What are ChatGPT plugins in 2026?
ChatGPT plugins are packages that people discover, install and share in ChatGPT and Codex, and they can hold skills, connected apps, or both. They are the current form of what OpenAI earlier called apps and connectors, and custom GPTs are being moved to plugins. Plugins live in one directory shared by ChatGPT and Codex.
What is inside a plugin?
Each point carries the page it came from. Platform behaviour is described in OpenAI's own words where we can.
OpenAI defines plugins as the packages people discover, install, share and publish in ChatGPT and Codex. A plugin can hold skills, an MCP server, or both.
OpenAI, Developer docs, plugin concepts
In the Help Center, a plugin packages capabilities into a workflow and can include one or more apps, skills, or both. An app is the connected service; a skill is a folder of instructions for a repeatable job.
OpenAI, Help Center, Plugins in ChatGPT
OpenAI says it is moving custom GPTs to plugins. Its migration page lists an admin notice, a migration step and a retirement step, and gives no dates.
OpenAI, ChatGPT docs, migrate custom GPTs
The older Apps SDK documentation now redirects to the plugins documentation. The date of the rename is not stated by OpenAI.
OpenAI, Developer docs, optimize metadata
What we do not know
- OpenAI developer pages carry no publication date, so we can only state the day we read them.
- We have not found an official date for the change from apps to plugins, or for the retirement of custom GPTs.
Nobody outside OpenAI knows the full recommendation method. We report what is documented, what we counted, and what is still unknown, and we keep the three apart.
Sources and dates
Source date is the date on the source itself. Checked is the day we last read it.
| Source | Publisher | Source date | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developer docs, plugin concepts | OpenAI | Not dated | 9 Oct 2026 |
| Help Center, Plugins in ChatGPT | OpenAI | Updated early Oct 2026 | 9 Oct 2026 |
| ChatGPT docs, migrate custom GPTs | OpenAI | Not dated | 9 Oct 2026 |
| Developer docs, optimize metadata | OpenAI | Not dated | 9 Oct 2026 |
Related: What changed at DevDay 2026 · Do plugins work in Codex? · ChatGPT plugins research hub
- 9 Oct 2026: answer published, from OpenAI pages read at the source that day.
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