Google’s google/skills repository is a vendor-maintained drop-in for teams that want coding agents to follow Google-flavored playbooks: Gemini, Google Cloud primitives, and Well-Architected guardrails—without rewriting the same onboarding docs in every repo.
This post is a field summary: what’s in the box, how installation works, license posture, and how it sits next to other “skills” terminology across Google’s product surface.
Primary source: github.com/google/skills
Update (November 5, 2026): from a Cloud starter set to plugins for Claude Code, Codex and Antigravity
The repository is trending again, gaining 199 stars in a day this week, and it has grown well beyond the catalogue described below. By my count the current README links about 185 skills, grouped under Getting started, multi-product solutions, AI/ML, infrastructure, databases and analytics, developer tools, application development, management tools, the Well-Architected Framework, security and identity, web and app hosting, advertising and others. The AI/ML group now includes entries for Gemini API, Agent Platform eval, tuning and deployment, and four Genkit skills (Dart, Go, JS, Python).
Two changes matter for builders. First, the README now lists seven related Google skill repositories outside this one, including ADK, Android, Dart, Flutter, Firestore and Google Maps Platform. Second, the repo bundles plugins that pair skills with MCP servers. The README gives install lines for Claude Code (claude plugin marketplace add google/skills, then claude plugin install <plugin>@google-plugins), Codex (codex plugin marketplace add google/skills, then install from the /plugins browser) and the Antigravity CLI (agy plugin install with the plugin's path under https://github.com/google/skills/). The licence is still Apache 2.0, and updates now run with npx skills update, which can also remove obsolete skills. The GitHub page shows 540 commits, so expect the catalogue to keep shifting. Read any skill before you install it, as we explain in our agent skills security guide.
TL;DR
| Topic | Detail |
|---|---|
| What | Agent Skills for Google products and technologies (heavy Google Cloud emphasis) |
| License | Apache 2.0 |
| Install | npx skills add google/skills (per upstream README; interactive skill selection) |
| Status | Active development—expect churn |
| Signals | The repo had on the order of 5.5k stars and 374 forks in public listings around launch visibility—verify live numbers on GitHub |
Why this matters for builders
Most enterprises already standardize on Google Cloud for data, compute, and identity. The hard part in agent-assisted development is not “can the model write Terraform-ish YAML”—it is whether procedures match internal best practice (networking, security baselines, cost patterns).
A skills monorepo from the vendor compresses that work into reusable agent context: onboarding recipes, service “basics,” and framework-aligned checklists that stay closer to what Google documents than ad-hoc chat instructions.
Skills catalog (as listed upstream)
The README enumerates these packages (names may evolve—check the repo):
- Gemini API in Agent Platform
- AlloyDB Basics
- BigQuery Basics
- Cloud Run Basics
- Cloud SQL Basics
- Firebase Basics
- Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Basics
- Recipe: Onboarding to Google Cloud
- Recipe: Authenticating to Google Cloud
- Recipe: Google Cloud Network Observability
- Google Cloud Well-Architected Framework: Security
- Google Cloud Well-Architected Framework: Reliability
- Google Cloud Well-Architected Framework: Cost Optimization
That mix is deliberately breadth-first: core managed services plus cross-cutting “how we expect you to operate GCP” material.
Installation and operational notes
Upstream documents installation through the skills CLI:
npx skills add google/skills
Practical guidance:
- Version skills like code—vendor guidance changes with product launches and doc revisions.
- Combine with MCP where needed—skills teach workflows; live API calls often still belong in MCP servers or your own tooling. See our MCP primer.
- Review before you trust—treat third-party and vendor skills as configuration you run, not magic. Our agent skills security note still applies to organizational policy.
“Skills” overload: Google has two different meanings
Google also ships Skills in Chrome—saved Gemini prompts for browser workflows. That is not the same artifact as google/skills on GitHub.
| Layer | google/skills (GitHub) | Skills in Chrome |
|---|---|---|
| Audience | Developers using coding agents | General browser users |
| Artifact | Installable skill packages | Saved prompts |
| Runtime | Agent tooling / IDE / CLI | Gemini in Chrome |
We compared the Chrome feature in Skills in Chrome—worth reading if your team is confused by shared naming.
How this fits the broader agent-skills ecosystem
For the cross-tool mental model (metadata, progressive disclosure, MCP pairing), start with What are agent skills?.
For discovery beyond Google:
- Browse skills — community-ranked installs and publisher pages
- MCP servers — when you need live Google APIs in the loop
Bottom line
google/skills is Google’s open, Apache-licensed contribution to the agent skills pattern: packaged operational knowledge for Gemini and Google Cloud that installs with npx skills add google/skills. It complements—not replaces—your org’s security review, MCP integrations, and internal standards.
If you standardize agents across vendors, keep vendor skills (Google) and community skills (explainx.ai registry) in separate namespaces so updates and trust boundaries stay clear.
Repository stats and the exact skill list can change; always verify on GitHub. explainx.ai is not affiliated with Google.