply full corrected sentences."
Example 2: Upload-based creation
Input: User has a folder with SKILL.md, convert.py, and template.csv for turning bank statements into spreadsheets.
Output: Zip the folder (root contains SKILL.md), confirm all files are plain-text, confirm skill name in SKILL.md is bank-statement-converter, upload via Upload, review, click Create.
Example 3: Combining skills
Input: User wants to rebook a hotel room and send a confirmation email in one task.
Output: In the task thread, invoke both /travel-booking and /gmail-writing skills together; Gemini uses both to complete the multi-step task.
- Keep skill names short, descriptive, lowercase-hyphenated.
- Write instructions as clear, imperative steps — treat it like documentation for a new team member.
- Reference other skills inside instructions to compose complex workflows.
- Turn off skills you don't want auto-triggered, rather than deleting them.
- Download skills as backups before making major edits.
- Use conversational editing ("Edit with Gemini") for quick iterative refinement instead of rewriting instructions from scratch.
- Uploading binary or rich-media files (PDF, DOCX, images) — not supported, upload will fail.
- Forgetting hidden files (
.DS_Store,.pyc) in a zip, which can break upload. - Naming a skill with uppercase letters, spaces, or underscores instead of lowercase-hyphens.
- Writing scripts that assume internet/external API access — this isn't supported.
- Assuming skills work outside Gemini Spark or in unsupported regions (EEA, Nigeria, Switzerland, UK) or with work/school accounts.
- Trying to enable/disable or delete a skill from within a task thread — these actions only work from the Skills page.
- Forgetting that deleting a skill is permanent and cannot be undone.