How do you create an agent in ChatGPT?

OpenAI's help article on workspace agents, read on 7 October 2026, says they are available for ChatGPT Business and Enterprise workspaces. They were off by default at launch for Enterprise, so an admin may need to switch them on. Admins also decide, by role, who may build agents and who may publish them.

The older route is a custom GPT. The GPT builder article says Business, Enterprise and Edu users can create and publish GPTs where workspace settings allow, and that new GPT creation is not available on personal accounts, including Free, Go, Plus and Pro. Existing GPTs stay usable, and OpenAI recommends moving workflows to Plugins. Building happens on the web, not in the mobile apps.

The help article gives two starting points. Both end in the agent builder, where you can preview the agent with sample prompts before you save it.

• From scratch: open Agents, select Create, enter a prompt or select Start blank, review the draft plan, make changes, select Build this agent, refine it in the builder, then select Create at the top right.
• From a template: open Agents, select Browse templates, choose a template, select Use template, pick the tools it may use, select Create Agent, refine it in the builder, then select Create.
• Sharing: keep it private, share it by link inside your organisation, or publish it to the organisation directory, with Can chat, Can edit or Owner access.

Open the GPTs section from the sidebar or at chatgpt.com/gpts and select Create. You can let ChatGPT draft the GPT in conversation, or fill in the configuration view yourself. The fields are the name, description, instructions, conversation starters, knowledge files, capabilities, apps and actions.

Knowledge is limited to 20 files of up to 512 MB each. Use Preview to test, then select Create for a new GPT or Update for an existing one. Version history sits in the more options menu.

Workspace agents connect to apps such as Google Calendar, Google Drive, Slack and SharePoint, to custom MCP servers, and to tools such as web search. Each connection uses the end user’s own account or an agent-owned account, and OpenAI advises against a personal account behind a shared agent.

Write actions default to Always ask during a run, and a builder can change that to Never ask or custom approvals. An agent can also run on a schedule or start from an API call, which returns 202 Accepted but no run ID, so keep your own record of what you triggered. Leave Always ask on until the agent has run cleanly on real cases.

Agent Builder is a separate developer tool: a visual canvas for multi-step agent workflows, published as versions and run through ChatKit or exported as Agents SDK code. OpenAI's documentation, read on 7 October 2026, says it is being deprecated and is scheduled to shut down on 30 November 2026, while ChatKit remains available. Do not start a new project there.

Creating an agent inside ChatGPT is an OpenAI product, and Swfte has no affiliation with OpenAI. Nothing here changes what your ChatGPT plan allows.

If the agent must keep working when you change model vendor, or a named person must sign off before it acts, Swfte Studio builds agents and workflows that call OpenAI models and others through Connect. A Studio workflow can pause at an approval step until that person decides. Approvals live in several parts of the platform, not one unified inbox.

• Swfte Studio: Build agents and workflows with approval steps
• Swfte Connect: One OpenAI-compatible API in front of many model providers

Facts about other vendors and about the terms on this page were read on the pages below on 7 October 2026. Vendor plans, names and menus change, so check the vendor’s page before you rely on a detail.