OpenAI is replacing custom GPTs with plugins, and its retirement FAQ says the change covers every ChatGPT plan. Some Enterprise workspaces with an approved delay get until 11 February 2027, so go by the notice in your own account. Your old chats with a GPT stay readable afterwards.
Where yours should go depends on your plan and on who built it:
- Free, Go, Plus or Pro: rebuild it as a Project. A Project keeps instructions and files together on every plan, so it is the home you can count on. Skills, the part a migrated GPT turns into, are listed for work plans only, and OpenAI does not say what a migrated plugin does on a personal plan.
- Business, Enterprise, Edu or Healthcare: migrate it to a plugin. OpenAI’s
Migrate to pluginoption turns your instructions into a skill and copies your files across, so your job is to check and test what it builds. - Someone else built it: ask them. Only the creator can migrate a GPT (plus workspace admins on Enterprise), so ask its creator whether a replacement is coming. Skip the editor steps below, and save your test prompts and the GPT’s answers (step 5), so the prompt can draft a Project from what you see it do.
Copy everything out first
- Open the GPT’s editor on the web. Do this whichever route is yours, because migrating makes the original read-only and 11 December takes it away. Go to
Explore GPTs(or chatgpt.com/gpts), thenMy GPTs, pick the GPT and chooseEdit GPT; the phone apps cannot open the editor. - Copy the instructions, name, description and conversation starters into one document. The instructions hold all your tuning, and OpenAI’s FAQ does not mention conversation starters at all, so your own copy is the only safe one.
- List the knowledge files and find your originals. A GPT holds up to 20 files, while a Project holds 5 on Free, 25 on Go or Plus and 40 on Pro, so a Free plan may need files merged. OpenAI describes no way to download files back out of a GPT, so look for the copies on your computer now.
- Write down the capabilities, apps and actions. Note which of web search, image generation, canvas, and code interpreter and data analysis are switched on. Actions, the links your GPT made to another service, do not transfer on any route, so you need to know what each one did.
- Save three to five prompts you use most, with the answers the GPT gave. They become your test, since OpenAI suggests comparing familiar prompts and at least one harder case before you rely on the replacement.
The prompt: audit your GPT and rebuild it for your plan
Paste it into a new ChatGPT chat with those details filled in. It sorts your GPT into what carries over and what will not, writes the replacement for your plan, and marks anything it needs from you [NEED].
You are my GPT move specialist: a careful ChatGPT builder who has watched people lose months of tuning because a move quietly dropped an action, a file or the one rule that made their GPT useful. My custom GPT is going away, and I need it rebuilt as the right replacement for my ChatGPT plan without losing what made it work. A tidy rebuild that silently drops one rule does more harm than a messy one that lists every gap, so work in stages, invent nothing, and mark anything you need from me as [NEED: ...].
ABOUT MY GPT (I fill this in once; any line can say "not stated")
- My ChatGPT plan: [pick one: Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, Edu or Healthcare. If I use more than one account, name the one where I built this GPT, because that account's options apply.]
- Who built it: [e.g. "I did, in my own account", or "a colleague did and shares it with our team", or "I found it in the GPT Store"]
- What it is for, who uses it and how often: [e.g. "Writes product listings for my candle shop from my rough notes. Only me, about ten times a week." or "Answers staff questions about our expenses policy. About 40 people in my team use it daily."]
- Name and description, copied exactly: [paste both]
- The full instructions, copied exactly from the editor: [paste everything, even the parts you think are unimportant. Rules that look small, like "always give the burn time in hours", are often why the GPT works.]
- Conversation starters: [paste each one, or "none"]
- Knowledge files: [for each file: its name, what is in it, roughly how long, and whether I still have the original on my computer. e.g. "scent-notes.pdf, notes on 30 scents, 12 pages, I have it" / "supplier-prices.xlsx, 3 sheets, I do NOT have the original"]
- Capabilities switched on: [any of: web search, image generation, canvas, code interpreter and data analysis, apps]
- Actions (links to another service set up in the GPT): [for each one: what service it calls and what it does, e.g. "posts the finished listing as a draft to my shop". Paste the schema if I have it, or "none".]
- Connected apps: [e.g. "Google Drive", or "none"]
- Recommended model, if I set one: [e.g. "a reasoning model", or "not set"]
- Who else needs the replacement and how they reached the GPT: [e.g. "only me", "a shared link I sent to 12 clients", "published to our workspace"]
- My Project file limit, if I am on a personal plan: [5 on Free, 25 on Go or Plus, 40 on Pro, or "not sure"]
- My test prompts: [three to five requests I make most, each with what a good answer from the GPT looks like]
- Anything the GPT does badly that I want fixed in the move: [e.g. "it forgets the price format", or "nothing"]
BEFORE YOU START
1. Read everything once without writing anything.
2. If my plan is missing, or I built the GPT and the full instructions are missing, ask me for them in one short message and stop until I answer. If anything else is unclear, ask at most three questions, offering choices where you can ("Should the replacement still ask for the scent first, or work from whatever I paste?"). If nothing important is missing, say so and carry on.
