Policy

Custom GPTs retire Dec 11: how to move your GPTs to skills (and what doesn't transfer)

OpenAI retires custom GPTs on Dec 11, 2026, and your GPT's instructions become a skill in a plugin. What transfers, what breaks and a 5-step checklist.

By AgentPlaybook Real Estate · Published Oct 24, 2026 · 5 min read

Key takeaways

OpenAI's help center says custom GPTs are scheduled to retire on December 11, 2026, on all ChatGPT plans; some Enterprise workspaces with an approved deferral get until February 11, 2027.
If you built a GPT, the built-in "Migrate to plugin" option turns its instructions into a skill, copies its knowledge files and adds its connected apps.
Custom actions, the selected model and sharing settings do not carry over, and only the latest published version migrates.
For Enterprise workspaces OpenAI lists October 26, 2026 (planned) as the day new GPT creation ends, so publish any draft you want to keep now.
If you only use someone else's GPT, you can't migrate it; ask its creator for the replacement.

Custom GPTs retire on December 11, 2026. That is the date in OpenAI's Custom GPT retirement and migration FAQ, which the help center showed as updated three days before we read it on October 24, 2026. OpenAI says it plans to "retire custom GPTs and help creators migrate them to plugins", and that the change affects all ChatGPT plans. If your business relies on a GPT you built (a quoting assistant, a brand-voice writer, an onboarding helper), you have about seven weeks to move it and test the replacement.

The good news: the core of most small-business GPTs, the written instructions, moves across almost automatically. Under the planned workflow, according to the FAQ, "the GPT's instructions become a skill within the new plugin".

What OpenAI announced

The dates

The FAQ gives these dates:

Date	What happens
Oct 26, 2026 (planned)	New custom GPT creation ends, in the milestones OpenAI lists for affected Enterprise workspaces. Existing GPTs can still be edited until you migrate them.
Dec 11, 2026	Standard retirement: custom GPTs and their GPT pages become inaccessible.
Feb 11, 2027	Retirement only for Enterprise workspaces with a qualified, approved deferral.

OpenAI says the dates are subject to change and that you should follow the notice shown in your own account or workspace. The October 26 cutoff is listed in the Enterprise milestones; we did not find a creation cutoff date for other plans, so treat it as the safe deadline for publishing drafts.

What a plugin and a skill are

OpenAI's migration guide on ChatGPT Learn describes a plugin as "a reusable package for a workflow that can include skills, apps, or both". Skills "explain how to do a task, such as writing in your team's style", and apps connect ChatGPT to other services. Instead of opening a GPT, you pick a plugin or skill with an @ mention, or ChatGPT may use an installed skill automatically when its description matches your request.

Skills are also the format Anthropic just handed to a neutral foundation, which we covered in Agent Skills move to the Agentic AI Foundation. We have not verified whether ChatGPT plugin skills use exactly the same SKILL.md file format, so don't assume a file will move between the two without testing it.

What transfers and what doesn't

Transfers

According to the FAQ:

Instructions become a skill inside the new plugin.
Knowledge files are copied into the plugin's reference files.
Connected apps are added to the plugin as apps.
Your old conversations with the GPT stay accessible after retirement; you don't need to do anything to keep them.

Doesn't transfer

Custom actions. These "do not transfer through the migration workflow". If your GPT calls another service through an action, you will need an available app or, per the FAQ, possibly "a custom MCP server and technical setup".
The selected model. It doesn't carry over.
Sharing settings. The migrated plugin starts private, and existing users don't automatically get access.
Drafts. Migration uses the GPT's latest published version only. Publishing doesn't mean sharing publicly.
Conversation starters don't transfer one-to-one, according to the ChatGPT Learn guide, which suggests saving useful prompts.

After you migrate, the original GPT becomes read-only but stays usable until the retirement date.

What we did not verify

We have not run a migration ourselves: the option appears per account, and OpenAI says migration access "may become available at different times". We also did not test how well migrated skills are picked automatically, which OpenAI itself says "depends on the task and available capabilities". Everything above is from OpenAI's own help pages as published on October 24, 2026.

What this means for small businesses

List your GPTs today. Write down each GPT you built, what it does, who uses it and whether it has custom actions. If you only use other people's GPTs, check each one's notice for a replacement.
Publish any drafts now. Only the latest published version migrates, and creation may end on October 26 for Enterprise workspaces. Publishing can stay private.
Save a test set before you migrate. Copy three prompts you use often and one hard case, plus the answers you got. OpenAI recommends comparing "familiar prompts and at least one harder case" after migration.
Tighten the instructions while you're there. A skill is chosen by its description, so it needs a clear statement of what it does and when to use it. Run your GPT instructions through the free prompt grader, or rebuild them with the AI prompt generator. Our agent task brief prompt turns a vague job into goal, context, constraints, output and approvals.
Plan for custom actions early. If your GPT books appointments or reads your CRM through an action, budget time to rebuild it with a supported app, and test it in shadow mode before customers rely on it.

Keep a plain-text copy of every set of instructions in your own files. Then whatever happens to plugins, skills or the next format, your know-how stays yours, and our SOP prompt can turn it into a document any person or agent can follow.

Frequently asked questions

When do custom GPTs stop working?

OpenAI says custom GPTs are scheduled to retire on December 11, 2026, when they and their GPT pages become inaccessible. Enterprise workspaces with an approved deferral have until February 11, 2027, according to the FAQ.

How do I migrate a custom GPT to a plugin?

When migration is available for your account, go to My GPTs, choose Migrate to plugin for a GPT you created, follow the steps, then test the private plugin before sharing it, per the FAQ.

Will I lose my old chats with a custom GPT?

No. OpenAI says existing conversations with custom GPTs remain accessible after retirement and you don't need to do anything to keep them.

What happens to GPTs that use custom actions?

Custom actions don't transfer. Features that depend on them won't work in the plugin until you rebuild the connection with an available app or a custom MCP server, according to the FAQ.

Can I migrate a GPT someone else made?

No. Permission to use a GPT doesn't let you migrate it. Ask the creator for their replacement plugin; in Enterprise workspaces an admin can also migrate GPTs.

Sources

How we report: every fact, number and quote above comes from the linked sources, which we read before publishing. Product details can change quickly during previews, so check the vendor page before you buy. Spotted an error? Tell us via the link on our home page.