Pick a task you repeat weekly with the same rules each time. In the Gemini web app, open Gems, select New Gem, and write instructions covering the role, the task, the context and the output format. Add reference files under Knowledge, test the Gem on three real examples in the preview, then save it. Most take under an hour.
One date to know first: Google is replacing Gems with skills (personal accounts from November 2026, Workspace business accounts from March 2027). Your Gems are recreated as skills automatically, and everything below about instructions, files and testing carries over. A Gem is saved instructions plus files, not an automation. It won't watch your inbox or post anything by itself; someone still pastes in the supplier sheet or the customer's email. What it removes is the re-explaining: the rules, the tone, the price list and the "never promise X" that you'd otherwise type into every chat, or forget to. That's why the choice of task matters more than the wording.
Which repeat tasks deserve a Gem
Score each candidate task from 0 to 2 on five questions. Anything scoring 7 or more is worth a Gem; 4 or less is better done with a one-off prompt or not with AI at all.
| Question | 0 | 1 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| How often? | Monthly or less | Weekly | Daily |
| Are the rules stable? | Change each time | Mostly the same | Always the same |
| Is there reference material? | None | In people's heads | Written down (price list, policy, spec sheets) |
| Is the output format fixed? | Varies | Roughly | Exactly (e.g. a listing template) |
| How bad is a mistake? | Serious (health, money, legal) | Awkward | Easily caught and fixed |
An illustrative independent pet shop, with a small online store, scored its candidates like this:
| Task | Score | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Product descriptions from supplier spec sheets | 9 | Gem |
| Staff answering care questions at the counter | 7 | Gem, with strict rules about health questions |
| Supplier order and query emails | 7 | Gem |
| Replies to returns and complaints | 7 | Gem, drafts only |
| Deciding what stock to reorder | 4 | Not a Gem; needs sales data and judgement |
| Annual insurance renewal questions | 2 | Not a Gem; once a year, high stakes |
Note the scoring on the care-questions Gem. Frequency and reference material score high, but the risk score is low because a customer might ask about a sick animal. That doesn't rule it out; it means the instructions must handle that case explicitly, as below.
The four parts every Gem's instructions need
Google's own guidance for Gem instructions uses four elements: persona, task, context and format. They map neatly onto what a new member of staff would need to be told.
- Persona: who the Gem is and who it's talking to. "You write product listings for an independent pet shop's website. Readers are pet owners, not experts."
- Task: the job, including what to do when information is missing. "Turn the supplier spec sheet I paste into a listing. If a detail isn't in the sheet, leave a gap marked [MISSING]; never guess."
- Context: the rules and background. Tone, words to avoid, what the shop does and doesn't offer, which files to rely on.
- Format: exactly what comes back. Headings, length, bullet points, a checklist at the end.
The single most useful line in almost every business Gem is the instruction for missing information. Without it, Gemini fills gaps with plausible guesses, which is exactly what you don't want in a product listing or a policy answer.
Building the first Gem, step by step
- Go to gemini.google.com on a computer, signed in with your work account. Open the sidebar and select Gems, then New Gem.
- Give it a name staff will recognise: "Product listing writer", not "Gem 1".
- Paste your instructions. You can select Use Gemini to re-write instructions to expand a rough draft, but read what it produces: it tends to add generic advice and remove your specific rules.
- Under Knowledge, add files: Upload files from your computer or Add from Drive. Google's limit has been ten files per Gem; keep to what the task really needs. You can also add a Gemini Notebook as a source.
- Test in the preview panel with three real inputs: an easy one, a typical one and an awkward one.
- Adjust the instructions until all three come back right, then select Save.
Gems you create on the web also appear in the Gemini mobile app and in the Gemini side panel in Workspace apps, so staff can use the listing Gem from inside Docs or the reply Gem from inside Gmail. Google's Gems help page lists the current steps if the buttons have moved.
Sole traders on a personal Google account can build Gems the same way, with one extra step: Google says adding files from Drive needs the Keep Activity setting switched on and Google Workspace connected to Gemini Apps. If Add from Drive is greyed out, that's the usual reason. On a personal account, also check the privacy settings before attaching anything sensitive, because consumer Gemini terms differ from the Workspace business terms.
Expect the first Gem to take the longest. Writing the instructions is quick; finding three good test inputs and deciding what "right" looks like is the slow part. The second and third Gems usually take half the time, because the style guide and house rules are already written.
