How to share ChatGPT custom instructions with your team

Why custom instructions don't travel

Custom instructions are set in Settings, under Personalization, and OpenAI's help says updates apply across all of that person's chats. There is no "share" button for them. Teams work around it by pasting a common text into each account, which drifts as soon as someone edits their copy.

Option 1: a shared project

OpenAI's help on projects describes sharing a project by inviting people, inviting a group on work plans, or sharing a link, depending on your plan and workspace settings. Invitees get edit access, which lets them update the instructions and files and invite others, or chat access, which lets them use the chats, files and instructions. The project's instructions then apply to chats inside it.

1. Create a project for the task, such as "Client replies".
2. Write the shared instructions in the project's instructions, not in anyone's personal settings.
3. Share the project and give most people chat access, so one owner edits the instructions.

It works inside ChatGPT only, and only for chats in that project.

Option 2: workspace skills

ChatGPT's Skills are listed for Business, Enterprise, Healthcare and Edu. A skill packages instructions for a task, the AI picks it when the task matches, and it can be shared with people, groups or the workspace. Everyone needs a seat in the same workspace.

Option 3: one skill that every AI reads

Write the instructions as a skill in the open skill format, and serve it from one place each person's AI connects to over MCP: ChatGPT on Pro, Business or Enterprise, and Claude on plans with custom connectors. A teammate on Claude and a freelancer on their own ChatGPT account read the same copy, and an edit reaches both.

• Turn the instructions into a brief: role and goal, audience and tone, what it can and can't do, sources of truth, examples.
• Save it as a skill with a "use when" description so the AI picks it at the right moment.
• Remove the old copies from personal custom instructions, so they don't contradict it.

What to keep personal

Custom instructions are still the right place for personal preferences: your name and role, how long you like answers, the language you write in. Team rules belong in the shared project or skill, so a personal setting never overrides the company's tone or its "never promise a refund" rule.

Questions

Can I share my ChatGPT custom instructions with my team?

Not directly. Custom instructions live in each person's own settings (Personalization) and apply to that person's chats. To give a team the same instructions, put them in a shared project's instructions, in a workspace skill on Business or Enterprise, or in one skill every person's AI reads over MCP.

Do shared ChatGPT projects share their instructions?

Yes. OpenAI's help describes inviting people to a project, by person, by group on work plans, or by link, with edit access (which can change the project's instructions and files) or chat access (which can use them). The instructions apply to chats inside that project.

How do I keep the same instructions in ChatGPT and Claude?

Write them once as a skill (a name, a 'use when' description and the steps), which both read, and serve it from one place both connect to over MCP: ChatGPT on Pro, Business or Enterprise, and Claude on plans with custom connectors.