Are custom GPTs going away? Yes. OpenAI says it’s planning to retire custom GPTs and wants you to move them into Plugins. Business and Enterprise GPTs are scheduled to stop running on December 11, 2026, and personal ChatGPT accounts already can’t create new ones. I leaned on custom GPTs for everything before I moved to Claude Code, and every job they did for me lives in a skill now.
I had a custom GPT for everything
Before my Claude Code setup, I used custom GPTs a ton. I had one for editing blog posts, one for social media posts, one for Amazon influencer video ideas, and a pile of others I can’t remember anymore. One tailored my resume, and it handed me a different resume every time I ran it. I even wrote a whole post on how to create custom GPTs that actually work for you back in April 2025, so I was all in.
Then I switched to Claude Code, and one by one those GPTs turned into skills. Eventually I canceled ChatGPT and stopped opening it, which is why I can’t even picture half of them now.
So when I heard custom GPTs were going away, my first thought was relief. I would have lost a lot of custom stuff I’d been using every week. My second thought was “wait, are mine gone?” and according to OpenAI, they should still be sitting there. Oops.
Are custom GPTs going away?
Yes. OpenAI’s help center now opens every GPT article with the same note: “We’re planning to retire custom GPTs,” and it recommends moving your workflows to Plugins instead. A migration flow is planned to help with the move.
The dates OpenAI has published so far are for Enterprise workspaces. Other plans are expected to follow the same timeline, and personal accounts get their details in an in-product notice.
| Date | What happens (Enterprise, per OpenAI) |
|---|---|
| September 11, 2026 | Admin notice goes out |
| September 17, 2026 | Target date for the migration experience and user banner, “a target, not a guarantee” |
| September 25, 2026 | Planned end of creating new custom GPTs |
| December 11, 2026 | Scheduled retirement. Custom GPTs stop running |
If you’re on a personal plan (Free, Go, Plus or Pro), one part already happened. OpenAI says new GPT creation and publishing aren’t available on personal accounts anymore. Your existing GPTs still work for now.
The source for all of this is OpenAI’s custom GPT retirement and migration FAQ, and check it again before you act, since those September dates are targets.
What happens to your custom GPTs when they retire?
OpenAI’s migration turns each GPT into a plugin, and the GPT’s instructions become a skill inside it. Connected apps come along as apps. A few things don’t make the trip, according to the same FAQ:
- Conversation starters and previous chats aren’t guaranteed to copy over.
- The GPT’s selected model doesn’t carry over.
- Custom actions (the API connections some GPTs used) don’t transfer through the migration.
- The original GPT becomes read-only after migration, and its creator can’t delete it.
If you canceled like I did, OpenAI’s GPTs page says you can keep using GPTs you already created, but editing one depends on your plan. So your instructions are still reachable. Copy them out while you can see them.
Why skills work better for me than custom GPTs did
Skills are just here. I don’t have to go into something specific. With GPTs, I had to remember which one did the job, open it, and start the chat inside it. With skills, I stay in whatever chat I’m already in and the right one gets called on.
That’s how Claude Code is built to work. Its docs say “Claude uses skills when relevant, or you can invoke one directly,” and the skill’s description is what “helps Claude decide when to load the skill automatically.” I type what I want and the skill shows up. It’s a lot less work.
Tweaking is easier too, because a skill is a folder with a text file in it. I build my own or rework ones I find until they fit how I work, which I wrote about in I don’t install Claude Code skills, I customize them. I haven’t missed GPTs at all. I’m obsessed with just creating skills, which is either a hobby or a problem, and I’ve decided not to find out which.
If skills are new to you, what a Claude Code skill is, and how to make one covers the basics.
| Custom GPT | Claude skill | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | Inside your ChatGPT account | A folder with a SKILL.md file |
| How you use it | Open that GPT and chat inside it | Claude pulls it in when your request matches, or you call it by name |
| Can you still make one? | Not on personal ChatGPT plans | Yes, on Claude’s Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans |
| Retirement | Being retired, Enterprise on December 11, 2026 | No retirement announced |
| Works in other AI tools | No | Yes, in tools that support the Agent Skills format |
Can other AI tools use the same skills?
Yes, once each tool knows where your skills are. Skills follow a shared format called Agent Skills. Anthropic launched skills on October 16, 2025, and published Agent Skills as an open standard on December 18, 2025. agentskills.io describes it as a format “originally developed by Anthropic, released as an open standard.”
OpenAI’s own docs say its skills “build on the open agent skills standard.” So the retirement plan for custom GPTs turns your GPT’s instructions into the same kind of file I’ve been using all along.