3. Tell me in two lines which route you are taking and why:
- If I am on Free, Go, Plus or Pro, the replacement is a ChatGPT Project: you write the Project instructions and the list of files to upload.
- If I am on Business, Enterprise, Edu or Healthcare, the replacement is a plugin: OpenAI's "Migrate to plugin" turns my instructions into a skill and copies my files, so you write a pre-move checklist, a cleaned-up version of the skill instructions and a test plan.
- If someone else built the GPT, stop: I cannot migrate a GPT I only use. Write a short, friendly message I can send the creator asking whether a replacement is coming, and offer to draft Project instructions from what I can see the GPT do, clearly labelled as a re-creation.
STAGE 1: THE AUDIT
Break my GPT into its parts: the job it does, the step-by-step method, the rules, the output format, the reference files, the tools and the people who use it. For each part, say where it goes in the new home and label it CARRIES OVER, NEEDS WORK or WILL NOT CARRY OVER, with one line of reason.
- Actions never carry over. For each one, say exactly what will stop working, and what I could do instead: do the step by hand, or [CHECK: whether an app for that service is listed in the Plugins directory]. Never claim a specific app exists.
- The recommended model does not carry over. If any instruction depends on it (for example "think step by step before answering" written for a particular model), flag it.
- Rewrite any instruction that only makes sense inside a GPT, such as "use your knowledge files", "when the user clicks a conversation starter" or "you are [GPT name]", so it reads naturally in the new home.
- If I am on a personal plan and I have more knowledge files than my Project file limit, propose which files to merge and how (by topic, never by squashing unrelated material together). If the limit is "not sure", write [NEED: my plan's Project file limit] and carry on.
- For any knowledge file I no longer have the original of, write [NEED: original of FILE NAME] and say what the rebuild loses without it.
- Turn conversation starters into a short "things I can ask" list at the end of the instructions.
STAGE 2: THE REBUILD
IF I AM ON A PERSONAL PLAN, write the Project instructions, addressed to ChatGPT in the second person, under these headings: WHAT THIS PROJECT IS FOR, WHO I AM AND WHO THE WORK IS FOR, HOW TO DO THE JOB (the step-by-step method from my GPT, numbered), RULES, USING THE FILES (name each file I will upload and when to use it), WHEN SOMETHING IS MISSING (ask, or write "not stated", never guess), THE FORMAT, THINGS I CAN ASK. Keep every rule from my original instructions unless I asked to change it. Then give a Project name and the exact list of files to upload, merged as agreed. If other people used the GPT, add a note that anyone I invite to a shared Project can see its chats and files, so personal chats belong in a separate Project.
IF I AM ON A WORK PLAN, give me:
(a) A pre-move checklist for this GPT: publish any unsaved edits first, because the move uses the latest published version and drops drafts; copy everything out, because the original becomes read-only and cannot be deleted afterwards; and list the people who will need access.
(b) A cleaned-up skill version of the instructions: start with a one-sentence description of when ChatGPT should use this skill, written with the words people actually type when they need it, because ChatGPT picks a skill on its own only when its description matches the request. Then the instructions, rewritten to stand alone, with the files referred to as reference files.
(c) A replacement plan for each action, marked [NEED: someone technical] wherever it needs a custom connection built.
(d) A sharing note: the plugin starts private and the GPT's sharing settings do not carry over, so list who needs access and suggest asking one person to install and test it before telling everyone.
In either case, never suggest building a new custom GPT.
STAGE 3: THE TEST PLAN
Turn my test prompts into a side-by-side check. For each one: the prompt, what the old GPT did, and the two or three specific things to check in the replacement (followed rule X, used file Y, kept format Z). Add one harder case built from my GPT's trickiest rule, and one test for the part most likely to get lost in the move.
STAGE 4: WHAT WILL NOT CARRY OVER
A plain list of everything that will not make the move. For each item, say whether I should rebuild it, replace it with something else, or accept losing it, and why. Put every [NEED: ...] item here too, so I have one list to work through.
CHECK YOUR WORK BEFORE YOU SHOW ME
Grade first, fix second. Go back through my original instructions line by line and confirm that every rule appears in the rebuild or is listed as dropped with a reason. Confirm that every knowledge file, action and connected app is accounted for. Confirm that you have not named an app, setting, limit or menu that I did not give you, unless it is marked [CHECK: ...]. Confirm the rebuilt instructions no longer mention a GPT. Fix anything that fails. Then end with three lines: how many of my rules you kept, changed and dropped; the one part of the rebuild you are least sure of and why; and the first test I should run.
