Learn · Skills · Guide 03

How to install a skill

Choose your agent. Follow five simple steps to add a skill and try your first task.

Gemini CLI · Installation guide

1. Before you start

You need: Gemini CLI installed and running in your project folder. These instructions are for the terminal tool.

We use meeting-recap as an example name. Keep your chosen skill’s own name and follow any extra setup notes from its author.

2. Download and open your skill

Choose a skill, open its source page, and check that it supports Gemini CLI. Read what it does and which tools or files it needs.

Find a skill in the library

Use the author’s download link. On GitHub, open the repository’s main page, choose Code, then Download ZIP.
Open the ZIP. On a Mac, double-click it. On Windows, right-click it and choose Extract All.
Find the skill folder containing SKILL.md, the file with its instructions. Keep any scripts, templates, and other files in that folder.

A download can contain several skills. Copy only the skill folder you need, not the whole repository.

3. Add it to Gemini CLI

Open your project folder: the folder where you use Gemini CLI. Create a folder named .gemini, then a folder named skills inside it. If they already exist, use them.

Copy your whole skill folder into skills. For a skill named meeting-recap, it should look like this:

Your project/
  .gemini/
    skills/
      meeting-recap/
        SKILL.md
        references/  (if included)

.gemini/skills/

Keep the dot at the start of .gemini. If the folder is hidden, turn on “show hidden files” in your file manager.

Official Gemini CLI skills guide

Read the official Gemini CLI documentation

4. Check that your skill is available

In your Gemini CLI chat, send /skills reload first. Then send /skills list and look for your skill’s name in the list.

/skills reload

/skills list

You should see your skill’s name. If it is missing, open the help checklist below before continuing.

5. Try one small task

For a meeting-recap skill, try the message below. Replace the skill name with yours. If your skill does a different job, use a small sample that matches its instructions.

When Gemini asks to activate the skill, check its name and the access it requests before you approve.

Use the meeting-recap skill.
Turn these sample meeting notes into decisions and actions.
Do not invent missing details.

Maya will send the proposal by Friday.
The team agreed to offer a two-week trial.
The budget still needs an owner.

My skill does not appear

Send /skills reload and check /skills list again. If the skill is disabled, use /skills enable followed by its name. Check that Gemini CLI is running in the right project folder.

Keep SKILL.md directly inside the skill folder. Avoid an extra folder from the ZIP between them.
Check the filename is SKILL.md, with capital letters and no .txt ending.
Keep the author’s name and description between the two --- lines at the top of the file.

Written by JuicyAgents. Official documentation checked on 7 October 2026. The practice task is illustrative; we have not run it in these agents.