I thought any AI could plug into my skills and go, so I checked. It’s true with a one-time setup, because each tool looks in its own folder:
| Tool | Where it looks for your personal skills |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | ~/.claude/skills/ |
| GitHub Copilot in VS Code | ~/.copilot/skills/, ~/.claude/skills/ or ~/.agents/skills/ |
| OpenAI Codex | ~/.agents/skills/ |
Copilot in VS Code already reads the Claude folder. Codex doesn’t. When I looked on my own Mac, Codex could see zero of my 130 skills, because nothing was in the folder it reads. The files would work fine there. I just haven’t pointed Codex at them yet.
One more catch if you live in ChatGPT on the web: OpenAI says skills there are available to Business, Enterprise, Healthcare and Edu users right now.
Who should move their custom GPTs to skills?
This is for you if you built custom GPTs for jobs you repeat, like editing posts, writing social captions or brainstorming video ideas, and you want those jobs to keep working somewhere you control. It’s also for you if you already use Claude and still paste the same instructions into every chat.
It’s not for you if:
- You’re a workspace admin running your company’s migration. OpenAI’s FAQ is the guide you need.
- Your GPT depends on custom actions calling an outside API. The instructions move, the connection doesn’t.
- You’re happy to let OpenAI convert everything and keep working inside ChatGPT.
Get the converter
The converter takes your old GPT’s name, job and instructions, then writes two things for you. The first is a SKILL.md file for Claude Code, the Claude app, Copilot or Codex. The second is a prompt you can paste into any chat, for when your plan or tool doesn’t do skills.
Two things you’ll want to change in whatever it writes: the phrases you’d say when you want it, and any knowledge files your GPT used. The phrases decide when the skill gets pulled in, and the files are yours to copy over, since the converter can’t reach into ChatGPT for them.
What the converter doesn’t do
It doesn’t log into ChatGPT or pull anything out of it. You copy the instructions yourself, from the GPT’s Edit screen on the ChatGPT website, or from memory if your plan won’t let you edit anymore.
It doesn’t carry over actions, connected apps or the model your GPT used. If it spots words like “action” or “API” in your instructions, it warns you, but it can’t rebuild those connections.
It doesn’t rewrite your instructions. It copies them into a skill and tells the AI to skip anything only a GPT had. If your original instructions were a little messy, the skill will be a little messy too. In testing, Claude Code picked up a skill it made without being asked, but the output is only as good as what you paste in.
Frequently asked questions
Are custom GPTs being discontinued?
Yes. OpenAI says it’s planning to retire custom GPTs and recommends moving them to Plugins. Enterprise workspaces have a scheduled retirement date of December 11, 2026, and other plans are expected to follow the same timeline.
When do custom GPTs stop working?
For Enterprise workspaces, OpenAI says custom GPTs stop running on December 11, 2026. Personal plans don’t have a published date yet. OpenAI says personal accounts should follow the instructions in their in-product notice.
Can I still create a custom GPT?
Not on a personal account. OpenAI says new GPT creation and publishing aren’t available on Free, Go, Plus or Pro. Existing GPTs still work, and Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces can create them depending on settings.
What replaces custom GPTs?
OpenAI recommends Plugins. A plugin packages reusable instructions and connected apps, and the migration turns a GPT’s instructions into a skill inside the plugin. Outside ChatGPT, the same kind of skill file works in Claude, Copilot and Codex.
Do I lose my custom GPTs if I cancel ChatGPT Plus?
No, not right away. OpenAI says you can keep using GPTs you already created after changing or canceling your plan. Editing them depends on your plan and permissions, so copy the instructions out while you can still see them.
Are Claude skills the same as custom GPTs?
They do a similar job but work differently. A custom GPT is a separate chat you open inside ChatGPT. A Claude skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file that Claude pulls into whatever chat you’re in when your request matches its description.
Try it yourself
Custom GPTs are being retired, so save the instructions inside them now, as a skill you keep in your own folder. Pick the one GPT you’d miss most, open it on the ChatGPT website, and copy its instructions. Run them through the converter above, save the skill, and ask for the job you used that GPT for. If it does the job, do the next one.
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Related reading
- What a Claude Code Skill Is, and How to Make One
- I Don’t Install Claude Code Skills, I Customize Them
- Claude Code Skill for Writing: Stop Pasting Your Style Guide
- My Claude Code Setup: VS Code and a Mess of Folders
Subscribe if you haven’t already, and while you’re waiting on the next one, go turn your favorite GPT into something you keep.
