Can't share a custom GPT? Why, and how to share GPTs with others

Why sharing is greyed out, or stopped working

From OpenAI's help, read 6 November 2026 through archived copies, because help.openai.com refuses automated reads: Sharing and publishing GPTs (copy of 6 October), Troubleshooting GPTs (7 September; today's search results show the same text), and the retirement FAQ (30 October).

How to share a GPT where sharing is available

1. Open the GPT in the editor and select Share.
2. Choose a sharing level. Invite-only (on a personal account that means only you; in a workspace, the people or groups you add), Anyone at your workspace with the link, Your workspace, Anyone with the link (if public link sharing is available to you), or the GPT Store.
3. Choose a permission. Can chat (use it), Can view settings (use it, duplicate it and see its configuration) or Can edit. Public link sharing and the GPT Store offer Can chat only.
4. Select Save, then copy the GPT link if you want to send it yourself. People you share with directly get an email with the link.

Sharing with named people or groups works only in managed workspaces, for up to 100 recipients, and a group counts as one recipient however many members it has.

What the 11 December 2026 retirement changes for sharing

OpenAI's retirement FAQ schedules custom GPTs to retire on 11 December 2026, and on 11 February 2027 for FedRAMP workspaces and Enterprise workspaces with an approved deferral. On that date GPTs and their GPT pages become inaccessible; your past conversations with them stay.

• Migrating (My GPTs, Migrate to plugin) uses the GPT's latest published version. Its instructions become a skill inside the plugin, its knowledge files are copied into the plugin's reference files and its connected apps come along. Custom actions and the model you picked don't.
• The plugin starts private. In a managed workspace, Share Plugin can fill in the GPT's users, groups or workspace audience; you check the list and select Save. A personal plugin needs a separate submission to go public.
• Public sharing doesn't carry over, so a GPT that anyone could open by link doesn't become a plugin anyone can open.

The full move is in Custom GPTs retire on 11 December: keep sharing yours. For clients outside your workspace, see sharing a plugin outside your workspace, and for a GPT whose owner is leaving, moving a GPT to another account.

A worked example: the planting-notes GPT two designers couldn't get

Illustration: a made-up business. Wren runs a small garden design practice and built a "Site visit to planting notes" GPT on her personal ChatGPT Pro account last year. Two subcontracted designers, both on Claude Pro, ask for it, and her Share options are greyed out. On a personal account that's expected, so she shares the instructions instead. From the GPT's editor she copies:

Name: Site visit to planting notes
Description: Turns my site-visit notes into a planting note for the client.
Instructions: You write planting notes for Wren Gardens' clients from the designer's site-visit notes. Start with the three plants that matter most and why they suit the site (sun, soil, drainage). Then a watering plan for the first eight weeks. Use the client's own names for the parts of the garden. Never promise a plant survives frost; say "hardy to about -10°C" only if the notes say so. Under 300 words. End with one question about budget.
Conversation starters: Write a planting note from these notes · Make it short enough for a text message

She gives that to the prompt-to-skill skill, which begins its answer:

---
name: planting-note-from-site-visit
description: Writes a client planting note from a garden designer's site-visit notes - the three key plants and why they suit the site's sun, soil and drainage, a watering plan for the first eight weeks, and one closing question on budget, under 300 words. Use when someone shares site-visit notes and asks for a planting note, a client note, or "turn my notes into something I can send".
---

# Planting note from site-visit notes

A good note tells the client what goes where and why, in their own names for the garden, and promises nothing the notes don't support.

## When to use
- Site-visit notes need to become a note the client can read.
- Not for quotes or plant orders.

## What you need
- The site-visit notes. If sun, soil or drainage is missing, ask once.

She adds the skill to her pod and sends the invite link. Each designer connects their own Claude once and asks for "a planting note from these notes"; Wren uses the same skill from ChatGPT Pro. When she changes the watering plan, she edits the skill once in the AI Skill Pod app, and both designers get the new version.

AI Skill Pod is this site's product. Pod pricing: Free up to 3 members and 10 skills; Team $5 per seat a month from 3 seats.

Next step: share the instructions, not the GPT

What people want from a shared GPT is for teammates to use the same instructions, and after 11 December a GPT link can't give them that. Put the instructions in a shared pod once, and each person uses them in their own Claude, ChatGPT (Pro, Business, Enterprise) or Cursor: share AI skills with your team. The free GPT to Skill converter turns a GPT's text into a SKILL.md in your browser first.

Questions

Why can't I share my custom GPT?

On Free, Go, Plus and Pro, OpenAI's help says personal accounts can't create or publish new GPTs, so greyed-out sharing options are expected, and a builder profile, a settings change or an appeal won't change that. In a Business, Enterprise or Edu workspace, the usual causes are a workspace setting, an app connection, an action without a valid privacy policy URL, or a policy review.

How do I share a custom GPT link?

Open the GPT in the editor, select Share, choose a level such as Anyone with the link or Your workspace, choose Can chat, select Save and copy the link. If Anyone with the link isn't offered, public link sharing isn't available to your account or to this GPT.

Can I still share a custom GPT after December 11, 2026?

No. OpenAI's FAQ says custom GPTs and their pages become inaccessible on the retirement date (11 February 2027 for FedRAMP workspaces and approved deferrals). The plugin a GPT migrates into starts private, and people who used the GPT don't get it automatically.