# Google Skills Repository Categories: Complete Guide to 12 Skill Groups > Explore the 12 Google Skills repository categories from 'Getting started with Google Cloud' to 'Advertising'. Discover skill groups and find the right resources for your needs. - Repository: [Google/skills](https://github.com/google/skills) - Tags: deep-dive - Published: 2026-08-15 --- **The google/skills repository organizes its skills into 12 high-level categories defined in the README.md, ranging from "Getting started with Google Cloud" to "Advertising" and "Others," with each skill's `metadata.category` field determining its group membership.** The **google/skills** repository is Google's open-source collection of reusable skill definitions for AI agents and automation workflows. Understanding the **categories of skills in the google/skills repository** helps developers quickly locate relevant capabilities for their Google Cloud projects. --- ## How Skill Categories Are Defined Categories in the google/skills repository originate from two sources: 1. **Metadata fields** in individual skill definition files 2. **README.md section headers** that group skills visually Each skill is defined in a [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/SKILL.md) file containing YAML front-matter with a `metadata.category` field. The repository's root [`README.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/README.md) then aggregates these into readable groups. --- ## Complete List of Google Skills Repository Categories ### Getting Started with Google Cloud Introductory skills covering authentication, onboarding workflows, and foundational Google Cloud concepts. These skills target new users establishing their first GCP environment. *Located in README.md lines 23-27.* ### Multi-Product Solution Skills End-to-end solutions that orchestrate multiple Google Cloud products into cohesive workflows. These skills demonstrate cross-product integration patterns rather than single-service capabilities. *Located in README.md lines 27-35.* ### AI/ML Skills exposing **Gemini**, **Agent Platform**, and other artificial intelligence and machine learning APIs. This rapidly expanding category includes model invocation, prompt engineering, and agent orchestration primitives. *Located in README.md lines 37-53.* ### Infrastructure Core infrastructure skills spanning: - **GKE** (Google Kubernetes Engine) - **Terraform** configuration management - **Networking** and connectivity *Located in README.md lines 56-78.* ### Databases and Analytics Data platform skills including **BigQuery**, **Spanner**, **Bigtable**, **AlloyDB**, and associated analytics tooling. These skills handle data ingestion, querying, and database administration tasks. *Located in README.md lines 85-96.* ### Developer Tools Utilities for developer productivity: - `gcloud` CLI operations - Google Agents CLI interactions *Located in README.md lines 97-99.* ### Management Tools Operational management capabilities covering monitoring, logging, cost analysis, and other observability functions. These skills help maintain production health and optimize resource spending. *Located in README.md lines 101-114.* ### Well-Architected Framework Skills explicitly aligned with Google's **WAF pillars**: - Cost optimization - Operational excellence - Performance efficiency - Reliability - Security - Sustainability *Located in README.md lines 115-121.* ### Security and Identity Platform-level security, workload security, and detection-coverage skills. These include identity management, access control, and threat detection capabilities. *Located in README.md lines 122-126.* ### Web and App Hosting Deployment and hosting skills for **Cloud Run** and **Firebase** platforms. Simplifies containerized and serverless application delivery. *Located in README.md lines 127-128.* ### Advertising Integration skills for Google's advertising stack: - Google Mobile Ads SDK - IMA (Interactive Media Ads) SDK *Located in README.md lines 130-143.* ### Others Miscellaneous skills not fitting above categories, including: - Google Analytics Admin/Data APIs - External links to other Google-maintained skill collections *Located in README.md lines 144-146.* --- ## Programmatically Extracting Skill Categories You can dynamically discover **categories of skills in the google/skills repository** by parsing the YAML front-matter from [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/SKILL.md) files: ```python import yaml import os import glob def list_skill_categories(repo_root: str) -> set: """ Extract unique categories from all SKILL.md files in the repository. Each skill definition contains metadata.category in its YAML front-matter. """ categories = set() for path in glob.glob( os.path.join(repo_root, '**/SKILL.md'), recursive=True ): with open(path) as f: # Extract YAML front-matter (delimited by ---) lines = [] for line in f: if line.strip() == '---' and lines: break lines.append(line) front = yaml.safe_load('\n'.join(lines)) if front and 'metadata' in front: category = front['metadata'].get('category') if category: categories.add(category) return categories # Example usage against local clone repo_root = "/path/to/google/skills" print(sorted(list_skill_categories(repo_root))) ``` This matches the 12 categories enumerated in the repository's [`README.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/README.md), confirming the categorization is data-driven from individual skill metadata. --- ## Key Files Defining the Categorization Structure | File Path | Purpose | |-----------|---------| | [`README.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/README.md) | Central index grouping all skills by category with descriptive headers | | `skills/**/SKILL.md` | Individual skill definitions containing `metadata.category` fields | | `skills/**/references/*` | Supporting reference materials linked to categorized skills | The relationship between `metadata.category` values and [`README.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/README.md) headings ensures consistent organization across the repository. --- ## Summary - **12 defined categories** span from introductory cloud skills to specialized advertising integrations - **Category assignment** flow: [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/SKILL.md) metadata → [`README.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/README.md) grouping headers - **Source of truth**: `metadata.category` field in each skill's YAML front-matter - **Primary documentation**: [`README.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/README.md) at repository root (lines 23-146) - **Programmatic access**: Parse YAML front-matter from `**/SKILL.md` files --- ## Frequently Asked Questions ### How do I find which category a specific skill belongs to? Check the `metadata.category` field in the skill's [`SKILL.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/SKILL.md) file. This field determines where the skill appears in the [`README.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/README.md) grouping. You can also search the README for the skill name to locate its assigned category header. ### Can skills belong to multiple categories? No. The current implementation in the google/skills repository uses a single `metadata.category` string per skill. Skills requiring cross-category description are typically placed under **Multi-product solution skills** or listed under their primary functional area. ### What is the relationship between Well-Architected Framework skills and other categories? **Well-Architected Framework** skills are cross-cutting concerns that may overlap with infrastructure, security, or management tools, but are explicitly tagged to align with Google's WAF pillars. A skill optimizing BigQuery costs, for example, could appear under both **Databases and analytics** and **Well-Architected Framework**. ### How often do the categories change? Category definitions are version-controlled in [`README.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/README.md) and evolve with Google Cloud's product portfolio. Major additions like the **AI/ML** expansion (lines 37-53) reflect new platform priorities. Monitor the repository's commit history to [`README.md`](https://github.com/google/skills/blob/main/README.md) for structural changes.