What happened to ChatGPT plugins?
ChatGPT plugins shut down in 2024, gave way to GPTs, connectors and apps, and came back in 2026 as something new. The full 2023-2026 timeline.
The original ChatGPT plugins, launched in March 2023, were shut down in April 2024 and replaced by GPTs. The name came back on July 9, 2026, when OpenAI replaced the ChatGPT App Directory with the Plugin Directory. A "ChatGPT plugin" today is a package that can bundle skills, apps (MCP-based integrations) and app templates, and the same directory serves ChatGPT and Codex. Same word, different system: nothing built for the 2023 plugin store runs in the 2026 one.
This post covers each step between the two and what the word means now.
The short version#
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| March 23, 2023 | ChatGPT plugins announced as a limited alpha |
| May 2023 | Plugins and web browsing open to ChatGPT Plus users as a beta |
| November 6, 2023 | GPTs announced at the first DevDay |
| January 10, 2024 | GPT Store opens |
| March 19, 2024 | No new plugin installs or new plugin conversations |
| April 9, 2024 | Existing plugin conversations end; the plugins beta is over |
| 2025 | Connectors link ChatGPT to Google Drive, GitHub and other services; MCP support arrives, then developer mode |
| October 6, 2025 | Apps in ChatGPT and the Apps SDK launch at DevDay 2025 |
| December 17, 2025 | Developers can submit apps; connectors are renamed apps |
| March 2026 | Plugins arrive in Codex |
| July 9, 2026 | The App Directory becomes the Plugin Directory |
| September 2026 | OpenAI begins retiring custom GPTs in favour of plugins, starting with Enterprise |
2023: the first ChatGPT plugins#
OpenAI announced plugins on March 23, 2023 as tools designed for language models, letting ChatGPT fetch current information, run computations and call third-party services. The launch partners were Expedia, FiscalNote, Instacart, KAYAK, Klarna, Milo, OpenTable, Shopify, Slack, Speak, Wolfram and Zapier (Voicebot.ai coverage). OpenAI also ran two plugins of its own: a web browser and a code interpreter.
Access started with a waitlist. In May 2023 web browsing and plugins moved to beta for all Plus subscribers, with a plugin store that listed more than 70 third-party plugins at the time (Gigazine) and kept growing.
Technically, a 2023 plugin was a web API described by an OpenAPI spec plus a small manifest file. ChatGPT read the description and decided when to call the API. In practice the experience was clumsy: you had to pick up to three plugins before starting a chat, quality varied a lot between listings, and nothing in the answer showed you the service's own interface.
2024: GPTs replace plugins#
At DevDay in November 2023 OpenAI introduced GPTs: custom versions of ChatGPT with their own instructions, knowledge files and "actions", which used the same OpenAPI approach as plugins. The GPT Store opened on January 10, 2024.
Two months later the plugins beta wound down. Per OpenAI's announcement, from March 19, 2024 you could no longer install plugins or start new conversations with them, and existing conversations could continue until April 9, 2024 (OpenAI community thread quoting the notice). GPTs, with actions for calling external APIs, became the place to build what plugins had done.
So when people ask "what happened to ChatGPT plugins", the 2024 answer is: they were folded into GPTs.
2025: connectors, MCP and apps#
The next layer was connectors: first-party integrations that let ChatGPT search and reference your data in services such as Google Drive, SharePoint, GitHub and Gmail, in chat and in deep research.
During 2025 OpenAI adopted the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open protocol for connecting AI clients to tools and data. Custom connectors let paid workspaces point ChatGPT at their own remote MCP servers, at first for search and fetch. In September 2025 developer mode added full MCP client support, including write actions, behind confirmation prompts (InfoQ).
At DevDay on October 6, 2025, OpenAI launched apps in ChatGPT and the Apps SDK. Apps were built on MCP and could render their own interface inside the conversation. Launch partners included Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Expedia, Figma, Spotify and Zillow.
On December 17, 2025 two things happened. Developers could submit apps for review, with approved apps listed in a new in-product directory. And OpenAI renamed connectors to apps, so "app" covered both interactive apps and the older data connectors.
2026: plugins return, first in Codex#
In late March 2026 OpenAI added plugins to Codex, its coding agent (Unite.AI). A Codex plugin bundled skills, app connections and MCP server configuration into one installable unit. OpenAI's own plugin changelog notes that approved Apps SDK integrations could be distributed as Codex plugins, and that "at launch, plugins were available only in Codex." Much of the curated catalog lives in the public openai/plugins repository.
On July 9, 2026, alongside the launch of ChatGPT Work and a desktop app combining Chat, Work and Codex, OpenAI replaced the App Directory with the Plugin Directory. According to OpenAI's help article Plugins in ChatGPT and Codex, all existing apps were packaged into plugins, and existing app connections kept working. We cover that change in detail in The App Directory is now the Plugin Directory.
The last piece: on September 11, 2026 OpenAI notified Enterprise admins that custom GPTs are being retired in favour of plugins. The migration FAQ lists December 11, 2026 as the date Enterprise GPTs stop running, says the dates may change, and says other plans may follow the same transition (Virtualization Review summary). So plugins replaced by GPTs are now replacing GPTs.
What "ChatGPT plugin" means today#
OpenAI's plugin architecture docs describe plugins as "the packages people discover, install, share, and publish in ChatGPT and Codex." A plugin can contain:
- Skills: folders with a
SKILL.mdfile that give the model instructions and resources for a repeatable workflow. - MCP servers (apps): services that expose tools, handle authentication and can show optional UI.
- Hooks: commands that run at set points in the Codex runtime.
Some plugins are only skills (for example, a code review method). Others are a thin wrapper around one app. Many combine both. The GitHub plugin, for instance, pairs a GitHub connection with workflows for triaging pull requests and debugging CI.
| 2023 plugins | 2026 plugins | |
|---|---|---|
| Built on | OpenAPI spec + manifest | MCP servers, skills, hooks |
| Where they run | ChatGPT (Plus beta) | ChatGPT (Chat and Work) and Codex |
| Custom UI | No | Optional, through the MCP Apps standard |
| Discovery | Plugin store, pick up to 3 per chat | One shared Plugin Directory; invoke with @ or let ChatGPT choose |
| Status | Shut down April 2024 | Current |
For a detailed breakdown of how plugins, apps, MCP servers and skills relate, read Plugins vs apps vs MCP servers vs skills.
What this means for you#
If you used plugins in 2023: your old plugins are gone, but many of the same companies are back. Expedia, Instacart, OpenTable and Wolfram all have current listings.
If you use ChatGPT today: open the Plugins tab, install what you need, and connect accounts when asked. Our step-by-step guide is How to install plugins in ChatGPT. Before connecting anything with write access, run through the plugin security checklist.
If you build: the Apps SDK docs now live under OpenAI's Plugins documentation. Start with Build your first ChatGPT app, then Publish a ChatGPT plugin. If you have a custom GPT in an Enterprise workspace, plan its migration to a plugin before the retirement date.
Note (October 4, 2026): Since this post was published, DevDay 2026 added Plugin Extensions (sidebar apps, conversation panels, file viewers) and MCP Events. See DevDay 2026: what it means for plugin builders.