[ChatGPT Group Chats] Per-group custom instructions are documented but not discoverable in current group UI
Summary
OpenAI's official Group Chats announcement documents per-group custom instructions for ChatGPT Group Chats, but the current Group Chat UI available on my account does not expose a discoverable control for them.
This became more confusing because ChatGPT itself first told me to use the group's "custom instructions," then—after I showed that the group menu did not contain such an option—reversed course and incorrectly told me that Group Chats did not have custom instructions.
The current official source says the opposite: per-group custom instructions were an explicit Group Chats capability.
Official source:
https://openai.com/index/group-chats-in-chatgpt/
The relevant section is How it works, which states that users can set custom instructions for how ChatGPT responds in each group chat.
What I see in the current group UI
In an existing Group Chat, the group menu exposes items such as:
- Rename
- Pin chat
- Add people via group link
- Leave
I do not see a discoverable Custom instructions / Group instructions control in the group settings available to this account.
Because OpenAI's own product documentation says the feature exists, the absence of a discoverable control could be one of several things:
- a UI regression;
- a staged/partial retirement change;
- a control that moved to another location without the documentation being updated; or
- an account/surface-specific availability difference that is not documented.
I am not asserting which internal cause is correct.
Steps to reproduce
- Open an existing ChatGPT Group Chat that was created before new Group Chats were disabled.
- Open the group/participant/settings UI.
- Look for the documented per-group custom-instructions control.
- Observe that no discoverable control is available in the current group menu on this account.
- Ask ChatGPT where to save a standing instruction specifically for that group.
- ChatGPT may direct the user to group custom instructions even though the UI does not expose the control; after being challenged, it may instead claim the feature does not exist.
Expected behavior
One of these should be true and clearly documented:
- If per-group custom instructions are still supported for active existing groups: expose a clearly labeled control and document the exact path to it on each supported surface.
- If the feature was removed as part of the Group Chats retirement: update the Group Chats documentation and ChatGPT's product-answer grounding so it no longer directs users to an unavailable setting.
- If availability varies by surface/account/rollout state: document that limitation explicitly.
ChatGPT should also verify current official product documentation before confidently telling users that a ChatGPT setting exists or does not exist.
Retirement context
OpenAI is winding down Group Chats. Beginning July 9, 2026, users can no longer create or join new groups; existing groups remain active during the transition and will later become read-only.
Official retirement source:
https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12703475-retiring-group-chats-in-chatgpt
That makes this a transition/documentation-consistency issue for existing groups, not a request to restart the retired pilot.
Why this matters
Users reasonably rely on ChatGPT itself to explain ChatGPT. When the official documentation and the visible UI diverge—and the model then gives contradictory product guidance—the user cannot determine whether the capability was removed, moved, rolled back, or is malfunctioning.
Privacy / evidence
The reproduction does not require sharing private group conversation content. Screenshots of the relevant Group Chat menu can be provided if maintainers need them.
Duplicate search
I searched the current openai/codex issue tracker for combinations of Group Chats and custom instructions and did not find an exact existing issue.
Scope note
This is a ChatGPT product issue, not a Codex feature. I am filing it in this public tracker because there is no dedicated public ChatGPT GitHub issue tracker exposed in the current documentation, and this repository already contains open ChatGPT Web/Desktop product reports. If another public tracker is preferred, please redirect or transfer this report rather than treating the product discrepancy as a Codex reproduction.