ChatGPT Apps

A ChatGPT App connects ChatGPT to a system outside the platform: SharePoint, Google Drive, Notion, Slack, GitHub, HubSpot, and dozens more. This lets a chat, a Workspace Agent, or a Deep Research session read data from that system, search it, or trigger actions in it. Without Apps, ChatGPT is a sealed-off chat. With Apps, it becomes an AI layer that knows your company.

1.1 A Bit of History: Connectors Become Apps

Until mid-December 2025, all of this was still called “Connectors” in ChatGPT. On December 17, 2025, as part of its big developer ship release, OpenAI unified the naming: all connections between ChatGPT and external systems are now called Apps, regardless of whether they were built by OpenAI itself, by a partner, or as a custom MCP. The background was the launch of the Apps SDK and the opening of the App Directory to third-party developers. If you still read “Connector” in older documentation articles, that means “App” today.

In this guide we consistently use App (singular) and Apps (plural). This is also the language you will find in the current ChatGPT UI under Settings.

1.2 The Three Layers

ChatGPT Apps fall into three clear categories. Most business users only need layer 1, some also need layer 2, and layer 3 is for developers.

This guide focuses on layers 1 and 2 and shows how to get started with layer 3 in Chapter 7.

1.3 What an App Does

An App can fulfill one or more of three functions. This is important to know so you understand what you can expect:

• Search connector: Delivers search results from the third-party system. Example: searching Google Drive, finding Notion pages, retrieving SharePoint documents. Classic knowledge retrieval, often in combination with Company Knowledge or Deep Research.
• Action App: Writes back or triggers something in the third-party system. Example: sending a Slack message, creating a Linear issue, creating a Notion page, updating a HubSpot contact. Since March 2026, many Apps have received significantly expanded write scopes.
• Interactive widget: Renders a small UI directly in the chat. Example: Canva shows a design preview, Booking delivers a map view, Spotify shows a player. This function arrived with the Apps SDK in mid-December 2025 and is mainly found in consumer Apps.

Exactly which of these functions an App supports is stated in its description in the App Directory or under Settings → Apps.

1.4 Distinguishing Apps From Similar Concepts

ChatGPT has gained many new components in recent months. Here is the clean distinction so you do not get confused:

1.5 EU and EEA Disclaimer

1.6 What Apps Are Not

To complete the picture, here is a clean distinction between terms that sometimes get mixed up in practice:

• An App is not a Workspace Agent. An agent uses Apps but is not an App itself.
• An App is not a Custom GPT. A Custom GPT can access Apps (in Plus/Pro) but is not an App component.
• An App is not a file upload. A PDF you drag into the chat is a one-time upload. If you want to search a system live, you need the corresponding App.
• An App is not a Skill. Skills are ways of working, Apps are data connections.
• An App is not Sign in with ChatGPT. An App pulls data from a third-party system into ChatGPT. Sign in with ChatGPT works the other way around and signs you in to the third-party system with your ChatGPT account. See 2.7.

Before we dive into the setup, it is worth understanding how ChatGPT authenticates with the third-party system. Three primary methods are in use, plus several SSO extensions. Which method applies when is determined by the respective App and the third-party system.

2.1 OAuth 2.1 with PKCE · The Standard

OAuth 2.1 with PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange) is the standard method for practically all native Apps and for most partner MCP Apps. An estimated 95 percent of all Apps in the current ChatGPT workspace use this route.

How it works: You click Connect in ChatGPT. A pop-up opens the login page of the third-party system (e.g. Microsoft, Google, Slack, Notion). You log in, confirm the requested scopes, the pop-up closes, and your App connection is ready.

Who uses it: Microsoft 365 (all Apps), Google Workspace (all Apps), Slack, Notion, Atlassian (Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket), Linear, GitHub, HubSpot, Dropbox, Box, Asana, Calendly, Outlook and many more.

Advantage: SSO-capable. If your company uses Okta, Microsoft Entra, Auth0 or Google Identity, the login automatically runs through your identity provider. Tokens can expire, be revoked and be reissued. No secret keys to store.

2.2 API Key · With Some MCP Apps

Some partner and custom MCPs use a classic API key instead of OAuth. You generate the key in the third-party system, paste it into ChatGPT during setup and run the connection with it.

Who uses it: Rather rare with native Apps, more common with specialized MCP partner Apps (data tools, analytics backends) or with internal custom MCPs when your tool does not offer OAuth.

Caution: Whoever has the key has the rights. Treat it like a password. In the workspace, you should preferably enable API-key-based Apps for selected roles rather than workspace-wide.

2.3 SSO Extensions

If your company uses an identity provider, it inserts itself into the OAuth flow. In practice, this means the browser pop-up first lands at your IdP, which verifies the identity, and then at the third-party system.

IdPs supported in practice:

• Okta · widely used, all flows tested
• Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) · mandatory for Microsoft 365 Apps with tenant consent
• Auth0 · popular with startups and tech companies
• Google Cloud Identity · for Google Workspace tenants
• Amazon Cognito · at AWS-centric companies

Especially in a B2B setup, SSO is the default. Your end users usually notice nothing of it, except that the login step runs through your company login.

2.4 Token Lifecycle: Reauth and Scope Reconnect

OAuth tokens have a limited lifetime, typically 30 to 90 days, depending on the third-party system. When the token expires, ChatGPT shows you a reauth prompt in the UI. One click, a new login, done.

Special case scope reconnect: Since March 27, 2026, several Apps have received significantly expanded write scopes, above all Notion, Box, Linear and Dropbox. Anyone who had already connected these Apps before will still see them, but can only use the new write actions once the connection has been disconnected and reconnected. ChatGPT does not always report this proactively. So if you suddenly expect a write action to work with one of these four Apps but it refuses: disconnect, reconnect, confirm the new scopes.

2.5 Data Training: What OpenAI Uses

This point comes as a surprise in most workshops:

• Plus and Free: OpenAI may use your content for model training by default. This can be switched off per account in the settings (Data Controls → Improve the model for everyone).
• Business, Enterprise and Edu: Content is never used for training. Workspace data, App content, files, everything stays inside. This is contractually guaranteed.

2.6 Who Does the Setup · Admin vs. End User

2.7 Sign in with ChatGPT · The Reverse Direction

Since August 2, 2026, Sign in with ChatGPT has been available as a beta. This is not an App but the reversal of the App principle: ChatGPT does not log in to the third-party system; instead, you log in to a third-party provider with your ChatGPT account, just as you know it from “Sign in with Google”. OpenAI thereby becomes an identity provider.

Partners at beta launch: Airtable, GitLab, HubSpot, Notion, Supabase and Vercel. If you connect one of these Apps from the Plugin Directory, you can use it to create or link the account with the provider in fewer steps.

What the provider receives: Name, email address and profile picture, if available. Nothing more.

What OpenAI itself logs goes well beyond that: account identifiers, email, auth provider and workspace membership, plus details about the application and the authorization (application ID, requested and granted permissions, login result) as well as technical security data such as IP address, location, browser or App version, user agent and device identifiers. For governance discussions, this is the more relevant part: OpenAI sees which services your people sign in to, even if the service itself only learns name and email.

New since September 29, 2026: plan allowance in partner Apps. Plus and Pro users can allow participating Apps to use their ChatGPT model allowance without creating an API key. At launch there are 16 Apps, including Notion, Vercel, Lovable, Warp, Devin and Kilo Code, plus four open-source integrations (OpenClaw, OpenCode, Pi, T3). For each App you set your own weekly limit as a share of your overall allowance under Settings → Usage. Usage counts against your existing allowance; connecting an App does not add any extra volume.

Two separate permissions: Logging in via Sign in with ChatGPT and the right to spend your allowance are separate permissions. Airtable, Canva, GitLab, HubSpot and Supabase only offer the login. For allowance sharing, OpenAI explicitly names Plus and Pro, not the workspace plans. For companies this means: anyone who uses a private Pro plan to work in Notion or Vercel is spending their private allowance on company work. That belongs in your usage policy.

This chapter is for workspace admins on ChatGPT Business, Enterprise or Edu. End users can skip it and continue with Chapter 4. If you do not set things up properly here, you will later hear the classic “it doesn’t work for me”.

3.1 The Apps Tab in Workspace Settings

The central starting point is Workspace Settings → Apps. Here you see the complete list of all available Apps and their status, and you can decide per App whether it is available to your team.

3.2 RBAC: Which Roles May Use Which App

In Enterprise and Edu you can define per App which user roles are allowed to use it. This matters not only for security but also for governance:

• Workspace-wide (all members): the default for non-critical Apps such as Google Drive or Notion.
• Per group: for example, only Sales may use Salesforce and only Engineering may use GitHub.
• Per individual user: rarely needed, but useful for pilot groups.

You will find the configuration under Workspace Settings → Apps → individual App → Access.

3.3 Action Control per App

One of the most important changes of recent months: per App, you can define at a granular level which actions the App may trigger in the chat. There are three modes:

The configuration lives under Workspace Settings → Apps → individual App → Manage actions. With Custom action set, all individual actions are listed with a description and you toggle them on or off one by one.

Since May 2026 you also decide per App how ChatGPT handles actions that are added later. OpenAI keeps extending Apps with new actions, and you define in advance what happens with them: enable all new actions automatically, enable only new read actions automatically, or leave new actions disabled until you have reviewed them. For critical systems, the third option is the safe default. Newly available actions are disabled by default anyway until you deliberately enable them.

Ask permission: when ChatGPT asks for confirmation

Since June 2026 there is a second axis alongside which actions are allowed: when ChatGPT asks for confirmation before an action. This setting is called Ask permission. In Business, Enterprise and Edu, the admin sets the workspace default and optionally per-app values, while end users pick their own preference within the permitted range. There are four levels to choose from:

For critical systems (CRM, finance, ticketing), at least Any changes is the safe workspace default. The end-user view of this setting is covered in 4.2.

Plugin permissions: new default since September 14, 2026

Since September 14, 2026, OpenAI has moved this logic one level up, to the plugin. New plugin connections inherit the user’s global plugin permission instead of asking separately for every connection. The default of this global setting is Allow low-risk actions: ChatGPT works with the connected data without constant prompts and only asks when a sensitive action is pending. OpenAI rolled this out first on the Health plugin, where, according to OpenAI, more than 70 percent of users had already chosen this level themselves. End users find the switch under Settings → Plugins → individual plugin.

What this means for you as an admin: the workspace default from Ask permission remains the upper limit, and users cannot override it. But newly connected plugins no longer land on the strictest level automatically. In regulated environments, you should therefore deliberately set the workspace default to Any changes or tighter instead of relying on caution on the user side.

3.4 Microsoft Entra ID Tenant Consent

The seven Microsoft Apps (SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, Outlook Email, Outlook Calendar, Microsoft 365, Excel) need admin consent in the Entra Admin Center before the first user can connect. This is by far the most common stumbling block in DACH.

Procedure:

1. A test user from your workspace tries to connect a Microsoft App in ChatGPT. The attempt fails with the message “Need admin approval”. That is normal: Microsoft has thereby registered the ChatGPT service principal in your tenant.
2. The Microsoft admin goes to the Entra Admin Center → Enterprise Applications → searches for ChatGPT.
3. Clicks the application → Permissions → Grant admin consent for <Tenant>.
4. Confirms the requested Microsoft Graph scopes in the pop-up.
5. From now on, the OAuth connection works for all users in the tenant.

Schedule the Microsoft admin and the ChatGPT admin for the same session; it saves waiting time later. Official instructions with screenshots: help.openai.com/en/articles/9890865.

3.5 Developer Mode Toggle per Role

If you want to connect your own MCP servers (see Chapter 7), you have to enable Developer Mode. It is off by default because it allows users to add arbitrary URLs as MCP servers to their chat, which is a trust risk.

Where: Workspace Settings → Permissions & Roles → Developer Mode. Enable per role. Sensible for engineering roles, usually not for sales or marketing.

3.6 Compliance API and Audit Logs (Enterprise Only)

On the Enterprise plan you have access to the Compliance API, through which you can export all chat content, App connections and actions. For regulated industries (finance, healthcare, public sector) this is the basis for internal audits.

Where: Workspace Settings → Compliance. This is where you configure export targets (S3, GCS, Azure) and define retention. Details are in the official Enterprise Compliance Guide.

3.7 Skills Beta Toggle

Skills (see the distinction in 1.4) are off by default in Business and Enterprise. If you want to enable them, you will find the toggle under Workspace Settings → Features → Skills Beta. Recommendation: leave them off for now and wait for things to stabilize, unless you have a concrete use case.

3.8 Managing Plugins

Since the switch to the Plugin Directory (see 5.6), there is a second place alongside the Apps tab: Workspace Settings → Plugins. There you define per plugin whether it is Available to the entitled roles (members can install it themselves) or Installed (pre-installed, with no action required from members).

A plugin bundles Apps, skills and App Templates. When enabling it, you can release the underlying App directly from the plugin settings, or you continue to configure each App individually under Workspace Settings → Apps. Both routes lead to the same result, and the App-side controls (RBAC, Action Control, provider authorization) continue to apply unchanged.

Plugin sharing (Enterprise and Edu): teams can share locally built plugins with workspace members directly from the Codex app. Handy for internal workflow packages that you do not want to submit publicly.

Education plugins (August 2026): for ChatGPT Edu and ChatGPT for Teachers, OpenAI has released three ready-made plugins, one each for college students, K-12 teachers and college instructors. They bundle role-specific skills, instructions and typical workflows such as lesson planning, syllabus updates and personalized learning support.

Plugin recommendations re-sorted (August 21, 2026): suggestions are now ranked by how often people actually keep using a plugin after installing it, rather than by raw install numbers. This applies on web and mobile; the desktop app is excluded. For your rollout this means: the list your members see is no longer stable. Refer to plugins by name in training materials instead of pointing to positions such as “the third one from the top”.

3.9 Sign in with ChatGPT in the Admin Console

For Sign in with ChatGPT (see 2.7) there are two levers. You will find them in the Global Admin Console under Access → External Access:

• Enable Sign in with ChatGPT for your organization: the master switch. If it is off, members can no longer use their ChatGPT account for external applications.
• Approved applications: an allowlist. When it is active, Sign in with ChatGPT only works for the applications you have approved individually.

Recommendation for regulated environments: turn the allowlist on and only add the services that are already in use and covered by contracts. Since workspaces without a policy are opted in by default, this is an active decision you have to make.

3.10 New Admin Controls for Work and Codex

For Enterprise and Edu workspaces, additional controls were added in July 2026:

• Work Local and Work Cloud controllable separately: you decide separately whether jobs may run locally on the device and whether they may run in the cloud.
• Fast mode defaults: a preset per workspace, with overrides for individual custom roles.
• Revised Roles and Permissions page: roles and permissions are grouped differently. If you can no longer find a familiar setting, it has usually just moved.
• Allow event-triggered scheduled tasks (new August 25, 2026): under Permissions & roles → Work you decide per role whether scheduled tasks may be triggered by events in connected Apps. In Enterprise, Edu and ChatGPT for Healthcare the setting is off by default; without approval, your people cannot create event-triggered tasks. What depends on it is covered in 6.5a.

3.10a Browser and Computer Use Controls (New September 3, 2026)

Enterprise and Edu admins get a much finer policy surface for what the supported desktop clients may do in the browser and in native programs. This is the admin answer to the gap described in 6.5: until now, your team could reach services via the browser login that you had never released as an App.

• Site rules: you set a default of Allow or Block and create exceptions. For an allowlist approach, set the default to Block and add the permitted sites one by one as Allow rules.
• Native App rules: allow or block individual macOS and Windows programs specifically. This is also how you control locally running plugins such as Apple Messages (see 5.7).
• Data paths: uploads, downloads, browser history, developer access and the import of data from another browser can each be restricted individually.
• Approvals: you control whether the automatic check runs, whether users may save approvals and how long a site approval remains valid.
• Switching off entirely: the in-app browser panel, browser use in the in-app browser, browser use via the Chrome extension and native computer use can each be disabled individually.

3.10b Teams, Workspace Connections and @ChatGPT in Slack and Teams (New September 29, 2026)

With the DevDay release of September 29, 2026, Business and Enterprise workspaces get new building blocks that tie directly into your App connections:

• Teams: Groups of colleagues inside the workspace that share Pages, Spaces and plugins. Team membership does not share personal chats or App connections. Who may create teams and manage team tasks is controlled by two dedicated workspace permissions.
• Workspace connections for teams (Business): Admins configure App connections for approved tools and recurring tasks, and a team owner enables eligible workspace connections for their team. Members then don't each have to connect the same provider account separately. Sharing a plugin and granting access to an App connection are two separate settings.
• Team tasks: Recurring tasks that run on a schedule or on a supported trigger (e.g. a new email or a new Slack message), using the team connections and without access to personal memories or chats. The connected provider account determines what the task can see and do. Tasks survive the departure of the person who created them; their connection rights may not.
• @ChatGPT in Slack and Microsoft Teams (Business, Enterprise, Edu): Usable via @-mention in channels, threads and DMs, including for members without their own ChatGPT license. Setup runs through the OpenAI admin console together with your Slack or Teams admin. With Selected channels only you first limit it to test channels; in Slack, @ChatGPT must also be invited to the channel. Before taking actions in connected Apps, @ChatGPT asks for approval.

3.11 Individual User Sync Is Being Switched Off (Enterprise and Edu)

In August 2026, OpenAI is ending individually authorized sync in Enterprise and Edu workspaces. Until now, every user could authorize a sync connection themselves so that ChatGPT indexed the content of that source in the background. Exactly this route is going away; in future, sync will run exclusively admin-managed or via plugin-based access.

Affected are the sources with a sync function, including Google Drive, SharePoint, GitHub, GitLab Issues, Azure Boards, Help Scout and Zoho Desk. Admin-managed sync is not affected and continues unchanged. Normal App usage in the chat is also untouched: @-queries, actions and OAuth connections work as before; only the independent background indexing by individual users is discontinued.

3.12 Order of Steps for a Clean Workspace Setup

1. Create the workspace, verify the domain, set up SSO with your IdP.
2. Grant Microsoft tenant consent if Microsoft 365 is in use.
3. Go through the Apps tab: enable the 5 to 10 central Apps for your team, release the rest selectively.
4. Decide per App: Allow all, read-only or Custom.
5. Set browser and computer use rules (default Block plus a short allowlist) so that App approval cannot be bypassed via the browser login (see 3.10a).
6. Go through the Plugins tab: decide which plugins are Available and which are Installed.
7. Set Sign in with ChatGPT deliberately: on, off or with an allowlist. Without a decision, it is on.
8. Consider Developer Mode: enable it only for engineering if custom MCP is planned.
9. Switch on audit logs, define retention.
10. Invite the first pilot users, gather their experience, then roll out.

Once your admin has enabled the App in the workspace list (and Microsoft tenant consent has been taken care of, if necessary), it's your turn. Connecting an App usually takes less than two minutes.

4.1 The Standard 5-Step Flow

The process is the same for all native and partner MCP Apps:

1. Open Settings. Click your profile picture at the bottom left → Settings → Apps (or go directly to chatgpt.com/settings/Apps).
2. Choose the App. Find the App you want in the list or via search. Click Connect.
3. Complete the OAuth flow. A browser pop-up opens the login page of the third-party system. With SSO, you land at your IdP first. Log in, confirm the scopes, and the pop-up closes.
4. Name the connection (optional). The default name is the App type. If you have several accounts (e.g. two Notion workspaces), a meaningful name helps. For Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Contacts, you can connect multiple accounts in parallel and use them in the same chat since August 28, 2026, see 5.2.
5. Done. The App appears with a green status in your Apps list and can be used in the chat right away.

Variant: installing a plugin from the Plugin Directory

Since July 9, 2026, many Apps come packaged as part of a plugin (see 5.6). Here is how to get there:

1. Open the Plugin Directory and search for a plugin that contains the App you want.
2. Open the details and click Connect, if that option is offered.
3. Complete login and authorization for the underlying App. This is the same OAuth flow as above.

Existing App connections keep working unchanged, you don't need to migrate anything. Plugins your admin has rolled out as Installed are there without any action on your part, and in some cases you cannot uninstall them yourself.

4.2 In-Chat Usage: Three Ways

You can use a connected App in the chat in three ways, depending on what you want to do:

Way 1: plus button in the composer

Click the + icon at the bottom left of the input field. A menu opens with options such as Files, Photos, More. Under More you'll find your connected Apps. Click, for example, Google Drive, pick a document, and it is added to your prompt as context.

Way 2: sidebar access

In some plans (Business/Enterprise), the App is also available as an entry in the left sidebar. Click it and you land in an App-specific view (e.g. a searchable Google Drive interface) from which you can pull content into a chat.

Way 3: @-tag in the chat

The fastest way in everyday use. Type @ directly in the prompt line, then pick the App name. Examples:

@Notion find the page "Roadmap Q3" in the workspace "Product" and summarize the to-dos.

@Slack list the last 10 messages in #sales-leads.

@Gmail draft a reply to the latest email from Marie, friendly, with a meeting proposal for next week.

@Linear create a new issue in the project "Onboarding": login error with SSO, Priority Medium.

For write actions, ChatGPT explicitly asks for confirmation before anything happens in the third-party system. This cannot be turned off, by design.

New since September 23, 2026: Apps by voice. Voice now supports plugins and connected Apps on web, iOS and Android. In ChatGPT Work you can create documents, presentations and spreadsheets by speaking while using your Apps, and unfinished Voice tasks can continue in text. Free and Go users can use Voice in Chat with the plugins their plan supports. Voice in Work requires both Voice and Work access.

4.2a Apps in Temporary Chats

The Temporary Chat used to be an App-free zone: no memory, no custom instructions, no Apps. Since August 27, 2026, you decide for yourself when starting the chat which of the two variants you want.

• Not personalized (still the default): no memory, no custom instructions and no plugins, and therefore no connected Apps either. The chat creates no new memories and does not show up in the history.
• Personalized (new): The chat may access your existing memories, your custom instructions and your plugins. That makes your connected Apps usable in the Temporary Chat, via @-tag just like in a normal chat. Existing memories are only read, no new ones are created as long as the chat stays temporary.
• Save afterwards: You can move a Temporary Chat into the history. It then becomes a normal chat and from that moment on follows your account settings for personalization and model improvement.

The hard limit: Whether a Temporary Chat is personalized is set only at the start. It cannot be switched afterwards, you have to open a new chat. Available on Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise, on web, desktop, iOS and Android.

4.3 Enabling an App in a Project

Projects are persistent workspaces in ChatGPT in which several threads share context, files and memory. You can enable an App per project so that all threads in the project have access to it.

Where: Open the project → Settings icon at the top right → Apps → select the connected App. From now on it is available in every chat thread of this project.

4.4 Reauth After a Scope Extension

When an App gets a new write scope or a new feature (see 2.4), your old connection usually keeps working, but only with the old scopes. To use the new features, you have to disconnect and reconnect:

1. Settings → Apps → the affected App.
2. Click Disconnect. Confirm.
3. Right after that, click Connect again. Go through the OAuth flow once more.
4. Pay attention on the scope confirmation screen: the new scopes appear there. Confirm.

Specific Apps for which this has been mandatory since March 27, 2026: Notion, Box, Linear, Dropbox. If you suddenly can't trigger write actions with these, reconnecting is the fix.

4.5 Four Common Error Classes

“Need admin approval” with Microsoft

Your Microsoft admin hasn't granted tenant consent in Entra yet. Send your IT admin the link from 3.4 or directly the official OpenAI Microsoft guide.

App not available in the list

Your admin hasn't enabled the App in the workspace (the default for Enterprise/Edu is off). Or you are in a user role that has no access according to RBAC. Request approval via your internal IT service desk or your ChatGPT admin.

App not available in the EU

Especially on Plus and Pro, there are numerous Apps that are not yet released in the EU/EEA. If the App is missing from your list even though OpenAI's marketing mentions it: usually an EU restriction. Check whether your plan (Business/Enterprise) shows it, or wait for the rollout.

“Reauthorize needed”

Token expired or scopes were extended. Disconnect + reconnect, done. Sometimes a click on the reauth banner is enough without disconnecting first.

4.6 Privacy Center: where your connected Apps become visible

Since September 21, 2026 ChatGPT has a Privacy Center. It gathers in one place what used to be spread across the settings: chat privacy, memory, personalization, data use, connected apps, and account security, each with a link to the setting that controls it. Important to understand: it is an overview, not a new switch. Your settings do not change because of it, and control still happens in the ChatGPT settings.

Where: on the web via the account menu → Help → Privacy Center, on mobile via Settings → Privacy Center. Rolled out for Free, Go, Plus, and Pro, and what becomes visible additionally depends on region and workspace settings. For managed Business and Enterprise workspaces it is therefore not an admin tool, the workspace view of App connections stays in the admin area from 3.1. In individual onboarding it is useful nonetheless, because the question “what have I actually connected?” is answered there in one click.

The catalog keeps growing: between December 2025 and May 2026 alone, more than 80 new partner MCP Apps were added. We group them by family and cover the Tier 1 Apps (the ones most relevant to mid-sized companies in DACH) with setup steps, while Tier 2 and consumer Apps get short overviews.

5.1 Microsoft Family

All Microsoft Apps run on OAuth via Microsoft Graph and require tenant consent in Entra ID once per workspace (see 3.4). Without this step, not a single Microsoft App works.

SharePoint

Searches and reads documents, pages, and list entries from your SharePoint sites. Returns citation links back to the original source in its answers.

• Auth: OAuth, tenant consent required.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → SharePoint → Connect → Microsoft login. Afterwards you automatically see only the sites you already have access to.
• In the chat: @SharePoint find the site "Sales 2026" and list its pages
• Pitfall: If you cannot see a SharePoint site in your browser, the App cannot see it either. That is not ChatGPT, that is your SharePoint permission.

OneDrive

Personal Microsoft storage. Search, read, cite.

• Auth: OAuth, tenant consent required.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → OneDrive → Connect.
• In the chat: @OneDrive show me all documents I edited last week
• Pitfall: OneDrive is often confused with SharePoint. OneDrive is personal, SharePoint is shared. For team documents, use SharePoint.

Microsoft Teams

Search channels and direct messages, send messages, retrieve meeting information.

• Auth: OAuth, tenant consent required.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Microsoft Teams → Connect.
• In the chat: @Teams what was discussed in the "Marketing" channel this week
• Pitfall: Sending to private channels and 1:1 chats requires stricter scopes than reading. On your first attempt to write, you may be asked to reauthenticate.

Outlook Email

Search, read, reply to, and send emails. Organize folders.

• Auth: OAuth, tenant consent required.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Outlook Email → Connect.
• In the chat: @Outlook draft a reply to the latest email from Marie and save it as a draft
• New June 2026: As with Gmail, you can now draft and send emails directly from the chat (confirmation before sending, web only, no attachments). Not yet rolled out in the EU/EEA, Switzerland, and the UK (see Chapter 8.1).
• Pitfall: Sending on behalf of others (shared mailbox) requires explicit SendAs rights in Exchange. Anyone without them can only send from their own address.

Outlook Calendar

Read, create, and move appointments, check availability.

• Auth: OAuth, tenant consent required.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Outlook Calendar → Connect.
• In the chat: @Outlook Calendar create a 30-minute meeting with Sarah next Wednesday at 10:30, title "Q2 Planning"
• Pitfall: When updating recurring appointments, sometimes only the single instance gets changed. For changes to the whole series, ask for that explicitly.

OneNote (beta, new September 3, 2026)

Find and summarize notes, collect decisions and action items from meeting notes, create or update notes through supported actions. Available in ChatGPT and Codex, as of September 2026 in beta.

• Auth: OAuth, tenant consent required. Each person connects their own Microsoft account; the App does not extend existing Microsoft permissions.
• Setup: Plugin Directory → OneNote → add → Microsoft login (see 4.1).
• In the chat: @OneNote collect the decisions and open items from the weekly check-in notes of the last four weeks
• Pitfall, notebook type: The App distinguishes between notebooks owned by your connected account, Microsoft 365 group notebooks, and notebooks on SharePoint sites. Notebooks that were privately shared with you may not show up at all. An empty result therefore does not necessarily mean the note does not exist; it may also be an unsupported notebook type.
• Pitfall, writing: Read access does not become write access. Before creating or changing anything, always name the notebook, section, and page explicitly, otherwise the note ends up somewhere other than intended. If the result is unclear, check the target notebook first before repeating the step, otherwise you will create the page twice.

5.2 Google Workspace

All Google Apps run on OAuth. Unlike Microsoft, no workspace-wide admin consent is needed. Each person connects their own Google account, and since late August 2026 several at the same time (see the box at the end of this chapter).

Google Drive

Search, read, and cite files. Answers include links back to the original document.

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Google Drive → Connect → Google login → confirm scopes.
• In the chat: @Drive show me all Docs I edited this week
• Pitfall: Shared Drives (formerly Team Drives) require your account to be a member. Files that are only shared via link often do not show up in the App's search.
• New actions 2026: The extended Google Drive actions are on by default in Business and off by default in Enterprise and Edu until an admin enables them under Workspace Settings → Apps → Google Drive → Manage actions.
• New August 13, 2026 · Drive in the Library: You can now see and search your Drive files and folders directly in the Library, including files others have shared with you. From the composer or via @-mention you pull a file into any chat without uploading it again, and you can select an entire folder and let ChatGPT work across its files. Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides stay open next to the thread while you have it summarize, analyze, compare, or build something new from them, and changes can be written straight back into the file. Rolled out for Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, Edu, and Healthcare, initially on the web only; mobile has been announced.

Gmail

Search, read, reply to, and send emails, manage labels.

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Gmail → Connect.
• In the chat: @Gmail find emails from "notifications@stripe.com" with the status "failed"
• New June 2026: You can now draft and send emails directly from the chat (with a confirmation step before sending) without switching to Gmail. Currently web only and without file attachments. As of June 2026, direct sending has not yet been rolled out in the EU/EEA, Switzerland, and the UK (see Chapter 8.1).
• Pitfall: When you refer to a specific thread, copy the subject line into your instruction, otherwise the search sometimes finds the wrong one.

Google Calendar

Read and create appointments, check availability, with or without a Meet link.

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Google Calendar → Connect.
• In the chat: @Calendar when do I have two consecutive free hours next week
• Pitfall: Availability only takes your primary calendar into account. If you keep separate calendars (e.g. focus time), you have to mention them explicitly.

Google Contacts

Search the address book, use it as a source when creating appointments or emails.

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Google Contacts → Connect.
• In the chat: @Google Contacts find the email address of Marie Müller

Extended on September 17, 2026: The principle no longer applies only to the three Google Apps, but to most plugins, and on all plans across web, mobile, and desktop. That removes the previous restriction to Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise, so Free and Go are now included too. The release note does not name a list of supported plugins, though. So whether a second Outlook mailbox or a second Slack workspace can sit beside the first is best checked directly on the connection in question.

New since September 17, 2026: ChatGPT for Word (GA). The sidebar now also sits in Microsoft Word: draft from notes, summarize a document, revise selected passages, and adjust headings and formatting. Word runs through the same Microsoft add-in as Excel and PowerPoint and is available on all plans, including Free. For Business, Enterprise, and Edu: admins turn Word access on or off in the ChatGPT admin console, and the Microsoft 365 admin additionally has to allow the ChatGPT add-in in the tenant. From October 1, 2026 Word is enabled by default, so anyone who does not want that has to set the switch beforehand.

5.3 Knowledge & Collaboration

Slack

Search channels and DMs, send messages, summarize threads.

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Slack → Connect → select the Slack workspace → confirm permissions.
• In the chat: @Slack summarize the #marketing-launch thread from the last two days
• Pitfall: You only see private channels and DMs if your Slack account is a member of those channels. For active posting, the ChatGPT bot must be invited to the channel.

Notion

Search, read, create, and update pages and databases. Since March 2026 with extended write scopes (reauth required).

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Notion → Connect → Notion login → select workspace and pages.
• In the chat: @Notion create a new page in the database "Meeting Notes", title: "Workshop Sales Acquisition 2026"
• Pitfall: When connecting, Notion lets you choose precisely which pages the App may access. If you enable only individual pages, you will not see the rest, even if your own user account would have access. For a productive setup, we recommend sharing the entire workspace.
• Reauth required: If you connected Notion before March 27, 2026: disconnect once and reconnect, otherwise the new write actions will not work.

Atlassian Rovo (Jira, Confluence, Bitbucket)

Since the Rovo era, Atlassian has placed its three main products under one shared App umbrella. In ChatGPT, Atlassian Rovo appears as a single App with access to all three.

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Atlassian Rovo → Connect → Atlassian login → select site.
• In the chat: @Atlassian find all open bugs in the Jira project "CRM" with priority High
• Pitfall: If you have several Atlassian sites, you have to pick the right one when connecting. Switching is only possible via disconnect + reconnect.

Linear

Issues, projects, cycles. Read and write. Since March 2026 with write scopes (reauth required).

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Linear → Connect.
• In the chat: @Linear create a new issue in the team "Backend": login bug with SSO, priority High

GitHub

Search repos, issues, PRs, and commits. Write access depending on scope.

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → GitHub → Connect → enable organizations.
• In the chat: @GitHub show me all open PRs in the repo "web-app" that have had no review for three days
• Pitfall: For organizations with a SAML restriction, the org admin must explicitly approve ChatGPT's OAuth access. Otherwise ChatGPT does not see the org at all.

5.4 Storage

Dropbox

Search, read, and upload files. Since March 2026 with extended write scopes (reauth required).

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Dropbox → Connect.
• In the chat: @Dropbox save this answer as a Markdown file in the folder "/Notes/ChatGPT"

Box

Enterprise content management with a strong focus on compliance. Since March 2026 with write scopes (reauth required).

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Box → Connect.
• In the chat: @Box find all files in the folder "Contracts 2026" with the keyword "Renewal"

5.5 CRM, Sales and Project Management

HubSpot

Contacts, companies, deals, tickets. Read, search, create, update.

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → HubSpot → Connect → HubSpot account login → confirm scopes.
• In the chat: @HubSpot find deals in stage "Negotiation" with a close date this month
• Pitfall: Custom properties are fully retrievable but must be named precisely. If you look up the internal property name under Properties in your HubSpot setup, you will have an easier time.

Salesforce (via Workspace Agents)

Salesforce is available as a native App, but the full range of functions including reports and SOQL queries works particularly well through a Workspace Agent with a Salesforce connector. See Chapter 6.

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Salesforce → Connect → Salesforce login. For sandbox orgs, explicitly select Sandbox.
• In the chat: @Salesforce show me all open opportunities in the DACH pipeline with a volume above 100k
• Pitfall: The connection inherits your Salesforce profile permissions. Sandbox users often forget to pick the sandbox variant when connecting and end up on the production org.

Asana

Tasks, projects, teams. Actions such as creating tickets, changing status, adding comments.

• Auth: OAuth.
• Setup: Settings → Apps → Asana → Connect.
• In the chat: @Asana show me all tasks in the project "Website Relaunch" that are overdue

Zendesk (beta, new September 3, 2026)

Go through support tickets and customer history, find matching knowledge and prepare replies. Available in ChatGPT and Codex, as of September 2026 in beta.

• Auth: OAuth. Each person connects their own Zendesk account and afterwards sees exactly the tickets they also see in Zendesk.
• Setup: Plugin Directory → Zendesk → add → Zendesk login (see 4.1).
• In the chat: @Zendesk summarize the open tickets from customer Müller over the last 30 days and draft a reply to the oldest one
• Important limit: Preparing a reply is not the same as sending it. Sending is a separate step that requires approval and depends on the supported actions in Zendesk. Plan a firm review by the support team instead of waving drafts through.
• Positioning: Zendesk is thus the third service desk App alongside Help Scout and Zoho Desk (see below). As a source for Company Knowledge, Zendesk has been around for a while, see 6.2.

More work management and service Apps

OpenAI has expanded the catalog with a series of Apps from project, product and service management. Available in Business, Enterprise and Edu:

They target knowledge-heavy questions, i.e. strategy summaries, policy lookups and internal research across several systems. Note the different defaults:

• Business: enabled by default. Admins and owners can switch off individual Apps at any time under Workspace Settings → Connectors.
• Enterprise and Edu: disabled by default. Admins and owners enable individual Apps deliberately and additionally control access via RBAC (see 3.2).

End users then connect the approved Apps as usual under Settings → Apps & Connectors.

5.6 MCP Partner Connectors

In December 2025, OpenAI opened the App Directory so that external providers can offer their MCP servers as curated Apps. Since then, more than 80 partner Apps have been added. Available in Plus, Pro, Business and above. The most important categories:

You will find the complete list in the official Plugin Directory (called the “App Directory” until July 9, 2026). New ones are added every week.

5.7 Consumer Apps with Widget UI

With the Apps SDK, a whole wave of consumer Apps that render their own widgets in the chat arrived in the Directory in mid-December 2025. Mostly not central for B2B workflows in DACH, but good to know they exist. Quick overview:

• Travel & mobility: Booking, Expedia, TripAdvisor, AllTrails
• Real estate: Zillow
• Audio & entertainment: Spotify, Apple Music, Peloton
• Creative tools: Canva, Adobe Express, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Figma
• Learning: Coursera, Khan Academy
• Food & delivery: DoorDash, Instacart, Target, Thumbtack
• Marketing & coding: Mailchimp, Replit
• Restaurant reservations (new August 10, 2026, US and Canada only): ChatGPT finds restaurants, checks available time slots and starts the booking directly in the chat, via OpenTable, Resy and Yelp. Yelp additionally covers waitlists, i.e. joining the waiting list at restaurants that use Yelp Guest Manager. You state location, time, party size and preferences in the chat and refine the selection in the conversation. Limit: Changing and canceling a booking is not possible in the chat; that still goes through the respective provider. Not currently usable in DACH (see 8.1).
• Finance (preview, US only, Plus & Pro): Since May 2026, ChatGPT connects bank and brokerage accounts via the Plaid service (12,000+ institutions such as Chase, Fidelity, Amex) for spending analysis, portfolio overview and financial planning. Since late June 2026, no longer available only for Pro but also for Plus users (US, web and iOS; on Android for Plus and Pro). Still US-only, not yet relevant for DACH B2B.
• Healthcare Public Data (new September 1, 2026, US only): A plugin that bundles nine read-only Apps on official public health sources, including PubMed (biomedical research), ClinicalTrials.gov (clinical trials), RxNorm and DailyMed (drug identifiers and prescribing information) and CMS Coverage (Medicare reimbursement rules). This lets you research trial eligibility, drug identifiers or reimbursement status in one step instead of in five databases one after another. The target group is eligible clinicians in the US. It is installed via the Plugin Directory, after which you connect the desired Apps individually. Limits: read-only, and patient data explicitly does not belong in these searches. On the same day, the Epic integration for ChatGPT Health was added, which lets clinicians read authorized patient data from the EHR, likewise read-only and US only. Neither is usable in DACH (see 8.1).
• Apple Messages (new August 20, 2026, Apple silicon Macs only): A plugin that runs locally on the Mac and can read, search, summarize and reply to iMessage, SMS and RCS conversations, right up to analyzing the archive (who you write to about what). It controls the Messages app via AppleScript and the macOS accessibility features. Available in the macOS desktop app for ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work and Codex, on all plans down to the Free tier. Intel Macs are not supported. macOS permissions are required: Full Disk Access, access to contact names and Automation. Before sending, ChatGPT asks by default for approval of text and recipient. The message data stays locally on the device and does not travel to OpenAI servers; whatever you have processed from the chat is subject to normal retention.
• Credit score via Experian (new September 21, 2026, US only, Plus & Pro): In the Finances area you connect your Experian credit report together with the VantageScore 3.0 on the 300 to 850 scale. Score and report update once a month, ChatGPT flags changes and explains what is affecting the score. Checking through the connection is a soft inquiry and does not push the score down. The Experian connection is independent of the Plaid account connections, so you can use it without a single connected account. On disconnect, Experian stops sharing and OpenAI deletes the underlying report data within 30 days.

5.8 Data Plugin · Business Data in the Chat (New September 10, 2026)

The Data plugin is the first App bundle that connects not documents or tickets but your databases and BI systems. You ask a business question, have a change investigated or an interactive dashboard built, and refine, verify and publish the result in the same conversation through follow-up questions. Available in ChatGPT Work and Codex.

@Data why did revenue in DACH drop 12 percent in August compared to July? Build me a dashboard by product line from that.

Setup: Plugin Directory → add Data, then connect and authorize the desired sources one by one (see 4.1).

A limit you should plan for: A dashboard that emerges from a conversation only becomes a report once someone has verified the underlying query. The plugin offers validation in the dialog, but it does not happen by itself. Treat the results like an analyst's draft, not like a figure from the data warehouse.

5.9 Meetings and Code Review Plugins (New September 29, 2026)

Meetings

The Meetings plugin takes notes on what is said in a meeting and saves personalized summaries with action items in ChatGPT Space. It works for online calls and in-person conversations, without a bot joining the call.

• Availability: Beta in the ChatGPT desktop app for macOS, for Pro and Business. Enterprise is coming; iOS, Android and Windows have been announced.
• Audio: The plugin uses your Mac's microphone and system audio and streams both to OpenAI. Once the notes are ready, the audio is deleted from your Mac and from OpenAI's servers and cannot be replayed.

Code Review

The Code Review plugin analyzes pull requests via Codex and is available in the supported desktop and web experiences. For teams that already have GitHub connected as an App, it is the shortest route to a second look at a PR. It does not replace review by a human.

Once Apps are connected, there are four ways to put their content to productive use. The choice determines whether you see live data or focused research, whether an agent works autonomously or a chat answers synchronously, and how much configuration and cost overhead you take on.

6.1 Comparison Table

6.2 Company Knowledge · Live Search Across All Sources

Company Knowledge has been live since October 2025, exclusively for Business, Enterprise and Edu. It searches simultaneously across all of a person's connected sources and returns hits without you having to specify beforehand where to search. Every hit comes with a citation that links back to the original document.

Currently supported sources: Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, Notion, Confluence (via Atlassian Rovo), Gmail, Outlook Email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, Linear, Box, Dropbox, Intercom, GitHub, HubSpot, Zendesk, Azure DevOps, Asana, GitLab Issues and ClickUp. The list grows with the App catalog; most recently the work management Apps from 5.5 have been added.

Condition: Your own active connection per source. What you have not connected will not be found.

Activation: The chat composer shows a Company Knowledge toggle. Switch it on and ChatGPT uses multi-source search for this thread. In a Project you can enable Company Knowledge as the default.

6.3 Deep Research with Apps

Deep Research has been available since early 2025 and can be extended with App sources since November 2025. The difference from a normal chat: instead of a single answer, ChatGPT builds a multi-step research process, goes through sources in several iterations, reviews intermediate results, and finally produces a structured report with citation links to all sources used.

When it makes sense:

• Complex knowledge synthesis: “How have our pricing discussions with ACME developed over the last 6 months? Search email, Slack and Notion.”
• Market observation with internal plus public sources: “Which creative automation trends do we see in our Salesforce notes and in industry reports?”
• Escalation preparation: “Collect all mentions of issue #1234 in Linear, GitHub threads and the #engineering Slack channel.”

Activation: Switch to Deep Research mode in the chat composer. The research runs asynchronously; you receive the finished report after 5 to 15 minutes.

6.4 Workspace Agents

Workspace Agents have been available since April 22, 2026, generally available (GA) since July 6, 2026 in Business, Enterprise and Edu, and replace Custom GPTs in the business context. Since the retirement announcement of September 11, 2026 this is no longer a de facto replacement but a decided one (see 8.2), although the official migration path leads into plugins and not into Workspace Agents. They are Codex-powered, run asynchronously, are persistent and have access to 60+ connectors. Available for Business, Enterprise, Edu and Teachers, not for Plus/Pro.

What sets them apart from Custom GPTs?

• Asynchronous: A Workspace Agent does not have to be active in the chat. You give it a task, it works in the background and reports back when it is done.
• Persistent: Memory, history and the connection set are retained across sessions.
• Slack bridge: An agent can work directly in Slack channels without you being in ChatGPT.
• 60+ connectors: Practically the entire App ecosystem including the Tier 1 Apps and the most important partner MCPs.

Pricing

Typical use cases

• Sales research agent: receives a company as input, searches Salesforce, HubSpot, LinkedIn data via MCP and Notion briefings, and delivers an account memo.
• Support triage agent: runs in Slack, sees bug reports, queries Linear, duplicates them as issues and replies in the Slack thread.
• Reporting agent: runs weekly, queries Stripe, Amplitude and HubSpot, and builds a report in the Notion workspace.

6.5 ChatGPT Work

On July 9, 2026, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Work together with the GPT-5.6 family: an agent inside ChatGPT that gathers context across your connected Apps and local files, breaks a task into steps and returns finished sheets, slides, docs and web apps at the end. In character, it is Codex for knowledge work with access to local files.

• New desktop app: Work runs most smoothly in the new ChatGPT desktop app (macOS and Windows), which unites chat, Work and Codex. Local file access only works there.
• Scheduled tasks: Tasks can be scheduled once, recurring or as monitoring for changes. Since August 25, 2026, also event-triggered via your connected Apps, see 6.5a.
• Login on websites without an App (new August 25, 2026): If there is no App for a service, the Work browser can complete the task directly on the website and displays the login form for that purpose. You enter the credentials; the model does not see them and they are not stored. The signed-in session persists for later tasks; you can delete it per website or entirely under Settings → Cloud browser. The release notes mention Plus and Pro, several press reports additionally Business; the picture is not yet clear here. From a governance perspective, this is a route around your App approvals: what you do not allow as an App can still happen via browser login. Since September 3, 2026 there are dedicated admin rules for this, see 3.10a.
• Governance: The Enterprise governance model also applies on the desktop, including admin control over the agents' network access and Auto-Review of important actions before execution.
• Availability: Rollout first to Enterprise and Edu (two-week preview with opt-out before automatic activation), then Pro and Business. On the desktop for all plans.

