Gemini Workflow Templates

A workflow template is a sequence, not a single clever prompt. You do one step, read the output, and only then paste what the next step needs. Do not dump the whole sequence into one message and hope. Each template below names the human check. Skip the check and you have a faster way to be wrong.

Start a fresh chat for each workflow so yesterday's instructions do not leak in. Paste only material you are allowed to share. If a step mentions an upload or a connected Workspace tool, check the current screen. As of late 2026 those features depend on plan and UI, and this course is independent of Google. The steps still work in the main chat with text you paste yourself.

Keep the templates in your notes and edit the brackets for your context. Do not treat the sample topics as your topic. Write the decision the workflow serves at the top of the page before you begin. If you cannot name the decision, you are not ready for step one. A template cannot supply a purpose you do not have.

After you finish, save the filled prompts that worked and a one-line note on what you verified. Next time, start from that note instead of from memory. Retire a step that always needs the same manual repair, and write the repair into the prompt. Leave steps that protect you even if they feel slow. Speed is not the goal of the last check.

Research template, steps 1 and 2. Step 1: write one question and the decision it will change, plus what would count as a useful answer. Step 2: list sources you already hold, with titles and dates you copied yourself. Tell Gemini not to add papers, links, or quotations. If you have no sources, stop and gather some before you continue.

Step 3, extraction. Paste one source or your notes from it and ask for this template only: claim, evidence in the source, limitation, and a blank called not in source. Repeat per source in the same chat only if the texts are short and non-sensitive. Otherwise use one chat per source so excerpts do not blur. Do not ask for a bibliography the model might invent.

Step 4, compare. Paste the extraction notes you checked and ask for overlaps, tensions, and gaps, each tied to a note label you assigned. Step 5, verify. Reopen every source that a quotation, number, or strong claim depends on. Delete any point you cannot find. The comparison is a map, not a permission to skip the originals.

Step 6, synthesize yourself. Ask Gemini for an outline of your argument with a heading for what you still do not know. You write the paragraphs. The model may point at your notes. It may not invent a citation or a concluding fact. End by listing what a skeptical reader would ask you to open.

Content template, steps 1 and 2. Step 1: name the reader, the promise, the channel, and the one action you want. Step 2: outline three to five beats and mark every factual beat as source needed or from my notes. Ban invented metrics, reviews, and expert quotes. If you cannot name the reader, do not draft yet. A missing reader is why content sounds generic.

Step 3, draft. Paste a short sample of your own voice and the outline. Ask for a draft that follows the beats, uses only your facts, and leaves a bracket where a source is missing. Set a length ceiling. Do not ask it to sound more viral. Ask it to sound like the sample without copying a sentence you did not write.

Step 4, edit. Ask for a punch list: unclear lines, claims without a note, and sentences that could be cut. Do not accept a full rewrite unless the draft failed. Apply the edits yourself. Step 5, check. Open the spec, the notes, or the primary page behind every remaining claim. Cut what you cannot defend in public.

Step 6, package. Ask for a title and a first line only after the body is checked, and reject options that add a new promise. Read the piece aloud once. If it sounds like nobody, restore a detail only you would know, as long as it is true. Publish when you would sign it. The template ends with your name, not the model's.

Weekly planning template, steps 1 and 2. Step 1: dump tasks, deadlines, and energy limits in a private note. Remove other people's private details before any paste. Step 2: ask Gemini to group the dump into must ship, should move, and can wait, without adding tasks you did not list. Tell it to flag items with no owner or no real deadline. You correct the groups before step 3.

Step 3, choose. Ask for three outcomes that would make the week a success, drawn only from must ship, plus the tasks that do not fit those outcomes. You pick the three. Step 4, block time. Ask for a simple Monday-to-Friday sketch that places the three outcomes in real hours you provided. Reject any plan that ignores the hours you said you do not have.

Step 5, risks. Ask what on the plan depends on another person, what has no next action, and what you should drop if Wednesday goes badly. Write one sentence for each risk. Do not add motivational quotes. A plan that cannot name a failure mode is a wish. Keep the sketch where you will see it on Monday morning.

Step 6, Friday review. Paste what you finished and what slipped, then ask for a plain comparison to the three outcomes. Ask what to carry, what to cancel, and what was a planning error rather than a willpower story. You decide next week's first outcome before you close the chat. Do not paste performance reviews or private HR notes into this workflow.