ChatGPT Custom GPTs Are Retiring: How to Move Yours to a Plugin Before They Retire (Enterprise: December 11)
If your team relies on a custom GPT for client replies or internal answers, migrate or rebuild it before December 11, 2026 (the Enterprise date; other plans may follow), and rebuild custom actions by hand.
What happened
OpenAI’s custom GPT retirement FAQ lists December 11, 2026 as the scheduled retirement date for Enterprise workspaces, and says other plans may follow the same timeline. Until then existing GPTs stay usable, and at retirement they stop running and leave the GPT directory. They are replaced by plugins, which can include skills (instructions), apps (service connections), or both. OpenAI’s migration guide targets ChatGPT Enterprise workspaces and says other plans may differ. OpenAI also notes the dates are subject to change. Knowledge files come over in a migration, but custom actions do not transfer, conversation starters do not transfer one to one, and the selected model does not carry over. After migration the original GPT stays usable until retirement but becomes read-only, and future edits go to the replacement plugin. Source: OpenAI Help Center: Custom GPT retirement and migration FAQ.
Who gets it, and what it costs
- Who can migrate: the GPT’s creator, or a workspace owner or admin. Using someone else’s GPT does not give you the right to migrate it.
- What can be migrated: published GPTs only. Drafts cannot be migrated directly, and plugins must be enabled in the workspace.
- Which plans: OpenAI’s guide targets ChatGPT Enterprise workspaces; other plans may differ.
- After migration: replacements start private, bulk migration does not copy sharing settings, and recipients must install a plugin unless an admin installed it for them.
Converting a GPT to a plugin does not consume credits. Under credit-based pricing, editing a plugin does. OpenAI notes that dates are subject to change.
What it means for an office team
The most basic case: a team uses one custom GPT every day, such as a client-reply helper that knows the firm’s fee schedule and tone. If nobody moves it, it stops running at retirement (December 11, 2026 on OpenAI’s Enterprise schedule) and people go back to retyping the background in every chat.
Make a short list this week: every GPT the team uses, who created it, whether it is published, and whether it uses custom actions. Knowledge files come over, but actions must be rebuilt with a supported app’s actions or a custom MCP server, and conversation starters should be saved by hand. Test the replacement on a few real questions before you tell the team to switch, then share it, because replacements start private.
If you are not the creator, or plugins are not available on your plan, you can rebuild the GPT as a ChatGPT Project with the same instructions and files. The free Stepthrough lesson below shows how.