How to give contractors your team's AI skills

Why workspace sharing doesn't reach contractors

Claude's Share, Publish, and admin provisioning work inside one Claude Team or Enterprise organization. ChatGPT's Skills share with people and groups in your Business workspace. A freelancer who pays for their own Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus account isn't in either.

You can add them as a member, but then you pay a seat for someone who already pays for AI, and they juggle two accounts. On OpenAI's forum, Business owners report that links to their GPTs fail for anyone outside the workspace, the same wall from the other side.

Option 1: send the files

1. Export the skill as a folder with its SKILL.md, zipped. The SKILL.md converter makes one from a doc.
2. Send it with a note on where it goes: in Claude, Customize > Skills > "Upload a skill"; in Claude Code, ~/.claude/skills/.
3. On ChatGPT Plus or Pro, which have no Skills, they paste the instructions into a Project.

Simple, and fine for a two-week job. The costs show later: every fix needs another email, you can't tell whether they used the skill, and the files stay on their laptop after the contract ends.

Option 2: invite them to a shared skill pod

1. Send one invite link to their personal email.
2. They add one MCP link to the AI they already use. Claude: Customize > Connectors > "Add custom connector" (any plan). ChatGPT: Plugins > "Add custom MCP server" (Pro, Business, Enterprise; Plus where custom connectors are allowed). Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and OpenCode take the same link.
3. They work with your current skills. When you approve an edit, their next use runs it.
4. Remove them when the job ends. Their AI stops reaching your skills from then on.

What a contractor can and can't see

Be clear-eyed about this before you invite anyone. An AI follows a skill by reading it, so anyone whose AI can use a skill can ask to see its instructions. AI Skill Pod doesn't hide a skill's text either. Treat a shared skill like a shared doc:

• Share by need. Every member of a pod sees every skill in it, so give the contractor a pod with only the skills for their work, not the whole library.
• Keep secrets out of skills. API keys, client lists, and prices you don't want shown belong elsewhere.
• Expect copies. Removing someone stops future access; it can't recall what they already copied.

A checklist for the first day

• Which skills does this person need, and which pod holds only those?
• Which AI do they use, and on which plan? (ChatGPT Plus may not take custom connectors.)
• Who approves their suggested edits to a skill?
• What date does access end?

For teams where some people use Claude and others ChatGPT, see using the same skills in both.

Questions

How can I share a Claude skill with a contractor who uses their own Pro account?

Claude's Share and Publish features reach only members of your Claude Team or Enterprise organization. For a contractor on their own Pro account, send the ZIP to upload, or invite them to a shared skill pod they connect as a custom connector, which Pro allows.

Can the contractor see the skill's text?

Yes. Anyone whose AI can use a skill can ask it to show the instructions, so treat a shared skill like a shared doc. Share only what you'd hand them as a document.

What happens when the contract ends?

With ZIPs, their copies stay on their account. With a skill pod, remove them and their AI stops reaching your skills from then on; anything they already copied stays with them.