Google Opal shuts down 17 November 2026: save your prompts
Opal is Google Labs' experiment for building small AI apps ("mini-apps") by typing what you want. Google's FAQ says the Opal service at opal.google.com, and "Gems made by Labs" in Gemini, will turn off on 17 November 2026. If you built something there, your saved workflow files stay in Google Drive, but they will not run any more, and they will not move to Gemini on their own. This post covers what Google says to do and what we saw on the Opal page on 27 October 2026. We did not sign in or open any workflows.
Quick facts
- Google's FAQ says that after 17 November 2026 workflows "will no longer run interactively". Opal's own page shows the same notice in a banner at the top.
- Your saved workflow files are stored in your Google Drive under My Drive > Opal. Per the FAQ, Google will not delete or touch these files when the service turns off.
- Per the FAQ, existing Opal workflows will not migrate automatically. You set up any new skills or prompts by hand. Gems made by Labs will also turn down and, per Google's Gemini post, will not migrate into skills.
- Google names two places to go next: skills in Gemini, for everyday tasks and custom chat instructions, and Google AI Studio, for deeper prototyping and custom prompt experiments.
- The open-source Breadboard and Opal ADK repositories become read-only after the date, per the FAQ. They stay public. Hosted endpoints such as breadboard-ai.web.app turn off.
- India: Google's FAQ list of countries where Opal is publicly available includes India. That list is about Opal as it runs today; it does not cover skills in Gemini.
Why this is worth a look
Opal chained text, image and video prompts and web search into small apps you could share. A shared or finished Opal is the kind of thing people forget about until it stops working. The useful part of Google's notice is that the prompts are recoverable: they are plain text in your Drive, and you can copy them out before the date. Nothing in the FAQ says a rebuilt skill behaves the same way, so expect to check each one.
What we checked
On 27 October 2026 we opened opal.google in a desktop browser without signing in.
- Notice: a banner at the top read that Opal is graduating out of Labs on 17 November 2026, as custom workflows transition to skills in Gemini, with a "Learn more" link to Google's FAQ.
- Landing page: it still showed the prompt box and "Try Opal" button, and gallery examples such as Book Recs, Fashion Stylist and Learning with YouTube. We did not click through or build an app.
- Not tested: signing in, opening or exporting a workflow, the My Drive > Opal folder, rebuilding anything as a Gemini skill, or AI Studio. We read these steps from Google's pages; we did not run them.
What to do before 17 November
- Sign in at opal.google.com and open each workflow you want to keep.
- Copy the prompts and custom instructions into a document. Google recommends this in its FAQ.
- If you only need the text later, the same prompts are in the files in My Drive > Opal. Google says any plain text editor opens them.
- Recreate what you need as a skill in Gemini or as a prompt in Google AI Studio. Google's help pages describe how skills are created and saved. Check the results, since nothing moves across automatically.
- If you shared an Opal, the FAQ says sharing gave others access to the Drive file, so remember that when you clean up.
Cost: we found no price on the Opal page. Skills availability by plan and country is on Google's Gemini pages, which we did not review in full. Google's Gemini post says skills are rolling out globally in Gemini chat, with 18+ currently supported.
Sources checked 27 October 2026: