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Connect from ChatGPT

Connect your app to ChatGPT clients.

Before you begin

You can test your app in ChatGPT with your account using developer mode.

Apps are now submitted and published as plugins. Use developer mode to test your app in ChatGPT; when you are ready for public distribution, submit the plugin through the plugin submission portal. See Submit plugins.

To turn on developer mode, open ChatGPT, then go to Settings → Security and login and turn on Developer mode.

From there, you can toggle developer mode if your organization allows it. If the toggle is unavailable, ask your workspace admin to allow developer mode for your account or workspace.

Once developer mode is active, you can create and manage developer-mode apps from Settings → Plugins or directly at chatgpt.com/plugins.

As of November 13th, 2025, ChatGPT Apps are supported on all plans, including Business, Enterprise, and Education plans.

Create a developer-mode app

Once you have developer mode enabled, create a developer-mode app in ChatGPT.

  1. Ensure your MCP server is reachable over HTTPS (for local development, use Secure MCP Tunnel and select Tunnel when you create the app, or you can expose a local server to the public internet via a tool such as ngrok or Cloudflare Tunnel).
  2. In ChatGPT, open Settings → Plugins or go directly to chatgpt.com/plugins.
  3. Select the plus button to create a new developer-mode app.
  4. Provide the app metadata:
    • Name – a user-facing title such as Kanban board.
    • Description – explain what the app does and when to use it. The model uses this text during discovery.
    • MCP server URL – the public /mcp endpoint of your server (for example https://abc123.ngrok.app/mcp).
  5. Click Create. If the connection succeeds you will see a list of the tools your server advertises. If it fails, refer to the Testing guide to debug your app with MCP Inspector or the API Playground.

Try the app

Once your developer-mode app is created, you can try it out in a new ChatGPT conversation.

  1. Open a new chat in ChatGPT.
  2. Click the + button near the message composer, and click More.
  3. Choose your app in the list of available tools. This will add your app to the conversation context for the model to use.
  4. Prompt the model to invoke tools by saying related to your app. For example, “What are my available tasks?” for a Kanban board app.

ChatGPT uses each app’s tool annotations and the user’s app permission settings to decide when to request confirmation. Users can choose one of three permission levels:

  • Always ask: Ask before retrieving information or making changes.
  • Ask before making changes: Retrieve information automatically, but ask before making changes.
  • Ask only before important changes (default): Retrieve information and make routine changes automatically, but ask before consequential changes such as sending, deleting, posting, or purchasing.

For personal accounts, users can set a global permission level or override it for an individual app in Settings > Apps. Eligible confirmation prompts also offer Always allow, which remembers the user’s permission for that app.

For Business and Enterprise workspaces, admins control the workspace default and per-app overrides. Members don’t see Always allow. Admins can update the workspace default in Workspace settings > Permissions & roles > Connected data, or configure an individual app from Admin Apps > App permissions.

These settings apply to connected apps in ChatGPT. Apps authenticated in Codex use separate permission controls.

Refreshing metadata

Whenever you change your tools list or descriptions, refresh your MCP server’s metadata in ChatGPT.

  1. Update your MCP server and redeploy it (unless you are using a local server).
  2. Open Settings → Plugins or chatgpt.com/plugins, click into your developer-mode app, and choose Refresh.
  3. Verify the tool list updates and try a few prompts to test the updated flows.

This refresh flow applies to developer-mode apps. Plugins that contain apps use reviewed app metadata snapshots. To update the app metadata in a published plugin, scan, submit, and publish a new version.

Using other clients

You can connect to your MCP server on other clients.

  • API Playground – visit the platform playground, and add your MCP server to the conversation: open Tools → Add → MCP Server, and paste the same HTTPS endpoint. This is useful when you want raw request/response logs.
  • Mobile clients – once the app is linked on ChatGPT web, it will be available on ChatGPT mobile apps as well. Test mobile layouts early if your component has custom controls.

With the app linked you can move on to validation, experiments, and eventual rollout.