Apps in ChatGPT

Apps in ChatGPT are third-party integrations that run inside a ChatGPT conversation and bring in a company's data, actions and interactive interface, such as a Zillow map of listings or a Canva slide deck. OpenAI introduced them at DevDay on October 6, 2025, together with the Apps SDK, which is built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

A user can call an app by name ('Spotify, make a playlist for Friday'), select it from the tools menu, or accept a suggestion when ChatGPT judges an app relevant to the conversation. The first time, ChatGPT asks the user to connect and shows what data may be shared. The launch partners were Booking.com, Canva, Coursera, Figma, Expedia, Spotify and Zillow. At launch, apps were not offered in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the UK.

How apps are built and listed

An app is an MCP server that exposes tools ChatGPT can call, plus optional UI components that render in the chat. OpenAI opened submissions on December 17, 2025: developers submit MCP connection details, test instructions, directory metadata and country availability, and approved apps are listed in the directory. In January 2026 the MCP project published MCP Apps, its first official extension, which standardizes interactive UIs based on the Apps SDK and the open-source MCP-UI project. ChatGPT, Claude, Goose and Visual Studio Code support it, so one interface can run in several hosts, and OpenAI's quickstart now recommends building on MCP Apps and adding ChatGPT-specific window.openai features only where needed.

The packaging has since changed. On July 9, 2026 OpenAI migrated the app directory into a Plugin directory at chatgpt.com/plugins. A plugin can bundle one or more apps with skills and templates. Apps remain the part that connects to outside data and actions, and existing connections kept working. At DevDay 2026 on September 29, OpenAI added plugin extensions (sidebar panels and file viewers), a Plugin Creator, support for the proposed MCP Events specification, and what it called improved ranking and recommendations for plugins in the directory and in conversations. OpenAI said in the same announcement that ChatGPT reaches 1.2 billion weekly users.

Availability depends on plan, region, workspace, role and model. Business, Enterprise and Edu admins control which apps are enabled, and by default ChatGPT asks before 'important actions' such as sending a message, deleting content or making a purchase.

Why it matters for AI visibility

Apps give a brand a second way into ChatGPT besides being cited in answers. When ChatGPT suggests your app or a user calls it, your own data and interface appear in the conversation instead of a summary of your website. Because OpenAI ranks and recommends plugins in conversations, an app's description, quality and usage start to work as a discovery signal inside ChatGPT, comparable to app store optimization. Apps also connect to agentic commerce: OpenAI said it would base app monetization on the Agentic Commerce Protocol, and its December 2025 guidelines let apps link out to the developer's site to complete purchases of physical goods.

For most brands an app does not replace ChatGPT optimization of their public content, because most product research still happens in ordinary answers. An app makes sense when users already want to do something with your product inside a conversation, such as search inventory, check an account or create a document. Scope the tools tightly, write precise tool descriptions (the model chooses tools from them, as with function calling), and measure connections, tool calls and outbound clicks. Promptwatch's own ChatGPT plugin is one example of this pattern. OpenAI's launch post and its help article on apps describe the user experience and current availability.