If I paste a second GPT later in this chat, run the same stages again from the start, and ask before reusing anything from the first one.
What a good audit looks like, for a GPT that writes product listings for a small candle shop:
- Rule “always give the burn time in hours”: Carries over, into HOW TO DO THE JOB, step 3.
- Eight knowledge files on a Free plan: Needs work. The limit is 5, so merge the three supplier sheets into one and the two scent guides into one.
- Action that posts drafts to the shop: Will not carry over. Paste listings in by hand for now, or [CHECK: whether an app for your shop platform is listed in the Plugins directory].
On a personal plan: make it a Project
- Create the Project. Select
New projectin the sidebar and give it the GPT’s name, so you find it where you used to look for the GPT. - Paste in the rebuilt instructions. Open the Project’s
•••menu, chooseProject settingsand paste what the prompt wrote; inside that Project they override your general custom instructions. - Upload the files the prompt listed. You can add 10 at a time, merged first if your plan allows fewer files than the GPT had.
- Run your saved prompts in a new chat inside the Project. Compare each answer with the GPT’s and paste any gap back into the prompt chat to fix the instructions. Chats started with a GPT cannot be moved into a Project, so every test starts fresh.
- Share it only if other people used the GPT. Project sharing works on every plan, and anyone you invite can see the Project’s chats and files, so keep your personal chats in a separate Project.
On a work plan: migrate it to a plugin
Here is what OpenAI’s FAQ says the migration does with each part of a GPT (read 13 October 2026):
- Instructions: become a skill inside the new plugin.
- Knowledge files: copied into the plugin as reference files.
- Connected apps: added to the plugin as apps.
- Custom actions: do not transfer.
- Chosen model: does not carry over.
- Sharing: does not carry over. The plugin starts private and nobody who used the GPT gets access automatically.
- Publish any edits you want to keep. Drafts are left behind, and publishing does not mean sharing the GPT publicly.
- Choose
Migrate to plugininMy GPTs. Review the migration details before you confirm, because the original turns read-only afterwards and you can no longer delete it. - Check the new skill against your copy. Open the plugin from
Pluginsin the sidebar and compare its skill and reference files with your document. To change anything, mention@plugin-creatorwith the plugin’s name and paste in the prompt’s cleaned-up version. - Run your saved prompts, plus one harder case. Call the plugin with an
@mention so you know it is the one answering, since ChatGPT picks a skill on its own only when the skill’s description matches your request. - Rebuild any actions separately. Look for an app in the Plugins directory that does the same job, and hand anything needing a custom connection to whoever looks after your workspace’s tech.
- Check sharing before you tell anyone to switch. Go to
Plugins, open your plugin, choose•••thenShare plugin, and ifShare pluginis greyed out, see the honest bit below. Once it is shared, ask one colleague to install and test it, and only then point the rest of the team at it.
The honest bit
- The personal-plan picture is unclear. OpenAI says migration and plugin access may differ by account, and lists skills for work plans only. If
Migrate to pluginappears on your Plus or Pro account, keep the Project as well until you have seen the plugin work. - Some Business moves have hit a sharing wall. Workspace owners on OpenAI’s developer forum reported between 24 September and 1 October 2026 that migrated plugins were stuck private with
Share plugingreyed out. If a team relies on a GPT, migrate a less important one first and check you can share it. - Check the prompt’s audit against your own copy before you rely on it. The facts here come from OpenAI’s help pages, read 13 October 2026.
Start with the GPT you use most
Copy it out today, run the prompt and test the result while the original still works beside it for comparison. Once one move has gone smoothly, every other GPT follows the same steps.
Send this page to anyone who built a GPT your team still uses.
A few quick questions
I shared my GPT with other people. Do they keep it?
Not automatically. Per OpenAI’s migration FAQ, sharing does not carry over, a migrated plugin starts private, and going public needs a separate plugin submission. A Project shares by invite or link, up to 5 people on Free, 10 on Go or Plus and 100 on Pro. List everyone who uses it now, so you can tell them where it went.
Can I still make a new custom GPT?
Not on Free, Go, Plus or Pro, according to OpenAI’s GPT help page. Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces still can, though Enterprise creation is planned to end on 26 October 2026, and any new GPT stops working on 11 December, or 11 February 2027 for Enterprise workspaces with an approved deferral. Build the Project or plugin instead.
Why don't I see Migrate to plugin?
OpenAI says the option may not have reached your account yet, plugin access may be switched off, or you may be signed in to a different account or workspace from the one where you built the GPT. On a personal plan, the Project route works without it.