Updated November 2026

Building ChatGPT Plugins and Workspace Agents

Class Duration

7 hours of live training delivered over 1-2 days to accommodate your scheduling needs.

Student Prerequisites

Comfort with everyday office software: documents, spreadsheets, email, and a web browser
Basic experience chatting with ChatGPT is helpful but not required
Experience building or using custom GPTs is helpful for the migration topics
No technical background or programming experience required

Target Audience

Business users, team leads, and custom GPT owners who need to rebuild their GPTs as plugins and workspace agents, plus the workspace administrators who govern them. Attendees work on ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, or Edu. No technical background is assumed.

Description

OpenAI is retiring custom GPTs and replacing them with plugins built from skills and apps. This course teaches business users to write skills, combine skills and apps into plugins, and build workspace agents, with no programming. Agents can run on demand, on a schedule, in Slack, or through an API trigger. Participants also learn how app actions are approved and how admins govern plugins, skills, and agents. A migration module moves existing GPTs to plugins. Custom GPTs retire on December 11, 2026, or February 11, 2027 for Enterprise workspaces with an approved deferral.

Learning Outcomes

Explain how plugins, skills, apps, and workspace agents replace custom GPTs.
Write skills with clear instructions, descriptions, and reference files.
Combine skills and connected apps into a plugin.
Connect apps and custom MCP servers with safe permission levels.
Build a workspace agent that runs on demand, on a schedule, or in Slack.
Share skills, plugins, and agents and apply workspace admin controls.
Migrate a custom GPT to a plugin.
Plan around what a migration does not carry over.
Test migrated plugins and roll them out to the GPT's users.

Training Materials

Comprehensive courseware is distributed online at the start of class. All students receive a downloadable MP4 recording of the training.

Software Requirements

Students need a ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, or Edu workspace with plugins, skills, and workspace agents enabled by an administrator, plus a web browser. Existing custom GPTs to migrate are useful but not required. No installation required.

Training Topics

From Custom GPTs to Plugins

Why custom GPTs are retiring
Plugins, skills, and apps
Plugins versus workspace agents
Plugins versus projects
The plugin directory
One directory for ChatGPT and Codex
Where a plugin or agent helps

Designing Skills

What a skill contains
Creating a skill in chat
Uploading a skill folder
Writing a skill description
Writing skill instructions
Adding examples and reference files
Automatic and explicit skill use

Building Plugins

Creating a plugin with Plugin Creator
Combining skills and apps
Naming and describing a plugin
Installing plugins from the directory
One plugin or several

Connecting Tools Through Apps and MCP

How connected apps work
Read and write actions
Approving an action
App permission levels
Custom MCP servers
When IT sets up an MCP server
What an app can access

Workspace Agents

Workspace agents versus plugins
Building an agent in the agent builder
Instructions, skills, apps, and files
Choosing model and reasoning effort
Running on demand or on a schedule
Agents in Slack channels
API triggers
Approvals for write actions

Sharing with people and groups
Publishing to the workspace
Plugin installation policies
Role permissions for plugins and skills
Admin controls for workspace agents
Private marketplaces synced from GitHub
Plugin verification status
Compliance API and audit logs
Protecting company data

Migrating Custom GPTs

Inventorying your GPTs
Instructions to skills
Knowledge files to reference files
Actions to apps or MCP servers
The Migrate to plugin option
Who can migrate a GPT
What does not carry over
Read-only GPTs after migration
Retirement and deferral dates

Testing and Rolling Out

Testing with the GPT's usual prompts
Testing harder cases
Migrated plugins start private
Sharing with the original audience
Telling users about the change
Refining skills from feedback
Maintaining skills, plugins, and agents