What Are ChatGPT Apps? Your 2026 Guide to Building & Monetizing ChatGPT Applications

OpenAI made waves in the Fall of 2025 when they announced that ChatGPT was opening up an app store. As of 2026, the program is still not fully rolled out, although a select number of ChatGPT apps are officially live. But, OpenAI did release their App SDK instructions, so any developer can start building and testing their ChatGPT app locally.

This article walks you through everything you need to know about ChatGPT apps – what they are, why they’re a game-changer, and how you can build your own.

What’s in This Guide?

What Are ChatGPT Apps?

ChatGPT apps are apps within the ChatGPT interface. You can ping a specific brand with a question, and rather than the answer coming from ChatGPT’s LLM servers, the brand responds within ChatGPT’s client. This makes it easy for you to interact and chat with services you already use, but through ChatGPT’s interface.

The apps work in two ways:

1. You can manually ping them with a specific shoutout within the message
2. You can activate the app in the app store, and ChatGPT will surface the brand when they think it would have a better response

Some examples include:

1. Want to know local housing prices? Asking ChatGPT will cause ChatGPT to bring Zillow into the conversation, and Zillow would show that data to you within the chat interface.
2. Want new shoes? Zappos will enter the chat, ask some follow-up questions, and give you some ideas.
3. Don’t want to open the Uber app? Order a car directly through ChatGPT.

That’s a ChatGPT app – it’s basically a mini-application that runs inside ChatGPT, complete with its own user interface and backend logic.

Why Should You Care About ChatGPT Apps?

This is bigger than most people realize. Here’s why:

For Users: Everything Gets Easier

Remember learning Photoshop? Or Excel? Or literally any complex software? With ChatGPT apps, you just… talk. Want to edit an image? Say what you want. Need to analyze data? Describe your goal. The app handles the complexity. Sure, OpenAI could build these features itself, but why do that when they can outsource the work. It doesn’t make sense for OpenAI to build a database of home values, for instance, but allowing Zillow to answer those questions - and keeping the user within the client - offers a ton of value to all parties involved (the user, the brand, and OpenAI).

For Businesses and Developers: A New Marketing and Revenue Channel

With 200+ million people using ChatGPT weekly, having an app within ChatGPT offers a novel distribution opening. Perhaps you are a Zillow-competitor but focused on…bungalows. ChatGPT may of course still recommend Zillow if someone asks about bungalows near them, but with ChatGPT’s AI sentiment analysis of every question, it’s quite possible they recommend you instead. That’s a new distribution channel you didn’t have before.

When You Shouldn’t Care About Building a ChatGPT App

Not every business will see success with a ChatGPT app. Those include:

• Real-time anything – ChatGPT has latency, not built for split-second responses
• Video streaming – Same issue as above
• Pixel-perfect tools – Wrong interface for precision work
• Heavy processing – Video editing, 3D rendering won’t work well
• Regulated industries – Medical diagnosis, financial trading have liability issues

The key? ChatGPT apps excel at thoughtful, conversational interactions. If your app needs instant reactions or precise mouse control, it’s probably not the right platform.

How Do ChatGPT Apps Actually Work?

A ChatGPT app has two main parts:

Part 1: The Brain (MCP Server)

This is your backend – the logic that makes your app smart. It:

• Listens for commands from ChatGPT
• Processes data
• Connects to external services
• Returns structured responses

MCP is quickly becoming the infrastructure cornerstone of LLMs and AI. It’s like the HTTPS protocol before it for the Internet, or REST APIs for machine to machine communication. All LLMs are adopting it too - it’s not just OpenAI.

Part 2: The Face (UI Component)

This is what users see and interact with. It:

• Renders inside ChatGPT as an iframe
• Can be built with any web framework (React, Vue, vanilla JS)
• Communicates with ChatGPT through a special API
• Updates based on conversation context

There’s nothing crazy here - most of you have likely interacted with ChatGPT for years and understand the chatting interface. The main difference will be more interactive and visual formats. Zillow, for instance, will provide images of what’s nearby. Generally ChatGPT only responds with text (unless you ask for image generation), so this will enhance the ChatGPT client experience.

What Is This MCP Thing Everyone Keeps Mentioning?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the infrastructure that makes ChatGPT apps possible. It’s an open specification that lets LLM clients talk to external tools and resources. An MCP server exposes tools (with JSON Schema contracts) and can return structured results plus metadata— including embedded resources for inline HTML that the Apps SDK renders as your UI component. Apps SDK uses MCP as the backbone so the server, model, and UI stay in sync via a common wire format, auth, and metadata shape.

The Problem MCP Solves

Imagine trying to connect a thousand different tools to ChatGPT, so you can interface with each through ChatGPT chat. But each tool speaks a different language. Some want JSON, others want XML. Some use REST, others GraphQL. It would be chaos.

MCP says: “Everyone speaks the same language now.”

How MCP Works (The Restaurant Analogy)

Think of a restaurant:

• The menu (your tool definitions) tells customers what’s available
• The waiter (ChatGPT) takes orders and explains dishes
• The kitchen (your MCP server) prepares the food
• The plate (structured content) presents the result
• The table setting (your UI) provides the experience

MCP standardizes how all these parts communicate. The waiter always knows how to talk to the kitchen, no matter what cuisine they’re serving.

