Chrome is the most popular browser in the world, and the competition is not even close. So the browser is a key part of Google’s efforts to get everyone using its AI tools. The company’s chatbot has already infused various parts of the Chrome UI, and you can even turn Gemini loose to control the browser. The latest AI addition to Chrome comes in the form of “Skills,” reusable prompts you can access while browsing with a single click.
Skills don’t so much add new functionality as they make it easier to repeat tasks that were already possible with Gemini in Chrome. Previously, you would have to reenter the prompt each time you wanted Gemini to do something in Chrome; whether that meant typing it or copy-pasting from a saved document, you had to do it manually. Saving those favorite prompts as Skills in Chrome makes them quicker and easier to access.
The desktop version of Chrome will remember your saved Skills across devices. As long as you’re logged in to your Google account, you can type forward slash ( / ) in Gemini or click the plus button to bring up your saved Skills. Simply click, and it will run in the current tab. You can also add additional tabs if it’s a skill that pulls from multiple sources.
While Skills will fire immediately after selection, they adhere to the same security rules as manually typed prompts. If the Skill involves having Gemini add something to your calendar or send a message, the bot will still get confirmation before proceeding.
Google says it has been working with early testers to see how people use Gemini when they can save and recall prompts instantly. Some examples include calculating protein macros for a recipe, generating side-by-side comparison tables from multiple tabs, and creating summaries of long documents or websites.
Maybe you don’t use Gemini in Chrome much, but Google also sees Skills as a way it might be able to change that. When Skills support hits Chrome, it will also include a Skills Library, featuring pre-built Gemini prompts that you can add to your collection and edit to suit your needs. Google says it designed a variety of Skills for the library, some of which sound more theoretically useful than others. A bot that lists ingredients in a skincare product? Maybe useful. A bot that creates a movie trailer-style dramatization of webpage content? Less so.
There’s nothing new about the way Gemini handles these tasks—it’s just faster to start them. You can still choose the model that best suits the job, with the Pro variant taking longer to run but offering better overall results. The Fast models are, well, faster but more prone to making mistakes. So keep that in mind before you start firing off Chrome skills.
Skills in Chrome are starting to roll out today. You don’t need a paid AI plan to get access—it’s available by default for all Chrome installs with the language set to US English. Since this feature is bundled up inside Gemini for Chrome, you can also safely ignore it by not opening the Gemini sidebar.
