Chrome Skills: How to Save and Reuse AI Workflows

Every time you use Gemini in Chrome to do something useful, you have to retype the same prompt from scratch the next time. Chrome Skills fixes that. It lets you save any prompt as a named, one-click tool that runs instantly on any page or across multiple tabs. Here is everything you need to know about how it works and how to get the most out of it.

What Are Chrome Skills?

Skills are saved Gemini prompts that live inside the Gemini side panel in Chrome. Instead of rebuilding a prompt every session, you write it once, save it as a Skill with a name and prompt, and then trigger it any time with a / (forward slash) in the prompt box.

The key difference from a browser extension: Skills use Gemini’s understanding of the page you are on. They read the current tab’s content and act on it. A Skill is not a static shortcut to a website or a script running in the background. It is a live AI prompt applied to whatever you are looking at right now.

Skills are also multi-tab aware. You can select additional open tabs and run a Skill across all of them at the same time, which makes them especially powerful for research and shopping comparisons.

What You Need

• A Chromebook Plus, Mac, or Windows computer (not all Chromebooks — Chromebook Plus only)
• Chrome updated to the latest version (version 147 or higher)
• Gemini in Chrome turned on
• Signed in with a personal Google account
• Chrome language set to English (United States)
• 18 years or older

Skills are not available on managed or Enterprise accounts unless your admin has enabled the feature, and are not yet available on Android or iOS.

If you meet all the requirements but do not see Skills yet, you can enable them manually: go to chrome://flags, search for “Skills”, enable the flag, and relaunch Chrome.

How to Create a Skill

1. Click the Gemini icon in the top-right corner of Chrome to open the side panel.
2. In the prompt box, type / to open the Skills menu.
3. Click Add Skill +.
4. In the popup, give your Skill a name and write the prompt you want it to run.
5. Click Save. The Skill is now synced across all your signed-in Chrome desktop devices.

To use the Skill again, open Gemini in Chrome, type / followed by the name of your Skill, and select it from the list.

How to Use a Saved Skill

1. Open any page you want to analyze.
2. Click the Gemini icon to open the side panel.
3. In the prompt box, type / to open the Skills menu. Your saved Skills appear as a list.
4. Click the Skill you want to run, then press Enter or click Send. It executes on the current tab.
5. To run it across multiple tabs, use Update tabs in the side panel to share additional tabs with Gemini before triggering the Skill.

How to Build a Multi-Tab Workflow

This is where Skills really pull ahead of anything you could do with a regular extension. Here is a practical example: you are shopping for a laptop and have five product pages open.

1. Open all the product pages you want to compare, each in its own tab.
2. Open the Gemini side panel.
3. Click Update tabs and select all the product tabs you want Gemini to read.
4. Type / and select your comparison Skill (or type a fresh prompt like “Compare these products on price, battery life, display size, and weight. Show results as a table.”).
5. Gemini pulls data from all selected tabs and returns a single consolidated response.
6. If you will do this regularly, type /, click Add Skill +, paste in your prompt, name it, and save it for next time.

How to Edit, Delete, or Browse All Skills

Type / in the Gemini prompt box to open the Skills menu, then click Browse Skills 🧭 at the bottom. This opens your Skills manager at chrome://skills/yourSkills, where you can:

• Edit a Skill: click the Edit icon next to it
• Create a new Skill: click + Add at the top
• Delete a Skill: click the three-dot menu on the Skill, then select Delete
• Copy a Skill’s prompt text: click the three-dot menu, then select Copy Instructions

Edits sync immediately across all your signed-in Chrome desktop devices.

The Built-In Skills Library

You do not have to start from scratch. Google launched a Skills Library with pre-built prompts you can use as-is or customize. To see the full library, type chrome://skills/browse in your address bar. You can filter by skill type or search by name. You can also scroll through available Skills directly from the / menu in the Gemini side panel.

Here is a selection of high-utility Skills — inspired by the library’s built-in examples and common use cases:

Research and Reading

• Key Takeaways — “Summarize this page as 5 bullet points. Each bullet should be one sentence. Focus on the most important facts.”
• Explain Simply — “Translate the text on this page into simpler terms and analogies that anyone could understand.” (Based on the built-in Explain simply Skill.)
• Jargon Buster — “Identify any technical terms or jargon on this page and explain each one in plain English.”
• Source Check — “List the claims made on this page that would benefit from a cited source. Note which ones are already cited and which are not.”

Shopping and Comparisons

• Product Snapshot — “Extract: product name, price, key specs, pros, cons, and star rating from this page. Format as a structured list.”
• Side-by-Side Compare — “Compare the products across these tabs. Use a table with columns for each product and rows for price, key specs, battery/performance, and overall verdict.”
• Red Flags — “Based on the reviews and product description on this page, what are the most common complaints or potential issues a buyer should know?”

Health and Nutrition

• Protein Max — “Change this recipe by inserting high-protein substitutes wherever possible.” (Based on the built-in Protein max Skill.)
• Macro Calculator — “From the ingredients on this recipe page, estimate the total calories, protein, carbohydrates, and fat per serving.”
• Label Decoder — “Explain any additives, preservatives, or hard-to-read ingredients listed on this product page in plain English.”

Career and Writing

• Check Job Fit — “Analyze this job description against my background and resume. Highlight whether I am a good fit and which experiences are most relevant.” (Based on the built-in Check job fit Skill.)
• Email Draft — “Based on the content of this page, draft a short email I could send to a colleague summarizing what it says and why it is relevant.”
• Action Items — “Extract any action items, deadlines, or next steps mentioned on this page. Format them as a checklist.”

Developer and Technical

• API Quick Read — “Summarize the key endpoints, parameters, and authentication method described on this documentation page.”
• Error Explainer — “Explain the error or issue described on this page and suggest the most likely fixes, in order of likelihood.”

Tips for Writing Skills That Work Well

• Be specific about the output format. “As a table”, “as 5 bullets”, “as a checklist” all produce more useful results than open-ended prompts.
• Name Skills for the page type, not the task. “Recipe Macros” is easier to find in your list than “Calculate nutrition information for this page”.
• Test on a few pages before saving. A prompt that works on one article might behave differently on a product page or a PDF. Adjust before saving.
• Use the pencil icon in the Edit popup to let Gemini suggest improvements to your prompt wording.
• Use multi-tab Skills sparingly. Gemini works across multiple tabs, but the more tabs you add, the more you should simplify the prompt so the output stays readable.

Good to Know

• Skills sync automatically to any Chrome desktop you sign in to. You build them once and they follow you.
• You can copy any Skill’s prompt text via the three-dot menu and use it as a starting point for a new one.
• Skills run with the same privacy rules as all Gemini in Chrome interactions. Page content is sent to Google’s servers. Do not run Skills on pages with sensitive personal or financial information.
• Skills are not available in Incognito mode or on managed/Enterprise accounts unless your admin has enabled Gemini in Chrome.