How to Create Custom Skills for Gemini CLI with skill-creator
Want to extend Gemini CLI with project-specific workflows and domain knowledge? Standard features may not cover repetitive tasks unique to your team.
This article explains how to design and create custom skills for Gemini CLI using the skill-creator skill.
What This Skill Does
skill-creator guides the entire Gemini CLI skill creation process:
- Skill design principles and directory structure
- SKILL.md frontmatter (name/description) creation
- Organization of scripts, references, and assets
- Skill initialization via
init_skill.cjs - Packaging via
package_skill.cjsfor distribution - Installation via
gemini skills install
Suited for developers customizing Gemini CLI for team or personal workflows.
Installation
Prerequisites
- Gemini CLI installed
Install Command
gemini skills install github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli/tree/main/.gemini/skills/skill-creator
Usage
Basic Usage
To create a new skill:
I want to create a new skill
skill-creator guides through 7 steps: scope understanding, resource planning, initialization, editing, packaging, installation, and iteration.
Naming Conventions
- Lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens only
- Max 64 characters
- Prefer short, verb-led phrases (e.g.,
gh-address-comments)
Description Writing
The description must be a single-line string including what the skill does, when to use it, and target file types or operations.
Important Considerations
/skills reload Required
After installation, manually run /skills reload in your Gemini CLI interactive session. The skill creation agent cannot do this automatically.
Script stdout Design
Bundled scripts should produce LLM-friendly output: suppress tracebacks, output clear success/failure messages, and paginate large outputs.
Differences from Claude Code
Core design principles (Progressive Disclosure, etc.) are shared, but initialization scripts and install commands differ. Gemini CLI uses init_skill.cjs (Node.js).
Summary
Gemini CLI's skill-creator provides guided workflows from skill design through installation. The packaging feature enables easy team distribution.
For full specifications, visit the skill detail page.