Skill or project?
| Claude skill | Claude project | |
|---|---|---|
| What you add | One ZIP: a folder with SKILL.md and the GPT's files | The instructions, pasted, and the files, uploaded |
| How you use it | Claude uses the skill when a request fits its description | You chat inside the project |
| Plans | Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise | Every plan; free accounts can have up to five projects |
| Needs | Code execution turned on | Nothing extra |
Pick the project if you used the GPT as a place to work on one thing with its files close at hand. Pick the skill if you want its instructions to come up in any chat when the task fits. You can do both from the same backup.
As a skill
- Pack your GPT with Skillcase and download "Skill for Claude and ChatGPT". It is a ZIP with a folder named after your GPT, holding SKILL.md, the knowledge files in references/ and any action schemas in assets/.
- In Claude, turn on code execution: Anthropic says skills need it (on Free, Pro and Max: Settings, Capabilities, "Code execution and file creation", called "Create and edit files" in the newer settings layout).
- Open Customize, then Skills, click +, choose Create skill, then Upload a skill, and pick the ZIP.
- Try one of your GPT's conversation starters. They are listed at the end of SKILL.md.
Claude rejects a skill whose folder name does not match its name, or whose name or description has characters it does not accept. Skillcase writes the name the way the Specification asks: lowercase letters, numbers and single hyphens, at most 64 characters, matching the folder.
As a project
- In Claude, create a project and give it your GPT's name.
- Paste the GPT's instructions into the project's instructions. On the Skillcase page, "Copy the Claude project instructions" puts them on your clipboard.
- Upload the knowledge files to the project's knowledge. Anthropic says Claude uses those files as context for the chats in the project.
- To bring your old chats along, upload all-chats.md from the backup's chats folder too.
What does not move
- Custom actions. A GPT action calls an outside API through an OpenAPI schema. Neither a project nor the skill runs it; the backup keeps the schema and a list of its operations for whoever rebuilds the connection.
- The model. The GPT's model setting has no match in Claude; pick a model in Claude as usual.
- Conversation starters as buttons. They are kept as text in SKILL.md and the backup.
Pack your GPT before December 11
Paste your GPT's setup, add its knowledge files and your ChatGPT export, and download a backup you can open anywhere, a skill for Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT, and your chats as Markdown. Free, in your browser, and nothing is uploaded.
Questions
Can I import a custom GPT into Claude directly?
Not from ChatGPT. Copy the GPT's setup and files out first, then add them to Claude as a skill (one ZIP upload) or as a project (paste the instructions, upload the files). Skillcase builds the skill ZIP and the project text from what you paste.
Do Claude skills work on the free plan?
Anthropic says skills are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, and that they need code execution turned on.
Is a Claude project the same as a custom GPT?
They hold the same kinds of things, instructions and files, but you chat inside a project rather than open a GPT. Anthropic says projects are on every plan, and free accounts can have up to five.
Sources: Anthropic: Using Skills in Claude; Anthropic: What are projects?; Agent Skills: Specification; OpenAI: Moving your custom GPT workflows to plugins. Last checked: October 27, 2026. Skillcase is an independent tool by Peak Apps Studio and is not affiliated with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google or Ollama.