In many computing scenarios, a device comprises at least one sensor, and is configured to recognize a gesture performed by a user according to the sensor output of the sensor, and to perform a particular action upon recognizing the gesture. However, many devices are preconfigured with such gestures, and the recognition is specific to the sensors of the device, and is not specific to the manner in which a particular user performs the gesture. Presented herein are techniques for enabling a device to recognize a new gesture by monitoring the sensor output of any sensors provided by the device while the user performs the gesture, optionally requesting repeated gesture performances until reaching a recognition confidence. Once trained to recognize the gesture according to the sensor outputs of the particular sensors of the device, the device may subsequently recognize the gesture performed by the user and execute an associated action.