--- title: "From GPTs to plugins: a migration guide by ChatGPT plan" description: Prepare for the transition from custom GPTs to plugins as OpenAI retires them. Learn about migration steps, changes, and how to adapt effectively. image: https://www.brightlinesolutions.ca/hubfs/alma-low-tide-1200.jpg --- [Skip to content](https://www.brightlinesolutions.ca/brightline-solutions-blog/custom-gpts-are-retiring#main-content) [![BrightLine Solutions Logo](https://www.brightlinesolutions.ca/hubfs/BrightLineSolutions_Full_RGB.svg "BrightLine Solutions Logo")](https://brightlinesolutions.ca) - [Business Processes](https://www.brightlinesolutions.ca/brightline-solutions-blog/tag/business-processes), - [Technology](https://www.brightlinesolutions.ca/brightline-solutions-blog/tag/technology) # From GPTs to plugins: a migration guide by ChatGPT plan - October 15, 2026 ![Nestor Gomez](https://www.brightlinesolutions.ca/hubfs/Nestor21_0009.jpg) [Nestor Gomez](https://www.brightlinesolutions.ca/brightline-solutions-blog/author/nestor-gomez) ![](https://www.brightlinesolutions.ca/hs-fs/hubfs/undefined.jpeg?width=461&height=347&name=undefined.jpeg) *Low tide in Alma, New Brunswick. On the Bay of Fundy, a boat that misses the tide has to wait on the mud. A custom GPT that misses December 11 won't get another tide.* During the last couple of weeks, I migrated and retired the custom GPTs I had built using my ChatGPT account. I migrated some of the ones I had built for my personal and professional use, and retired the public ones that nobody was asking for. Side note: this was a great humbling reminder that we, and everything we build, are replaceable. Ok, back to topic: the reason I'm writing this is because on **September 11, 2026**, [OpenAI announced the retirement of custom GPTs across all ChatGPT plans](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001519-custom-gpt-retirement-and-migration-faq). ### The key dates On **December 11, 2026,** custom GPTs stop running, their pages become inaccessible, and OpenAI wants creators to move them into plugins. The exception is only for selected Enterprise customers with approved deferrals until **February 11, 2027**. The good news is that OpenAI built a migration button that makes the process very straightforward for GPTs built on instructions and files. Your past conversations stay accessible either way. The less good news is that a few pieces do not migrate, and the alternative (**plugins**) behaves differently. Also, if you rely on a GPT someone else built, you can't migrate it yourself; you need the owner to act. Read below if you want to know what to do, what is going to change, and what's worth keeping or retiring. ### A dedicated line versus a changeover kit Think of a **custom GPT** like a production line that makes one product with one setup, where all is configured the same way every time and optimized for a very specific goal. You run it, provide the specific parts of the task, and it does its job efficiently. A **plugin** is more like a changeover kit for a shared production line. It include three things: - **Skills:** the recipe card with reusable instructions for the one task; when you migrate it, your GPT's instructions become a skill. - **Reference files:** the spec sheets and formulations the recipe uses (i.e.: your GPT's knowledge files). - **Apps:** the connectors to the rest of the plant: Google Drive, SharePoint, Gmail, Slack or Outlook Calendar. If we go back to the production line analogy: - A **plugin** contains everything a shared line needs to run a product. - ChatGPT is the production scheduler of that shared line, who reads each order and decides which kit (skill) goes on and when. Sometimes it picks yours, sometimes it doesn't. OpenAI says in its FAQs that an installed skill may be used automatically when its description matches your request, and the plugin won't necessarily run it on every request. From a practical standpoint two things change: - You ask explicitly for your kit by name with an @ mention when you need it. - You must label the kit clearly, because the skill description is how ChatGPT knows when to use it. Notice, on vocabulary: ChatGPT had used "**plugins**" before, in a 2023 beta that ended in 2024. Now they've repurposed the word for something different. ### What moves, and what stays behind When you choose to migrate your GPT to a plugin, here's what happens to each of its parts: | | **Part of your GPT** | **What happens** | | --- | --- | --- | | ✔ | Instructions | Become a **skill** inside the new **plugin** | | ✔ | Knowledge files | Copied into the plugin's **reference files** | | ✔ | Connected apps | Added to the plugin as apps | | ⛔ | Custom actions (API connections to other systems) | **Don't transfer. Rebuild them with an existing app or a custom MCP server** | | ⛔ | Selected model | **Doesn't carry over** | | ⚠ | Sharing settings and users | **Don't carry over.** The new plugin starts private. You can [share it with specific people](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001256-plugins-in-chatgpt) or [submit it to OpenAI](https://developers.openai.com/plugins/deploy/submission) to list it publicly | | ⚠ | Drafts and unpublished edits | **Don't transfer**. Migration uses the latest published version | | ✔ | Your past conversations | Stay accessible after retirement | | ⚠ | The original GPT | Keeps working until retirement, becomes read-only after migration and can't be deleted | A couple of warnings before you click that migration button: - **Finish your edits first**. Once migrated, the original GPT becomes read-only. Any later change must be made in the plugin. - **Custom actions do not migrate.