Agent Skills

Note: This is an experimental feature enabled via experimental.skills. You can also search for “Skills” within the /settings interactive UI to toggle this and manage other skill-related settings.

Agent Skills allow you to extend Gemini CLI with specialized expertise, procedural workflows, and task-specific resources. Based on the Agent Skills open standard, a “skill” is a self-contained directory that packages instructions and assets into a discoverable capability.

Overview

Unlike general context files (GEMINI.md), which provide persistent project-wide background, Skills represent on-demand expertise. This allows Gemini to maintain a vast library of specialized capabilities—such as security auditing, cloud deployments, or codebase migrations—without cluttering the model’s immediate context window.

Gemini autonomously decides when to employ a skill based on your request and the skill’s description. When a relevant skill is identified, the model “pulls in” the full instructions and resources required to complete the task using the activate_skill tool.

Key Benefits

• Shared Expertise: Package complex workflows (like a specific team’s PR review process) into a folder that anyone can use.
• Repeatable Workflows: Ensure complex multi-step tasks are performed consistently by providing a procedural framework.
• Resource Bundling: Include scripts, templates, or example data alongside instructions so the agent has everything it needs.
• Progressive Disclosure: Only skill metadata (name and description) is loaded initially. Detailed instructions and resources are only disclosed when the model explicitly activates the skill, saving context tokens.

Skill Discovery Tiers

Gemini CLI discovers skills from three primary locations:

1. Project Skills (.gemini/skills/): Project-specific skills that are typically committed to version control and shared with the team.
2. User Skills (~/.gemini/skills/): Personal skills available across all your projects.
3. Extension Skills: Skills bundled within installed extensions.

Precedence: If multiple skills share the same name, higher-precedence locations override lower ones: Project > User > Extension.

Managing Skills

In an Interactive Session

Use the /skills slash command to view and manage available expertise:

• /skills list (default): Shows all discovered skills and their status.
• /skills disable <name>: Prevents a specific skill from being used.
• /skills enable <name>: Re-enables a disabled skill.
• /skills reload: Refreshes the list of discovered skills from all tiers.

Note: /skills disable and /skills enable default to the user scope. Use --scope project to manage project-specific settings.

From the Terminal

The gemini skills command provides management utilities:

# List all discovered skills
gemini skills list

# Enable/disable skills. Can use --scope to specify project or user
gemini skills enable my-expertise
gemini skills disable my-expertise

Creating a Skill

A skill is a directory containing a SKILL.md file at its root. This file uses YAML frontmatter for metadata and Markdown for instructions.

Basic Structure

---
name: <unique-name>
description: <what the skill does and when Gemini should use it>
---

<your instructions for how the agent should behave / use the skill>

• name: A unique identifier (lowercase, alphanumeric, and dashes).
• description: The most critical field. Gemini uses this to decide when the skill is relevant. Be specific about the expertise provided.
• Body: Everything below the second --- is injected as expert procedural guidance for the model.

Example: Team Code Reviewer

---
name: code-reviewer
description:
  Expertise in reviewing code for style, security, and performance. Use when the
  user asks for "feedback," a "review," or to "check" their changes.
---

# Code Reviewer

You are an expert code reviewer. When reviewing code, follow this workflow:

1.  **Analyze**: Review the staged changes or specific files provided. Ensure
    that the changes are scoped properly and represent minimal changes required
    to address the issue.
2.  **Style**: Ensure code follows the project's conventions and idiomatic
    patterns as described in the `GEMINI.md` file.
3.  **Security**: Flag any potential security vulnerabilities.
4.  **Tests**: Verify that new logic has corresponding test coverage and that
    the test coverage adequately validates the changes.

Provide your feedback as a concise bulleted list of "Strengths" and
"Opportunities."

Resource Conventions

While you can structure your skill directory however you like, the Agent Skills standard encourages these conventions:

• scripts/: Executable scripts (bash, python, node) the agent can run.
• references/: Static documentation, schemas, or example data for the agent to consult.
• assets/: Code templates, boilerplate, or binary resources.

When a skill is activated, Gemini CLI provides the model with a tree view of the entire skill directory, allowing it to discover and utilize these assets.

How it Works (Security & Privacy)

1. Discovery: At the start of a session, Gemini CLI scans the discovery tiers and injects the name and description of all enabled skills into the system prompt.
2. Activation: When Gemini identifies a task matching a skill’s description, it calls the activate_skill tool.
3. Consent: You will see a confirmation prompt in the UI detailing the skill’s name, purpose, and the directory path it will gain access to.
4. Injection: Upon your approval:
   • The SKILL.md body and folder structure is added to the conversation history.
   • The skill’s directory is added to the agent’s allowed file paths, granting it permission to read any bundled assets.
5. Execution: The model proceeds with the specialized expertise active. It is instructed to prioritize the skill’s procedural guidance within reason.