# Move your Custom GPTs with your AI app

> Your AI app reads the GPT folders on your computer and sets each one up as a draft Chirp.

Source: https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/chirps/move-gpts  
Plans: Essentials, Creator, Business, Academy  
Last checked: 2026-10-26

When you're done, each of your Custom GPTs is a draft Chirp in your account, ready to check and publish.

**Who can do this:** the account owner, on any plan.

**What you'll need:**

- Your AI app connected with **Create and edit** access or more:
  [Connect Claude, ChatGPT or another AI app](https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/chirps/connect-ai-app).
- Each GPT in its own folder on your computer, with its instructions (a text file such as
  `instructions.txt`), its conversation starters (`starters.txt`, one per line), its picture, and its
  knowledge files. ChatGPT doesn't let you download a GPT's knowledge files, so use your own copies.
  Copy each GPT's instructions from the **Configure** tab in ChatGPT.

## Move them

1. In the menu, click **Import**.
2. Under **Give it the import instructions**, type where your GPT folders are if you like (for example
   Documents, then My GPTs), and click **Copy instructions**.

   ![The Import page at step 2, Give it the import instructions, with the folder box and the Copy instructions button, and the Carries over list beside it.](https://mjmtbasmrtksluvlnema.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/help-media/web-optimized/chirps/move-gpts/SS-CHIRP-110-01__import-steps__essentials__desktop__v01.webp?v=0c2c643a57)

3. Paste the instructions into a new chat with your AI app and send them. In apps with a prompt menu,
   you can pick **Import Custom GPTs** instead.
4. Your AI app reads each folder and sets up one Chirp per GPT, with its picture and the text of its
   knowledge files. It finishes with a summary: what was imported, anything that failed and why, and
   what didn't carry over.
5. Open each Chirp to check it and try it in the preview, or ask your AI app to test one. Then publish
   the ones you're happy with: see [Publish, update or unpublish a Chirp](https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/chirps/publish).

Everything arrives as a **Draft**, so nobody else can see it yet, and nothing is published unless you
say so. If an import stops partway, ask your AI app to carry on in the same chat: it won't make a
second copy of anything already imported. If a GPT is already in your account, from an earlier import
or as a Chirp with the same name, your AI app asks you before bringing it in again. Say yes and it
arrives as a copy, with **(copy)** at the end of its name; rename it if you like.

## What carries over

The **Import** page lists it too:

- **Carries over:** name and description, instructions, conversation starters, profile picture,
  knowledge files (your own copies), web search and image creation, and Actions from their OpenAPI
  schema (add their API keys again).
- **Doesn't carry over:** Actions that move money, API keys or app secrets (add them again in Chirp
  Builder, never in the chat), Code Interpreter (running code), Canvas and ChatGPT memory. Your AI app
  tells you when a GPT used any of these.

Your AI app reads your files on your computer; Chirp Builder never sees your computer. Apps that can't
open folders on your computer, such as some web apps, need you to attach the files in the chat
instead.

## If it doesn't work

- **A GPT failed.** In the same chat, ask your AI app to try that one again; it won't make a duplicate.
  The reason is also under [Your imports](https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/chirps/check-an-import).
- **A knowledge file was skipped.** Scanned PDFs and some file types can't be read. Convert the file to
  text, Word or a text-based PDF, and add it in the editor.
- **The app says it can't make changes.** Give it **Create and edit** access under **Connected apps**
  in **Settings**.
- **No AI app?** Zip the GPT folders and upload them instead:
  [Export Chirps and import a package](https://www.chirpbuilder.com/help/chirps/export-and-import#import-a-package).