6.5a Event-Triggered Scheduled Tasks · Apps as Triggers

Since August 25, 2026, a scheduled task no longer has to be tied to a time of day. Instead, it can start when something happens in a connected App. This changes the role of your Apps: they are no longer just a source on demand, but the trigger of a run.

Requirements and limits:

• Connect the App first: The respective Gmail, Slack or GitHub account must be connected and authorized under Settings → Apps. In managed workspaces this additionally depends on the admin approvals from Chapter 3.
• Slack needs an extra step: @ChatGPT must be added to every channel that is to be monitored. Without it, the trigger does not fire.
• Plans: Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, Edu and ChatGPT for Healthcare. Free stays with purely time-based tasks, now with up to three active tasks and flexible daily repetition.
• Web and mobile only: Event-triggered tasks do not exist in the desktop app, in the Codex CLI or in the IDE extensions.
• Rate limits: A maximum of 30 runs per hour and 720 per day across all your event-triggered tasks combined.
• Batching: If several matching events arrive in quick succession, ChatGPT may combine them into a single run. You can see pending events in the Scheduled area and have them processed manually there.
• Sharing tasks (all plans): Scheduled tasks can be passed on. Recipients get their own copy, adapt it and connect their own accounts. A shared task therefore does not carry the sender's App access with it.

6.6 Apps in Projects

Projects (40-file limit + Apps can be enabled) are a fourth layer on which you can bundle Apps. Within a Project, every thread has access to the enabled Apps and the uploaded files.

Limits:

• A maximum of 40 files per Project.
• Apps are enabled per Project, not enforced workspace-wide.
• Custom MCPs are currently partly not visible in Projects (see 4.3).
• New August 14, 2026: A Project's memory setting can now be changed after creation as well, between Default (the Project sees the general memory context) and Project-only (the context stays within the Project). Previously the choice was fixed at creation. For App-heavy Projects with sensitive sources, Project-only is the conservative setting.

6.7 Decision Table

Not everything you want to connect exists as a native App from OpenAI or as a curated partner MCP App in the Directory. For those cases there is the custom MCP route.

7.1 What MCP Is

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is an open standard, originally published by Anthropic in November 2024, that has since gained industry-wide acceptance. OpenAI adopted MCP in December 2025 and released the Apps SDK, which is built on MCP, at the same time.

In practical terms: instead of every AI vendor building its own integrations for every tool, every platform talks to every MCP server over the same protocol. An MCP server that works with Claude usually also works with ChatGPT, provided both sides support the necessary features.

For you this means: if there is neither a native App nor a partner MCP App in the Directory, you can still connect, via your own or a community MCP server.

7.2 Connecting an MCP Partner Connector

For MCP servers that are not in the official App Directory but come from a trustworthy provider, the route is Add MCP:

1. Settings → Apps → Add MCP (available from the Plus plan; in an admin workspace possibly still restricted by Developer Mode).
2. Enter the URL of the MCP server.
3. Choose the auth method (OAuth or API key, as described by the server).
4. The connection is immediately usable like any other App.

7.3 Custom MCP via Developer Mode

For internal services you have built yourself: you write an MCP server (Python, TypeScript, Go), host it and connect it in ChatGPT. Prerequisite: Developer Mode is enabled for your role (see 3.5).

1. Workspace Settings → Permissions & Roles → enable Developer Mode (by an admin).
2. End user: Settings → Apps → Add MCP → enter your own server URL.
3. Auth according to your own server configuration.

7.3a Site Tools · WebMCP in the Desktop Browser (New August 25, 2026)

Until now the rule was: anyone who wants to connect a system needs a connection, i.e. a native App, a partner connector or their own MCP server. Site Tools break with this rule. A website can offer its own actions directly in the browser via WebMCP, and ChatGPT Work and Codex find and use them without anything having been connected beforehand. Examples are actions such as “jump to this section” or “insert a comment here” in a document editor.

Where it runs: exclusively in the built-in browser of the desktop app. As soon as a page offers tools, an arrow appears in the address bar, and there you can see per tool whether it only reads or also makes changes. It does not work via the Chrome extension, embedded content (iframes) brings no tools with it, and one page's capabilities do not carry over to the next.

Prerequisites: a supported model (GPT-5.6 Sol or Terra; with Luna the feature is off), a supported account and a WebMCP-capable page. Six partners were on board at launch: Google Chrome, Cloudflare, Shopify, Vercel, Render and Netlify.

7.4 App Templates for Workspace Apps (Business)

New in the Business plan: admins and owners can use App Templates to create workspace-specific Apps without configuring an MCP server from scratch. The template guides you through the provider-specific setup, i.e. OAuth credentials, callback URLs, webhook details, the managed MCP server URL and workspace access control, before the App is published for members.

Available templates:

• GitHub Enterprise: also for self-hosted repos (GitHub Enterprise Server).
• Snowflake: guided access to the workspace's data cloud.
• Databricks: connection to your own lakehouse/SQL environment.

Practical for data and engineering teams that want a curated, admin-approved connection instead of having every end user enter an MCP server themselves.

7.5 Apps SDK Quickstart

If you want to publish your own App in the App Directory (e.g. for a product you sell B2B), use the official Apps SDK. The documentation lives at developers.openai.com/apps-sdk.

Quickstart in bullet points:

• Build the MCP server in Python or TypeScript, implement OAuth 2.1 with PKCE.
• New August 21, 2026: If your protected resource and your OAuth metadata point to the same authorization server, you can use ChatGPT's stable OAuth callback instead of maintaining changing redirect URIs. Apps with Client ID Metadata Documents (CIMD) additionally get a standardized client ID endpoint. The prerequisite is that your authorization server supports issuer identification according to RFC 9207.
• Optional: ship a widget UI so your App renders as an interactive element in the chat. Since August 21, 2026 this interactive content is streamed progressively, i.e. it appears step by step instead of all at once after generation is complete. For your widget design this means: it must remain readable even when only half filled.
• Register the App in the OpenAI Developer Dashboard and submit it for review.
• Since December 17, 2025 the App Directory has been open to third-party developer submissions. Review time is 2 to 4 weeks depending on complexity and workload.

Examples and references: platform.openai.com/docs/mcp and the official Apps SDK examples repo on GitHub.

7.5a Plugin Extensions and MCP Events (New September 29, 2026)

Since DevDay on September 29, 2026, plugins can provide far more than tools in the chat. With plugin extensions, a plugin gets its own home in the sidebar, interactive panels alongside the conversation, and viewers or editors for the file formats of the respective product. Users can work directly in the App, mention individual items in a prompt, open and edit supported files, and use forms or plugin settings. On top of that comes a redesigned Plugin Creator with clearer feedback while building.

MCP Events: ChatGPT supports the proposed MCP Events specification (protocol version 2026-07-28) on all plans. Supported plugins can use it to start an automation when something changes in a connected App, for example a summary as soon as new information arrives in a monitored channel. This extends the event-triggered tasks from 6.5a from a few native Apps to every plugin whose MCP server offers events. What to keep in mind for your own server:

• Webhook only: ChatGPT calls events/subscribe with the event name, filters and a webhook destination, and delivers exclusively via webhook with a signed challenge. ChatGPT does not support polling, streaming or the control messages gap and terminated.
• The TTL is your revocation window: A subscription is only authorized when it is created. Because ChatGPT doesn't accept terminated, the client only notices revoked access when the refresh fails. Grant short, finite TTLs, refuse ttlMs: null, and re-check permissions on every delivery.
• Lean payloads, authorization at action time: Send only a summary in the event and let read tools fetch the details. Receiving an event is not permission to act, so re-authorize write actions when they are executed.
• Wire up offboarding: Index subscriptions per user and delete them on deprovisioning (e.g. via SCIM); otherwise events keep flowing for people who have left.

Hosting plugins on ChatGPT Sites: You can host an MCP server in a new or existing ChatGPT Site, for example a team handbook with search tools, and have ChatGPT build a plugin from it. This works on all plans. In Business and Enterprise workspaces, admins first have to enable the permissions to publish Sites and share plugins. Pro and personal accounts currently can't share Site-hosted plugins with others. Anyone using a shared Site plugin works with their own connected data and permissions.

7.6 Security Warning for Custom MCPs

The most common questions from day-to-day setup work, plus the sources that keep you up to date.

8.1 EU/EEA Status as of October 2026

OpenAI rolls out App features worldwide at different speeds. Current status:

• Plus and Pro in the EU/EEA: Noticeably reduced App set. Many consumer Apps (Booking, Spotify, Canva widgets) are missing, some native Apps (e.g. SharePoint, Notion) are available, others arrive with a delay.
• Business, Enterprise, Edu in the EU/EEA: Practically all native Apps and partner MCPs available, hardly any restrictions. Workspace Agents and Company Knowledge without restriction.
• Sending email from the chat (new June 2026): Drafting and sending emails directly from the chat via Gmail and Outlook is, as of June 2026, not yet available in the EU/EEA, Switzerland and the UK. Reading, searching and saving as a draft continue to work, only the final send step is missing in these regions.
• Restaurant reservations (new August 10, 2026): Booking restaurant tables and waitlists via OpenTable, Resy and Yelp covers only the US and Canada as of August 2026. There is no equivalent coverage in DACH, not even through a Business workspace, because the limitation depends on the providers' restaurant inventory, not on the plan.
• Computer History (new August 13, 2026; EU/EEA, Switzerland and UK from August 20, 2026): An opt-in feature of the macOS desktop app that records selected App and website activity and makes it available as a searchable timeline and as memories for ChatGPT and Codex. It is off by default, requires memories to be enabled, and in Business and Enterprise it must first be approved by the admin before a person can switch it on themselves under Settings → Integrations in the Mac app. Available for Pro, Business and Enterprise. For DACH, this is the point where a works agreement should be in place before you grant the approval.
• Healthcare Apps (new September 1, 2026): The Healthcare Public Data plugin with its nine Apps on public health sources and the Epic integration for ChatGPT Health are limited to the US and to eligible clinicians. As of September 2026 there is no counterpart in DACH, not even through a Business workspace, because the connected sources themselves are US registries.
• Credit score connection (new September 21, 2026): The Experian integration in Finances is limited to the US and to Plus and Pro. There is no equivalent in the DACH region. Do not confuse this with the UK: since August 20, 2026 there is a separate Experian app there that lets UK users retrieve their personal Experian score in the chat, with an earlier stage offering anonymized comparison values since March 2026. The UK offering does not transfer to the EU/EEA.
• Dots (new September 29, 2026): The always-on agents powered by GPT-6 Astra launch for eligible Pro and Business Premium users aged 18 and older, but explicitly not in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the UK. In Enterprise, Dots are a beta and off by default.
• VPN workarounds: VPN tricks for accessing US Apps in Plus/Pro are circulating. Disclaimer: this violates OpenAI's terms of service and can lead to account suspension. For companies, the clean solution is a Business workspace.

8.2 Custom GPTs are being retired: migration into plugins

On September 11, 2026 OpenAI announced that it will retire Custom GPTs across all plans. The migration target is not Workspace Agents but plugins, that is the bundle of reusable instructions and connected apps from 5.6. This announcement overturns two assumptions that were widespread until then: that there was no hard sunset date, and that Plus and Pro would keep their Custom GPTs indefinitely.

What the migration carries over:

• The GPT’s instructions become a skill inside the new plugin.
• The knowledge files move into the plugin as reference files.
• The GPT’s connected apps are added to the plugin as apps.

What does not carry over, and this is where the work is:

• Custom actions do not transfer. Every GPT that called an external API needs that integration rebuilt, either through a supported App or through your own MCP server (see 7.3). Plan real development time for it, not a click.
• The selected model does not carry over, the plugin runs on a current model.
• Conversation starters and previous chats may not be copied.

Who may migrate: the GPT’s creator or a workspace admin, once migration is available in the workspace and plugins are enabled. The GPT has to be published, drafts cannot be migrated directly, and publishing here does not mean sharing publicly. After migration the original GPT becomes read-only and cannot be deleted until retirement. Test the result before you hand it on: a migrated plugin does not necessarily answer the way the GPT did.

What this means for you: Draw up an inventory of your Custom GPTs now, sorted by owner and by whether custom actions are involved. Only the GPTs with actions are a real effort item, everything else is checking and sharpening. The owner view matters: only the creator or an admin can migrate, and whoever has left the company migrates nothing. Workspace Agents are untouched by all of this and remain the means for agentic workflows, while plugins become the home of reusable instructions.

8.3 Workspace Agents Pricing: Credit-Based Since July 6, 2026

The free phase (research preview) has ended: Since July 6, 2026, Workspace Agents are credit-based and generally available (GA). What is known:

• Token-based credit model: credits per million input, cached input and output tokens.
• A typical agent run with GPT-5.5 comes to 5 to 25 credits per end-to-end run according to the rate card, depending on model choice, number of tools and research depth.
• Credits are billed through the workspace account, separately from the standard seat price.
• Exception: Runs triggered outside ChatGPT (e.g. agent replies in Slack) remain in the free preview for now.
• Cost control: Spend Controls in the Admin Console cap agentic consumption per team. Keep in mind that ChatGPT Work, ChatGPT for Excel/PowerPoint and Workspace Agents share the same consumption pool.

8.4 Common Problems in Day-to-Day Setup

“Reauth needed” with Notion, Box, Linear or Dropbox

A consequence of the scope expansion of March 27, 2026. Disconnect, reconnect, confirm the new scopes. See 4.4.

Custom MCP not visible in a Project

Known bug, fix announced. Workaround: use it outside Projects or enable it individually in the thread settings. See 4.3.

“Need admin approval” with Microsoft Apps

Tenant consent in Entra ID is missing. You need your Microsoft admin for this. See 3.4.

App missing from the App list

Not enabled in the workspace, or RBAC excludes your role, or EU restriction (in Plus/Pro). See 4.5.

“Sign in with ChatGPT” does not appear at the partner

Either the main switch in the workspace is off, or an allow list is active and the service is not on it. Both sit in the Global Admin Console under Access → External Access. See 3.9.

Plugin not visible on mobile or in the IDE

Not a bug but the current availability: plugins only run in ChatGPT Work (web), in the desktop app and in the Codex CLI. See 3.8.

Company Knowledge suddenly no longer finds content (Enterprise and Edu)

Very likely a consequence of the individual sync shutdown on August 14, 2026. The affected source has to be set up again admin-managed, there is no automatic migration path. See 3.11.

OAuth errors in nested SSO setups

If your IdP sits between ChatGPT and the third-party system, redirect loops can occur. Check whether the ChatGPT app is registered correctly in your IdP and whether the redirect URL matches exactly.

8.5 Where to Find Updates

1. OpenAI Help Center, release notes (consumer): help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453. The most important source for all feature changes.
2. ChatGPT Business release notes: help.openai.com/en/articles/11391654. Specifically for Business admins.
3. ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu release notes: help.openai.com/en/articles/10128477. Admin controls, roles, compliance topics.
4. ReleaseBot aggregator: releasebot.io/updates/openai/chatgpt. Fast aggregator that bundles updates from several OpenAI sources.
5. OpenAI News: openai.com/news. Main channel for major releases (Apps SDK, Workspace Agents, pricing changes).
6. DECAID Academy: We update this guide whenever there are major changes. The date is always in the footer.