--- id: chatgpt-skills-and-plugins lang: en track: chatgpt title: "Skills and plugins" seoTitle: "ChatGPT skills and plugins explained" description: "ChatGPT skills package how to do a task the same way every time; plugins bundle skills with apps. What they are, when to use one, and how to build your own." part: working-smart partTitle: "Working smart" partOrder: 4 order: 2 level: Intermediate durationMinutes: 5 outcome: "Know what a skill and a plugin are, and spot the repeatable tasks worth turning into one." summary: "A skill is packaged instructions that make ChatGPT do a repeatable task the same way every time. A plugin bundles skills with app connections. Spot the tasks you redo often and package them." draft: false updated: "2026-10-14" furtherReading: - title: "Skills in ChatGPT" url: "https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001066-skills-in-chatgpt" note: "Creating, uploading, and sharing skills, and which plans have them." - title: "Plugins in ChatGPT" url: "https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001256-plugins-in-chatgpt" note: "The Plugin Directory, installing, and how plugins use apps and skills." - title: "Moving your custom GPT workflows to plugins" url: "https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/migrate-custom-gpts" note: "How skills are matched to a request, and what replaces custom GPTs." - title: "Plugin architecture" url: "https://developers.openai.com/plugins/concepts/plugins" note: "The technical view of how a plugin is put together." keywords: - ChatGPT skills - ChatGPT plugins - custom ChatGPT skill - ChatGPT Plugin Directory - reusable AI instructions - automate tasks with ChatGPT quiz: intro: "Five quick questions. Ace them all and you've got skills and plugins down." passScore: 5 questions: - q: "What is a skill in ChatGPT, in plain terms?" options: - "A faster model you unlock on Business" - "A setting that changes ChatGPT's tone and style" - "Packaged instructions for one repeatable task" - "A connection to an outside app like Slack" answer: 2 explain: "A skill is a small bundle for one job: the steps, plus any examples, templates, or scripts it needs. Teach the job once and ChatGPT does it your way every time." - q: "How is a plugin different from a skill?" options: - "A package that can hold skills, apps, or both" - "A newer name for exactly the same thing as a skill" - "A skill that only admins can create" - "A connection to one outside app" answer: 0 explain: "A skill is the how. A plugin is the box it ships in, often together with the apps the job needs, such as a sales plugin with a CRM connection and a call-prep skill." - q: "How does ChatGPT decide to use one of your installed skills?" options: - "Only when you type its exact name" - "It runs every installed skill on each message" - "Your admin picks the skill for each chat" - "By matching its description, or via @mention" answer: 3 explain: "Installed skills are matched to your request by their description, so a sharp description is what makes a skill fire at the right moment. You can also call one explicitly with an @mention." - q: "Which task is the best fit for a skill?" options: - "A one-off brainstorm with no set format" - "A repeatable job with a clear right way" - "A single factual question you need now" - "Exploring a new topic you know little about" answer: 1 explain: "Skills earn their keep on repeatable, well-defined work. For a one-off or open exploration, a plain prompt is faster." - q: "A colleague sends you a skill file from an unknown website. What's the smart move?" options: - "Use it; ChatGPT scans uploads, so it's safe" - "Publish it so the team can test it" - "Check the source and read it before using it" - "Use it in a Temporary Chat so it can't do harm" answer: 2 explain: "ChatGPT scans uploaded skills and can mark them Needs Review or Blocked, but OpenAI says that scan doesn't replace your own judgment. Treat an unknown skill like software from a stranger." pass: badge: "Skills unlocked" title: "You've turned repetition into a reflex." body: "Full marks. You know what skills and plugins are, how ChatGPT picks one, and where they fit. Next: projects, where your files, instructions, and chats live together for ongoing work." retry: "Check the marked answers and give it another go. You've got this." --- > **Level:** Intermediate ยท **Reading time:** ~5 min > > **What you'll be able to do:** know what a skill and a plugin are, and spot the repeatable tasks worth turning into one. Notice how often you tell ChatGPT the same thing? "Use our house style. Headline, then three bullets. British spelling. Sign off as the team." Every time, from scratch. Custom instructions ([lesson 2.5](/learn/chatgpt/getting-started/giving-chatgpt-context)) help with the general picture, but they're one block of text for everything. A **skill** is how you teach ChatGPT one specific job. **Teach it once, and it does that job your way every time.** *Which plans:* skills are on Business, Enterprise, Edu, and Healthcare. Plugins are open more widely; on Plus you can install and create them, but without the skills part. ## What a skill is A skill is a small **package for one task**: the steps to follow, and whatever the job needs alongside them, such as an example of a good result, a template to fill, or a bit of code to run. The best way to picture it: an **onboarding note for a new hire, for a single job.** Not "everything about the company," just "here is exactly how we turn meeting notes into a client update." Hand it over once and you never explain it again. ## And a plugin? You'll see **plugins** right next to skills, in the **Plugin Directory** in the sidebar. A plugin is the **box a workflow ships in**. It can hold one or more skills, one or more **apps** (connections to outside services like Slack or Google Drive), or both. A sales plugin might bundle a CRM connection with a "prepare for a client call" skill; a writing plugin might be skills only.
