Set up Gemini: skills, Workspace, Notebook and AI Studio

1Pick the account and the plan

What you see depends on your account (personal Gmail or a work Google Workspace account) and its plan. Personal plans, at US prices on Google's plans page as of October 2026:

Work accounts get Gemini through the company's Workspace plan. Business Starter ($7 per user per month on an annual plan) includes Gemini in Gmail and the Gemini app. Business Standard ($14) is the lowest plan that adds Gemini in Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive and Meet. Your admin can turn features off.

2Set up the Gemini app

1. Go to gemini.google.com (or the iOS, Android or Mac app) and sign in with the account from Step 1.
2. Add standing instructions: click Settings & help > Personal Intelligence > Instructions for Gemini > Add, paste the template below and click Submit.
3. Connect only the apps you'll use: in the sidebar click Customize > Connectors (click More first if you don't see Customize). In any chat, type @ to pick an app like Gmail or Drive.
4. Run one Deep Research report: click + in the prompt box, choose Deep Research, pick sources (Google Search by default, plus Gmail or Drive if you want), check the plan, then click Start research. Reports usually take 5 to 10 minutes and export to Docs from Share & export.
5. Try Canvas (+ > Canvas) to draft a doc, slides, a small app or code side by side with Gemini.

I run [company], which [one line]. My customers are [who].
Write in plain US English with short sentences. Lead with the answer.
When you use a fact, number or date from the web, link the source.
If you don't know, say so. Never invent figures, quotes or names.
Ask me one clarifying question when a request is ambiguous.

3Turn repeat prompts into skills

Gems, Gemini's saved custom assistants, are being replaced by skills: reusable instructions you call by typing / in any chat, which Gemini can also apply on its own. Gems go away in November 2026 on personal accounts and March 2027 on Workspace business accounts, and convert to skills automatically (transition page).

To create one (full steps): in the sidebar click Customize > Skills > Create > Create manually, add a lowercase-hyphenated name, a description of when to use it and the instructions, then click Create. Skills need an adult personal account with Keep Activity on (Step 7), and don't work with Canvas or Deep Research yet. On a work account, keep using Gems (Open sidebar > Gems > New Gem) for now.

Name: weekly-update
Description: Use when I paste notes, metrics or emails and ask for a weekly update.
Instructions: Turn my notes into an update under 250 words:
1. The headline number and its change from last week, using only numbers I gave you.
2. Three wins, one line each.
3. One problem and what we're doing about it.
4. One specific ask.
If a number is missing, write "Add: ..." instead of guessing. Plain US English.

You can also upload a folder with a SKILL.md file, so a skill written for Claude in Build a skill can come along.

4Use Gemini inside Gmail, Docs and Sheets

Open an email, doc or spreadsheet and click Ask Gemini at the top right. The side panel reads what's open, and Drive has its own Ask Gemini for finding and summarizing files.

On a personal account this needs Google AI Plus, Pro or Ultra (Pro for Docs and Sheets), though US users get Help me write, thread summaries and suggested replies in Gmail free. On a work account, Google's Workspace privacy hub says your content isn't reviewed by humans or used to train models outside your organization without permission.

5Build a Gemini Notebook

Gemini Notebook answers only from the sources you give it, with citations you can click. Google renamed NotebookLM on July 16, 2026. Old links redirect to notebook.google.com, and notebooks also sync with the Gemini app.

1. Click Create new notebook.
2. Add sources: PDFs, Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, Word and PowerPoint files, web pages, public YouTube videos with captions, audio or pasted text, up to 500,000 words or 200MB each (source rules). Drive files stay in sync.
3. Ask questions in the chat and click the citations to check them.
4. In the Studio panel, choose Audio Overview: Deep Dive (two hosts), The Brief (under two minutes), The Critique or The Debate, plus a length and focus prompt. Studio also makes reports, mind maps and video overviews.

Free accounts get 100 notebooks with 50 sources each. Pro raises that to 500 notebooks and 300 sources (plans). Google says notebook content isn't used for training unless you send feedback, and never on Workspace accounts.

Using only these sources, list the five claims that matter most for [decision],
each with its citation. Then list where the sources disagree, and what they
don't cover that I'd need to know. Don't fill gaps from general knowledge.

6Get an API key in AI Studio

Google AI Studio is where you test prompts and models in the browser and get a Gemini API key. New users get a default project and key: find it under Dashboard > API keys, or click Create API key. Keys made since May 28, 2026 are tied to a service account, and the API now rejects unrestricted older keys. If one shows Unrestricted, click Add restrictions > Restrict to Gemini API only (key docs).

# Terminal: store the key once in ~/.zshrc, never in code or a chat
export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-key"
pip install -U google-genai

# first_call.py
from google import genai
client = genai.Client()  # reads GEMINI_API_KEY
interaction = client.interactions.create(
    model="gemini-3.8-flash",
    input="Explain how AI works in a few words",
)
print(interaction.output_text)

Prices from the API pricing page. Developers can also install Gemini CLI (npm install -g @google/gemini-cli, then run gemini and choose Sign in with Google). Its docs list 1,000 free requests a day on a personal account. It runs commands and edits files, so try it in a test folder first.

7Set privacy and activity on purpose

For personal accounts, these live under Settings & help > Activity in Gemini (how-to):

Turning Keep Activity off keeps future chats out of model training (unless you send feedback), but you lose most connectors, skills, schedules and saved reports. A middle path: leave it on with a 3-month auto-delete, and use temporary chats for anything sensitive. Google's privacy hub says not to enter anything you wouldn't want a reviewer to see. On work accounts, your admin sets retention. Connected email and web pages can also carry hidden instructions (prompt injection), so check any action Gemini proposes before you approve it.

8Run a weekly Google AI routine

Create a schedule by describing it in a chat, and manage it under Scheduled in the sidebar. You can run 10 at once with Keep Activity on. Results are prepared in the hour before delivery, so fast-moving numbers may be stale (schedules).

Every Monday at 8 AM, give me a brief under 200 words: three developments from
the past week about [market], [competitor 1] and [competitor 2], each with a link
and a date. Skip anything without a dated source. End with one question I should
think about this week.

What's next

Try the X-native assistant in Set up Grok, get keys for every major model in API keys, or compare with Claude in Set up Claude and Claude Projects. To write better skills, see Build a skill.