Move your custom GPT to a card you own

You need: your GPT's instructions (or a clear memory of what it did), a notes app, and a free account on ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.

Step 1: Copy what makes your GPT work (5 minutes)

If you made the GPT, open it for editing in ChatGPT and look at its settings. Copy these into a new note:

• Instructions: the most important part. Copy every word.
• Conversation starters: they show what you used it for.
• Knowledge files: write down their names, and find your own copies of them.
• Actions: note any, if it had them. See "What doesn't move" below.

Menus change, so if you can't find the settings, or you only used someone else's GPT, skip ahead. Write down the three things you asked it most often and what a good answer looked like. That's enough to rebuild it.

Step 2: Turn it into an instruction card (8 minutes)

Paste this into the same note, under what you copied, and fill in every bracket. Move your old instructions into the matching sections.

WORK ASSISTANT CARD

You are my [e.g. proposal reviewer / meeting-prep helper / policy
explainer]. Each time, I'll paste [what you give it], and you'll
[what it does].

ABOUT MY WORK
- My role: [e.g. project manager at a construction firm]
- Who reads the result: [e.g. my director / clients / my team]
- Tone: [e.g. clear, short, no jargon]

WHEN I PASTE SOMETHING
1. If something important is missing, ask me in one short message
   first.
2. Then reply with:
   A. [first section, e.g. a three-line summary]
   B. [second section, e.g. risks or gaps]
   C. [third section, e.g. a suggested next step]
3. Keep it short enough to read on a phone.

RULES
- Use only what I paste and what's on this card. If you don't know,
  say so. Never invent figures, names or sources.
- [any rule from your old GPT's instructions]

REFERENCE (optional)
[paste the few paragraphs from your knowledge files that it really
needs, such as a checklist or house style]

Knowledge files: a card can't hold a whole manual, and it doesn't need to. Paste in only the parts the assistant uses every time. For a one-off, attach the file in the chat, if your plan allows it.

Before you paste: your workplace may have rules about which AI tools can see work documents, so check them first. Never paste passwords, ID numbers or other people's private information. And check your assistant's Settings: unless you switch it off, your chats may be used to train its AI.

Step 3: Load it (2 minutes)

Open a new chat in any of the three assistants. Paste your whole card, then your first real task. That's it: your assistant is back.

If your assistant can save instructions (a Project in ChatGPT or Claude, or a Gem in Gemini), you can paste the card in once instead. The card in your notes always works, in every assistant, so you're never tied to one company's menus again.

Step 4: Test it against the old one (5 minutes)

1. The same-task test: give it a task you used to give your GPT. Is the answer as good? If not, what's missing from the card?
2. The vague test: in a new chat, paste the card and just Help me. It should ask what you need, not make something up.
3. The don't-know test: ask something your card and paste don't cover. It should say it doesn't know, not invent an answer.

If a test fails, add one rule to your card and try again. Test, fix, retest: that's how good AI tools get built.

What doesn't move

• Actions that connected your GPT to another app don't fit on a card. The card still does the thinking; you copy the result across yourself.
• A shareable link. To share your assistant with a colleague, share the card. They paste it into their own assistant.
• Huge knowledge bases. If your GPT searched long documents, that's a bigger build, a document question-and-answer assistant, and it's one of the 12 tools in Capstone AI Lab.