Lesson 10 · Gemini Mastery Pro+ ~11 min Multi-step + Workspace

Gemini Agent: Google's answer to autonomy.

In May 2026 Google consolidated its agent story: Project Mariner was retired as a standalone product, and its technology now powers Gemini Agent — the unified agentic mode inside the Gemini app. It runs multi-step tasks across Workspace, Deep Research, and the live web. Its real edge is orchestrating several apps in one prompt — and the skill is staying in control of the steps that matter.

The mental model

One prompt, many apps, several artifacts.

Other agents browse and act. Gemini Agent's edge is Workspace orchestration: a single task that searches your Drive and Gmail, then creates a Doc, a Sheet, a Calendar event, and a drafted email — together. Power like that means two checkpoints you own: confirm before anything irreversible, and verify what it shares and at what permission. Watch it run.

Watch it work · then decide

Run a Workspace orchestration.

One prompt: "Set up the kickoff package for Project Atlas." Hit run and watch Gemini Agent build across apps — until it reaches the one step it won't take without you.

Delegated task

"Set up the Project Atlas kickoff: pull what we've decided, build the Doc + tracker, schedule the meeting, draft the stakeholder email."

⏸ Agent paused — your call

Ready to share Atlas — Kickoff Doc with the stakeholders. What permission should they get?

Three ways to use it

Where Gemini Agent earns the delegation.

Multi-step web tasks

The Mariner heritage: plan, browse across sites, verify. "Find 3 restaurants with a private room, 4.3+ rating, and check next-Tuesday availability — don't book."

It asks before any irreversible action — if it didn't ask, double-check what happened.

Workspace orchestration

Docs + Sheets + Gmail + Calendar in one go — the kickoff package you just watched.

Sharing is where to be careful — verify the permission level (view / comment / edit) matches your intent.

Long-running background tasks

"Run a 30–60 min competitive analysis in the background, save to Drive, and ping me when done."

Background jobs are stateful — don't queue 20 at once; pick the most valuable and let them finish.

Mariner heritage: Project Mariner was Google's standalone browser-agent prototype, shut down on May 4, 2026. Its technology is now embedded in Gemini Agent — same core capabilities, one integrated experience.

Hand Agent a real Workspace project

Pick a project that needs several Workspace files made. Use Gemini Agent to set up the whole package in one prompt — then review the share permissions and the drafted email before anything goes out. Notice where it's faster than building each file by hand, and where you'd still rather do it yourself.

Try a prompt in the playground → Back to Gemini Mastery

What you can do now

Use Gemini Agent for multi-step orchestration, not single questions
Verify share permissions (view / comment / edit) match your intent
Run long tasks in the background; don't watch them work
Expect confirmation prompts before irreversible actions — and keep email as draft
Combine Workspace integration with research for richer outputs

Pro+

Up next in Gemini Mastery

Lesson 11 · Gems — build custom Gemini agents

Gems are Google's answer to Custom GPTs — custom agents with system prompts, instructions, and access to your Workspace data. The build pattern that works. Start lesson 11 →