A skill is the how. A plugin is the box. A plugin drawn as a box. Inside on the left, two skills, each a packaged way to do one job: a call-prep skill and a client-update skill. Inside on the right, the apps the job needs: CRM, Google Drive and Slack. A skill is the how. A plugin is the box. One plugin can carry skills, apps, or both. ChatGPT picks a skill by its description. Sales plugin from the Plugin Directory SKILLS: HOW THE JOB IS DONE Prepare for a client call Steps, a template, an example. Write the client update House style, same shape every time. APPS: WHERE THE DATA LIVES CRM Google Drive Slack
Some plugins are built by OpenAI and partners, some carry an **OpenAI Verified** badge, and some are made by people in your own workspace. A badge is a quality check, not a security sign-off: your company's own review still applies. Apps get their own lesson in [4.5](/learn/chatgpt/working-smart/connecting-chatgpt-to-your-tools); here we focus on the skill inside. If you used **custom GPTs**: OpenAI is replacing them with plugins, and an existing GPT can be migrated into one. ## You don't always have to call it Here's the part people find surprising. Once a skill is installed, **ChatGPT can reach for it on its own.** You describe the task in plain words, ChatGPT compares your request with each skill's **description**, and uses the one that fits. You can also call it explicitly with an **@mention**, or from the **+** menu, when you want to be sure. That puts the weight on the description. It has to say clearly **what the skill does and when to use it**. "Helps with documents" never fires at the right moment. "Turns rough meeting notes into our standard client update; use when I paste notes and ask for an update" fires exactly when it should. OpenAI's own advice: after creating or migrating a skill, test it both ways, by describing the task and by mentioning it. ## Where skills earn their keep, and where they don't Reach for a skill when a task is **repeatable and has a right way to do it.** Formatting to your brand. A weekly report that always takes the same shape. A review checklist you run over every contract. These are jobs where consistency is the point. Skip it for **one-offs and open exploration.** Brainstorming, a single question, a first rough draft: a plain prompt is faster. A quick way to place it. A **prompt** is for right now. **Custom instructions** are broad background for every chat. **Project instructions** cover one stream of work. A **skill** is a specific job, packaged, that ChatGPT can pick up in any chat when it fits, and that can carry its own examples and steps. ## Making your own You don't need to be technical. There are three ways in: 1. **Create with chat.** Ask ChatGPT to make a skill. Eligible accounts come with a built-in **skill-creator** skill that asks you questions and drafts it for you. 2. **Create with the editor.** Build and adjust it in the Skills editor, under **Plugins, Skills**. 3. **Upload a skill file** from your computer, or install one a colleague shared. Whichever way, the ingredients are the same: a clear **name**, a sharp **description** (what plus when), the **steps** in order, and an example or template if the job needs one. **Sharing** is where skills beat a personal prompt file. From the skill's menu you can share it with specific colleagues or groups, or publish it to the whole workspace, if your admin allows it. A team that shares one "client update" skill writes client updates the same way. ## One safety note A skill can contain instructions and code, which is what makes it powerful, and what makes a bad one risky. ChatGPT **scans uploaded skills**: most become available straight away, some are marked **Needs Review**, and risky ones are **Blocked**. OpenAI is clear that the scan doesn't replace your own judgment. So keep the habit from [lesson 1.4](/learn/foundations/ai-at-work-safety-and-privacy): **use skills you built or got from a trusted source**, and read anything else first. ## Where this goes next A skill is the *how*: a job done your way, on demand. Next comes the *where*. **Projects** ([lesson 4.3](/learn/chatgpt/working-smart/projects)) keep your files, instructions, and related chats together, so ongoing work has a home. ## Try it Write down three tasks you keep re-explaining to ChatGPT. Pick the one with the clearest "right way." Sketch its skill in five lines: a name, a one-line description (what it does and when to use it), and three or four steps. If you're on Business, ask ChatGPT to "create a skill from this," let skill-creator ask its questions, install the result, then test it in a new chat by just describing the task. *(General exercise. Role and industry versions come once accounts are in.)* ## Key terms [Skill](/glossary#chatgpt-skill), [Plugin](/glossary#chatgpt-plugin), [App](/glossary#chatgpt-app), [Custom instructions](/glossary#chatgpt-custom-instructions), [Prompt](/glossary#prompt)