Four complete Gems from a pet shop
Gem 1: product listing writer
Persona: You write product listings for an independent pet shop's online store.
Readers are ordinary pet owners.
Task: Turn the supplier spec sheet I paste into one listing. Use only facts in the
sheet or in the "Listing style guide" file. If size, weight, ingredients, age range
or care instructions are missing, write [MISSING: what] instead of guessing.
Context: British spelling. Plain, friendly, no exclamation marks. Never make health
claims ("cures", "prevents", "vet approved") unless the sheet states them word for
word, and then attribute them to the manufacturer.
Format:
Title (under 70 characters)
Two-sentence summary
Five bullet points: what it is, who it suits, size or weight, key materials or
ingredients, care or feeding notes
A final line: "Checked by: ____"Illustrative output from a supplier sheet for a chew toy:
Natural Rubber Chew Ring, Medium
A sturdy ring for dogs who chew hard, made from natural rubber with a textured
surface. Suits medium dogs; supervise play as with any chew toy.
- What it is: a chew ring with raised ridges
- Who it suits: medium dogs, [MISSING: weight range]
- Size: 12 cm diameter
- Material: natural rubber (manufacturer states non-toxic)
- Care: rinse in warm water; replace if pieces break off
Checked by: ____What you'd fix: nothing is invented, and the missing weight range is flagged rather than guessed. The one tweak was "supervise play", which the shop wanted phrased as its own house line. That went into the style-guide file, so every future listing uses it.
Gem 2: counter care-question helper for staff
Persona: You help pet shop staff answer customers' care questions at the counter.
Task: Answer in 4 lines or fewer, using only the care sheets in Knowledge.
Rules:
- If the question describes an animal that is ill, injured, not eating, or behaving
unusually, do not suggest a cause or treatment. Reply only: "Suggest the customer
contacts a vet today" plus one line on what to tell them.
- If the care sheets don't cover it, say "Not in our care sheets" and stop.
Format: short answer, then "Source: [care sheet name]".Illustrative exchange. A staff member types: "Customer asks how often to clean a hamster cage." The Gem answers with the spot-clean and full-clean frequency from the shop's hamster care sheet and cites it. Then: "Customer says their rabbit hasn't eaten since yesterday." The Gem gives only the vet line. That second answer is the reason the Gem is safe to hand to a Saturday assistant.
Gem 3: supplier email drafter
Persona: You draft emails from the pet shop to suppliers.
Task: From my rough notes, write a short, polite email. Keep order quantities,
product codes and dates exactly as I give them. If I haven't given a date or
quantity that the email needs, write [ADD].
Format: Subject line, then the email under 120 words, signed "[shop name] buying team".Before, the owner's notes: "chase cat litter 20 bags wk 38 missing, ask credit, also 6 more of the large scratch post". After, the illustrative draft: a subject line naming the order, a line saying 20 bags of cat litter due in week 38 haven't arrived, a request for a delivery date or a credit, and a separate line adding six large scratch posts, with "[ADD: order number]" where the notes didn't include one. Two minutes to check and send.
Gem 4: returns and complaints reply drafter
Persona: You draft replies to customers about returns and complaints for a pet shop.
Task: Using the "Returns policy" file only, draft a reply. Never offer a refund,
replacement or discount; describe the options the policy allows and write
[OWNER TO DECIDE] where a decision is needed.
Format: under 150 words, warm but brief, no apology more than once.The rule against offering remedies keeps the decision with a person. The Gem does the typing and quotes the policy correctly; the owner decides whether this customer gets a goodwill gesture.
What the four Gems saved the pet shop in a month
A rough tally, illustrative but built the way you'd build your own. Before the Gems, the owner wrote about 25 new product listings a month at around 12 minutes each, mostly re-reading supplier sheets and reformatting. With the listing Gem, each took about 4 minutes including the check: roughly 200 minutes saved. Supplier emails, about 30 a month, dropped from 5 minutes to 2: another 90 minutes. Complaint replies were fewer but slower, around 8 a month, and fell from 15 minutes to 6 because the policy wording no longer had to be looked up: about 70 minutes.
That's around six hours a month from Gems that took an afternoon to build and test, on a Workspace plan the shop already paid for. The care-question Gem didn't save the owner time at all; its value was that a Saturday assistant could answer routine questions consistently and knew exactly when to send someone to a vet. Count both kinds of benefit, because the second is often the one staff notice first.
