How to add agent skills to ChatGPT

ChatGPT doesn’t have a built-in “skills” feature the way Claude does — but it does support full MCP custom connectors in Developer Mode. Point ChatGPT at a Git-backed skill library’s MCP endpoint and it can search and load your governed agent skills on demand. You don’t author skills in ChatGPT; you serve them to it.

First, the plan reality check

Custom MCP connectors require Developer Mode, which is available on the paid tiers — ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, or Enterprise. The free tier does not support custom connectors. The good news: you do not need Enterprise. Any paid plan can connect to a skill library, so this works for individuals and small teams, not just large orgs.

One caveat ChatGPT’s own docs flag: custom connectors aren’t verified by OpenAI, so only connect a server you trust and control.

Why a skill library, not copy-paste prompts

You could paste instructions into a ChatGPT custom GPT, but that doesn’t scale: every update is manual, nothing is versioned, and the same knowledge has to be re-pasted into Claude, Codex, and every other assistant. A skill library fixes that by being the single source the connector reads from:

• Git is the source of truth — one canonical, versioned copy with history and review.
• Governed access — org / team / user permissions decide which skills each person’s ChatGPT can see.
• Portable — the same SKILL.md works in Claude, Codex, and ChatGPT, so you maintain it once.

Step by step: connect ChatGPT

1. In ChatGPT, open your profile → Settings → Connectors (or Apps & Connectors).
2. Click Advanced at the bottom and toggle Developer mode on.
3. Choose Add new connector and give it a name and description (e.g. “Skills Manager”).
4. Enter the library’s MCP server URL. For Skills Manager that’s https://www.skillsmanager.uk/mcp.
5. Set authentication to OAuth, sign in, and confirm I trust this application.
6. Save. ChatGPT can now discover the skills you can access.

Make ChatGPT actually load your skills

A connected library is necessary but not sufficient — the model still decides when to reach for a skill. Two things make loading reliable:

• Favourites. Star the skills you always want available (admins can enforce team favourites) so there’s a short, preloaded list.
• An enforce-loading instruction. Add a one-line directive to ChatGPT’s custom instructions telling it to pull the favourites list at the start of every session. The exact copy-paste text is on the Enforce Skill Loading page.

Recap

Related: create skills in Claude that work in ChatGPT, sync skills between ChatGPT and Claude, and connecting your assistants.

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Last updated: June 15, 2026