OpenAI Agent Builder Shutdown November 30 Explained: Evals and Prompts API End Too, What Developers Must Move

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openai agent builder shutdown november 30 explained — servers in a data centre, illustrative image

Illustrative image: servers in a data centre — the kind of infrastructure agent workflows run on. This is not an OpenAI product screenshot. Image: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

TL;DR — OpenAI Agent Builder shutdown November 30 explained in one line: the visual workflow builder, the Evals testing platform and the v1/prompts API all stop on 30 November 2026 — 28 days from now — and anything still running on them needs a new home before then. ChatKit stays, but the workflows behind it do not.

📌 KEY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Three shutdowns, one date: Agent Builder, the Evals dashboard and API, and the v1/prompts API with reusable prompt objects all shut down on 30 November 2026.
  • Already read-only: existing evals became read-only on 31 October 2026 — you can still inspect old runs, but you can no longer run tests on the platform.
  • What stays: ChatKit, the embeddable chat window, remains available, and the Agents SDK continues as the code-first route.
  • Two migration paths: rebuild with the Agents SDK, or move to ChatGPT Workspace Agents (which need a Business, Enterprise or Edu workspace).
  • Export first, test second: Agent Builder exports each workflow as Agents SDK code — but the export does not guarantee every behaviour transfers unchanged.

OpenAI Agent Builder shutdown November 30 explained: what is shutting down

Agent Builder was the visual canvas inside AgentKit, launched at OpenAI's DevDay in October 2025: drag-and-drop blocks for building multi-step AI agent workflows without writing the orchestration code yourself. On 3 June 2026, OpenAI notified developers using it that the product was being deprecated — and set the same 30 November date for two neighbouring tools. The dates come from OpenAI's own deprecations page, not from a rumour roundup, and the 1 November coverage wave (developer guides and the daily news roundups) is what put the deadline back in front of teams that missed the June notice.

DateWhat OpenAI's deprecations page says
3 June 2026Deprecation announced for Agent Builder, the Evals platform and reusable prompt objects; developers using them notified.
31 October 2026Existing evals on the Evals platform become read-only.
30 November 2026Agent Builder shuts down. The Evals dashboard and API shut down. The v1/prompts API and reusable prompt objects shut down.
After 30 NovemberChatKit remains available. Agents SDK continues. No rollback destination in Agent Builder.

One clarification matters for anyone running a website widget: ChatKit surviving does not save your workflow. ChatKit is the chat window; if the agent behind it was built in Agent Builder, that backend still ends on 30 November and the widget needs a new server-side agent before then. OpenAI has not published a reason for the shutdown; the direction of its migration guide is the signal — code-first agents on the Agents SDK and the managed Agents API, not drag-and-drop canvases.

openai agent builder shutdown november 30 explained — a server room, illustrative image

Illustrative image: a server room. Agent workflows and their evaluation history live on infrastructure like this — which is why exports, not screenshots, are the thing to save. Image: Wikimedia Commons / Florian Hirzinger.

Why it matters for World Tech readers

The pattern here is bigger than one tool. October and November 2026 have been a consolidation season for agent platforms: OpenAI's Agents API went into public beta on 10 September 2026, the Python SDK gained agent-focused controls on 31 October, and the visual builder is being retired in favour of code. Our earlier post on Salesforce's Agent Fabric kill switch showed enterprises building emergency brakes for agents, and the AI agents spending cap bypass study showed what happens when agent guardrails are weaker than they look. The through-line: agent tooling is moving fast, and anything built on a vendor's visual layer is rented, not owned.

For readers in India, no India-specific shutdown is claimed — the read-across is practical. Indian startups and dev teams that prototyped support bots, internal tools or demos in Agent Builder, and teams that kept acceptance tests in Evals, face the same 30 November cliff. The migration is engineering time, not a settings toggle: export, rewrite, re-test. And the lesson generalises — before building on any vendor's newest canvas, check its deprecation page first. The same month also brought DeepSeek's autonomous Super-Agent for coding, a reminder that the coding-assistant race is moving toward code-native agents, not visual ones.

Should you care? ✅

Verdict: Yes, if you have anything in Agent Builder, Evals or reusable prompts — export it this week. The deadline is 28 days away, the export has known gaps, and re-testing a migrated workflow takes longer than the export itself. If you have nothing on these tools, the verdict is simpler: do not start a new build there.

How to migrate before November 30

1. Export the workflows. Open each workflow in Agent Builder, click Code, choose the Agents SDK tab, and pick TypeScript or Python. Do this first even if you plan to keep running the workflow until the end of November — after the shutdown there is nothing to export from.

2. Watch for the two known export gaps. If any agent uses the built-in Web Search tool, Agent Builder refuses the export with an "Unknown tool type: web_search" error — that workflow needs a manual rewrite. And OpenAI's own guide warns that workflows with strong determinism at their core may not migrate faithfully to a workspace agent, so plan to review and test whatever you move.

3. Move reusable prompts into your own code. The v1/prompts API ends the same day; OpenAI's advice is to copy prompt content into application code rather than looking for a hosted replacement.

4. Move evals to a new home. Evals are already read-only, so export datasets, graders and historical baselines now; OpenAI's guide points teams toward Promptfoo as the replacement runner.

5. Pick your route and re-test. The Agents SDK suits teams building agents through code; ChatGPT Workspace Agents suit teams building through natural language and sharing with a team — but they need a Business, Enterprise or Edu workspace with permission to create agents. Either way, run the migrated workflow against your old evals before switching traffic.

FAQs

Is OpenAI Agent Builder shutting down?
Yes. OpenAI's Agent Builder guide says the product is being deprecated, and its deprecations page lists 30 November 2026 as the shutdown date. Developers using it were notified on 3 June 2026.

When does OpenAI Agent Builder shut down?
On 30 November 2026 — 28 days from 2 November. The Evals dashboard and API and the v1/prompts API shut down the same day, and existing evals already became read-only on 31 October 2026.

What happens to my Agent Builder workflows after November 30?
They stop running, and Agent Builder cannot serve as a rollback destination after retirement. Export each workflow as Agents SDK code before the deadline (Code → Agents SDK tab → TypeScript or Python), then rebuild, review and test it on the new route.

Is ChatKit shutting down too?
No. OpenAI's notice says ChatKit remains available. What ends is the Agent Builder workflow behind a hosted ChatKit setup — so a widget connected to one still needs a new backend before 30 November.

TAKEAWAY: Three tools, one deadline, 28 days. Export the workflows, copy the prompts into your code, move the evals — and test the replacement before the old one disappears.

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