** If your GPT had custom actions like updating your CRM pipeline, sending a fresh copy of a month-end spreadsheet to your CFO, or adding a new product to your ERP’s product master, **make sure to budget time to rebuild and test these individually**. OpenAI warns that a rebuilt integration may not do everything the original did. ### What changes on your plan The retirement affects every ChatGPT plan. What you can do about it depends on yours. | **Plan** | **Your GPTs** | **Building the replacement** | **What to do now** | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Free and Go | Can't create GPTs. GPTs built by others keep working until December 11. | Nothing of your own to migrate. Both plans can find and use plugins; Go can also create and share them. | List the GPTs you rely on and watch for each creator's replacement. | | Plus and Pro | Can no longer create or publish new GPTs. Existing GPTs keep running until December 11. | Can create and share plugins. Skills are in beta. Developer mode (beta) is available for custom connections. | Migrate from **My GPTs** when the button appears, then test. | | Business (formerly Team) and Edu | Can still create GPTs if workspace settings allow it, but they retire on December 11 like the rest. | Skills are available. Members can share plugins in the workspace. Admins control which plugins are available. | Stop building new GPTs. Migrate the keepers and name who maintains each plugin. | | Enterprise | New GPT creation is planned to end October 26. Retirement is December 11, or February 11, 2027 for workspaces with an approved deferral. | The creator or a workspace admin can migrate, and the GPT must be published. Sharing and publishing need separate permissions. | Publish your drafts before October 26, confirm your workspace's date, and set up permissions before migrating. | The migration button doesn't reach every plan or account on the same day. If you don't see it yet, check that you're in the account or workspace where you built the GPT, then check again in a few days. ### If you use someone else’s GPT - **You can't migrate it.** Permission to use a GPT doesn't give you permission to migrate it. - **Access doesn't carry over.** Using the old GPT doesn't give you access to its replacement. The creator has to share the new plugin with you. Listing it publicly [requires a submission to OpenAI](https://developers.openai.com/plugins/deploy/submission). - **Where a GPT was built makes a difference.** A public GPT built in an Enterprise workspace follows the timeline of its workspace, even if you use it from a Plus account. #### What to do 1. **List the third-party GPTs** you use most. 2. **Check** each one for a retirement notice and any guidance from its creator. 3. **Message the creators** of the ones you really depend on. Ask whether a plugin is coming, and when. 4. **Save your best prompts** and a few good outputs now, so you can judge a replacement or rebuild your own. 5. If no replacement appears, build your own plugin around your workflow, in your own words ([we can help](https://sqed8.share.hsforms.com/2snxGyFPrSY64_OrAiywx0A)!). One more reminder that applies to GPTs and plugins alike: anything from an unknown publisher in the store is software from a stranger. Before you install a replacement, check which apps it connects to and what it can read. ### Migrating in five steps 1. **Take inventory** of your organization's GPTs: who built each one, who uses it, how often, custom actions. 2. **Run the "would anyone notice?" test.** If nobody used a GPT in the last 90 days, let it retire. Merge GPTs that do the same or very similar jobs. 3. **Prepare.** Finish and publish any edits. Back up the instructions and knowledge files somewhere safe. Write down familiar prompts plus one hard case, and save the answers. 4. **Migrate.** In ChatGPT on the web, open My GPTs, select the GPT and choose Migrate to plugin. Review the skill, the reference files and the apps it created. 5. **Test and hand over.** Run your saved prompts and compare the answers. Rebuild any custom action. Share the plugin with the people who used the GPT, ask one of them to install and test it, then show everyone how to call it with @. Start with your most-used GPT this month, while there's still time to fix surprises. ### A note for AI Adoption Catalyst participants The GPTs we built during the program sit in your own ChatGPT accounts. That makes you their creators, and the only people who can migrate them. The decision is yours. If a GPT has become part of how your team works, migrate it and test it properly. If it was a learning exercise, thank it for its service and let it retire. ### What to do next week Most people will migrate everything, because the button is right there. Resist that. Migrate the GPTs people would miss, rebuild only the integrations that matter, and spend the time you save writing better skills. A skill with an accurate description and a clear output format is worth more than a GPT that was doing the job "good enough". ## Want a second pair of hands? If you'd like help with this transition, I can run a one-day working session with you: inventory, migration, testing against your real prompts, and rebuilding what doesn't transfer. [Book a time that works for you](https://meetings.hubspot.com/nestor-gomez). Blog Post ## Related Articles Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Suspendisse varius enim in eros elementum tristique. 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