Gems for other kinds of small business
The scoring works the same way elsewhere. Three short sketches of Gems that pass it, each with the one rule that makes it safe:
- A dry cleaner's garment-care explainer. Counter staff paste in the care label wording and the customer's question ("can this be cleaned with the beading on?"). The Gem explains the options in plain words using the shop's own treatment guide. The rule that matters: "Never promise a stain will come out; say what the treatment usually achieves and that results vary by fabric." A typical answer runs to three lines and ends with the price band from the price-list file.
- An optician's reminder-text writer. Given an appointment type and a date range, it writes short reminder and recall messages in the practice's tone. The rule: "Never include clinical details or the reason for the appointment beyond 'eye test' or 'contact lens check'." That keeps health information out of text messages that anyone might see on a lock screen.
- A garden centre's plant-label writer. From a grower's availability sheet, it produces point-of-sale labels: common name, Latin name, height and spread, position, and one line on why you'd buy it. The rule: "Copy the Latin name exactly as it appears in the sheet; if the sheet has none, write [CHECK NAME]." Mis-spelt plant names on labels are the mistake customers notice.
In each case the Gem does a fixed-format job from a written source, and the one sentence of rules targets the mistake that would embarrass the business. That combination is what makes a Gem worth keeping.
Knowledge files that help, and files that confuse
Files added from Drive stay current: Google says the Gem uses the most recent version of a Drive file, so edits to your price list or policy flow into the Gem automatically. That's a strong reason to add Drive files rather than uploading copies from your computer, which freeze at the moment you uploaded them.
- Helpful: one style guide, one current price list, the returns policy, a handful of care sheets, two or three example outputs you're proud of.
- Confusing: last year's price list alongside this year's, three drafts of the same policy, a 200-page supplier catalogue when you need five products from it.
- Not appropriate: customer lists, anything with card or bank details, staff personal records. A Gem is shared working material, not a store for personal data.
A realistic failure: the pet shop's first listing Gem had both the old and new style guides attached. Half the listings used "Suitable for" and half used "Who it suits", depending on which file Gemini drew on. Deleting the old file fixed it at once. When outputs are inconsistent, check the Knowledge section for conflicting files before rewriting instructions.
Sharing Gems with staff
Since September 2025, sharing a Gem works like sharing a Drive file: open the Gem manager on the web and select Share next to a Gem you made. Points that catch people out:
- Edit access is real power. Anyone with edit access can change or delete the instructions and files. Give most staff view access; keep edit rights to one or two people.
- Shared Gems don't appear automatically. Google notes that a Gem shared with you isn't added to your Gem manager until you open it and use it once. Send the link and ask each person to try it.
- File types can block sharing. A Gem whose knowledge includes files other than uploaded device files or Drive files can't be shared.
- Admin controls. Workspace admins can turn Gem sharing on or off under Generative AI, then Gemini app, then Gems in the Admin console. External sharing follows your Drive sharing settings.
- Work accounts get extras, such as setting an expiry date on someone's access, useful for a seasonal temp.
If you already keep a shared prompt library, Gems are the natural next step for its most-used entries: the prompt stops being copied and pasted, and the rules travel with it.
Testing a Gem before the team relies on it
Run five inputs through the preview and score each one. A filled-in sheet for the returns Gem:
Test input Expected Result Fix
1. Wrong size harness, unused, 10 days Explain exchange option Pass -
2. Chewed toy, dog swallowed a piece No remedy offered; vet line Fail Added: safety concerns -> suggest vet, flag to owner
3. Customer demands refund, angry tone Policy options, calm, [OWNER] Pass -
4. Item bought 5 months ago States policy time limit Pass -
5. Question not about returns at all Says it can't help with that Fail Added: "If not a return or complaint, say so"Two failures out of five is normal on a first draft. Rerun all five after each fix, because a new rule can break an old case. A Gem is ready when it passes all five twice.
Where Gems disappoint, and what to do about it
- Instructions that sprawl. A page of rules tends to get followed selectively. If a Gem ignores rules, cut the instructions to the ten that matter and move background detail into a knowledge file.
- Knowledge ignored. If answers don't reflect your files, name the file in the instructions ("use only the Returns policy file").
- Personal accounts. A Gem built on a staff member's personal Google account sits outside your Workspace controls and leaves with them.
- Expecting automation. Gems don't run by themselves, and Google notes they can't currently be used with Gemini Live.
- One Gem for everything. A "shop assistant" Gem that writes listings, answers care questions and drafts complaints does all three worse. One job per Gem.
Keeping Gems useful after the first month
Give each Gem an owner, the person who fixes it when it goes wrong. Once a month, that person spends ten minutes reading three recent outputs and asking staff whether anything annoyed them. Keep a line at the top of the instructions such as "Version 3, updated [date]: added the vet rule", so everyone knows what changed. When prices or policies change, update the Drive file, not the Gem.
If you're weighing Gems against the alternatives in ChatGPT or Claude, see custom GPT vs Claude Project vs Gemini Gem. For the reference material itself, Gemini Notebook for small business teams covers a better home for large document sets, writing SOPs with AI helps turn what's in people's heads into files a Gem can use, and writing prompts that sound like your business helps with the tone rules.
Gemini Gems: what owners ask next
Can a Gem run on its own, like an automation?
No. A Gem is saved instructions and reference files that wait for someone to use them. It doesn't watch an inbox, run on a schedule or send anything. If you want something to happen automatically, such as drafting a reply whenever an order email arrives, look at Workspace Studio flows or an automation tool, and keep the Gem for the work a person starts.
Do Gems cost extra on Google Workspace?
Gems come with Gemini, which is built into Google Workspace business plans, and personal accounts can create them too. Usage limits depend on the plan. What varies is the admin side: your Workspace admin can decide whether staff may share Gems, and external sharing follows your Drive sharing settings.
What happens to a Gem if the person who made it leaves?
The Gem belongs to the account that created it, much like a Drive file. If that account is deleted, shared copies can stop working. Have Gems for shared work created by a long-standing account, such as the owner's, give a second person edit access, and keep a copy of the instructions in a document you control.
Further reads
- How to Use Gemini in Gmail to Clear Your Inbox Faster — Use your reply Gem's rules inside Gmail's side panel.
- How to Use Gemini in Google Docs to Draft and Edit Faster — Where Gems help when drafting longer documents in Docs.
- How to Set Up Claude Projects as a Shared Team Assistant — The Claude equivalent, if your team uses Claude as well.
- What Gemini in Google Workspace Includes on Each Business Plan — What Gemini includes on each Workspace plan.
- Is Gemini Safe for Confidential Business Data in Workspace? — What's safe to put in a Gem's knowledge files.
- How to Create a Custom GPT for Your Business Step by Step — Why ChatGPT's custom GPTs are retiring and what replaces them.
- How to Give AI Your Business Context So Answers Fit — Build a one-page business profile and task instructions, store them where each AI tool reads them, and test that answers fit your business.
- Gemini in Google Sheets for Small Businesses: 10 Practical Uses — Ten practical Gemini in Sheets jobs, from building a tracker to the =AI() function and the scheduling solver, with prompts, sample results and limits.
- How Much Does a Custom AI Assistant Cost a Small Business? — Three ways to get an AI assistant that knows your business, what each costs up front and every month, and the upkeep that most quotes leave out.
- Gemini or ChatGPT for a Google Workspace Business? — Compare a Workspace upgrade with added ChatGPT seats, counting source selection, checking and the return to shared files.
- RAG vs Custom GPT vs Fine-Tuning: What Does Your Business Need? — Three levers compared: RAG changes what the AI knows, fine-tuning changes how it behaves, and custom GPTs are retiring. A costed dental practice decision.
- 12 Custom GPT Examples for Small Businesses, With Setup Notes — Twelve assistants small businesses built as custom GPTs, rebuilt as Projects and Gems after the GPT retirement, each with instructions, files and sharing.
- Brand Voice Tools Compared: Jasper, Writer and Custom Instructions — Prices, voice features and banned-word enforcement compared for Jasper, Writer and shared ChatGPT or Claude instructions, with a scored trial.
- How to Write a House Style Guide Your Team and AI Both Follow — Turn house style into testable rules with examples, keep a short AI version in a shared project, and prove it works on real drafts.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: Gemini Apps Help, Use Gems in Gemini Apps, Tips for creating custom Gems, and Share a Gem from Gemini Apps; Google Workspace Updates, Gems sharing in the Gemini app, including admin controls (September 2025); Google Workspace announcement on Gems with file knowledge (November 2024).