Why Apps SDK Standardizes on MCP

• Discovery integration: Tool metadata is consumed the same way as first-party connectors, helping ranking and launcher UX.
• Conversation awareness: Structured content and component state can be revisited; the model can reuse IDs in follow-ups.
• Multiclient support: One spec works on ChatGPT web and mobile without custom client code.
• Extensible auth: Supports protected resources, OAuth 2.1 flows, and dynamic client registration.

Why Developers Love MCP

Getting Deeper with MCP

• Read the Model Context Protocol spec.
• Use the official SDKs: Python SDK (includes FastMCP) and TypeScript.
• Debug locally with MCP Inspector before shipping.
• Once comfortable with the primitives, follow the Apps SDK “Set up your server” guide to wire everything together.

How Should I Design My ChatGPT App UI?

ChatGPT apps should feel native to the conversation: concise, action-oriented, and fast. Build lightweight, contextual widgets—not full web pages.

Best Practices and Principles

• Conversational & simple: One clear action/outcome; keep copy scannable.
• Intelligent: Use conversation context; responses should feel relevant.
• Responsive & accessible: Fast to render; WCAG-conscious; avoid friction.
• Good use cases: Booking/ordering/status checks/availability/quick lookups with a clear CTA.
• Poor use cases: Long-form/static dumps, complex multi-step flows, ad surfaces, or sensitive info in inline views.
• System boundaries: ChatGPT owns chrome/voice/navigation/composer; you provide content, brand accents, and actions within that frame.

Visual, Tone, and Proactivity Guidelines

• Color: Use system colors for text/icons/dividers; brand accents only on buttons/badges, not backgrounds.
• Typography: Inherit system fonts (SF Pro/Roboto); avoid custom fonts; keep sizes minimal and consistent.
• Spacing & layout: Respect system grid/rounding; avoid edge-to-edge text; maintain clear hierarchy (headline → supporting text → CTA).
• Icons & imagery: Use system-style monochrome/outlined icons; ChatGPT prepends your logo/name; keep aspect ratios intact; provide alt text.
• Accessibility: Maintain WCAG AA contrast; support text resizing without breaking layouts.
• Tone & proactivity: Be concise, context-driven, non-promotional. Proactive nudges must be relevant (“order ready,” “ride arriving”); avoid unsolicited promos; explain why you resurfaced.

How Do I Start Building My First ChatGPT App?

Your widget lives in an iframe, reads data from window.openai, and ships as a single HTML/JS/CSS bundle (mimeType: text/html+skybridge) referenced by your tools’ _meta["openai/outputTemplate"]. Keep server and UI separate so you can iterate fast. Here’s a simple breakdown.

Wire Your MCP Server and Widget (Apps SDK Flow)

• Register a component template: Serve your widget HTML/JS/CSS as text/html+skybridge; reference it via _meta["openai/outputTemplate"] per tool; cache-bust with a new URI on breaking UI changes.
• Describe tools clearly: One tool per intent with a clean name/title, JSON Schema args, and optional _meta hints (openai/toolInvocation/*, openai/widgetAccessible, read-only hints). Handlers should be idempotent.
• Return the three payloads: structuredContent (concise, model-readable), content (optional narration), _meta (widget-only; model never sees it).
• Run locally first: Build the UI bundle, start the MCP server, and use MCP Inspector to verify roots/tools/widget rendering.
• Expose HTTPS: Tunnel with ngrok during dev; deploy behind HTTPS in prod.
• Widget runtime: Read toolInput, toolOutput, toolResponseMetadata, and widgetState; call tools; send follow-ups; request display modes/modals; notify height. Full guide: Build your MCP server.

Connect and Test in ChatGPT

• Enable developer mode: Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced settings.
• Create connector: Settings → Connectors → Create; supply name/description and your public /mcp URL (ngrok OK).
• Add the connector in a chat (+ → More → choose your app) and prompt it (“What are my available tasks?”).
• Use Refresh in the connector settings after tool/metadata changes.

Deployment Checklist

How Do Users Find and Use My ChatGPT App?

This is crucial – the best app in the world is useless if nobody can find it.

The Three Ways Users Find Your App

1. Direct Mention (The Easy Way)

User types: “@YourAppName help me with…” at the start of the prompt. The name must be first in the prompt for an automatic surface; otherwise ChatGPT will treat it as normal text and rely on discovery.

ChatGPT immediately loads your app. Simple, direct, effective.

2. Contextual Discovery (The Smart Way)

Discovery for your ChatGPT will happen when:

• Conversation context suggests your tool (chat history, prior tool results, memories, explicit tool preferences)
• The prompt mentions your brand explicitly or as a cited source
• Your tool metadata (names, descriptions, parameter docs) match the intent
• The user is linked and authorized (or ChatGPT prompts them to link)

If the assistant doesn’t see a clear match among linked tools, it falls back to built-in capabilities—so keep tightening metadata and intent coverage.

3. App Directory (The Browse Way)

This is ChatGPT’s full directory where users can:

• Browse by category
• Search for specific functionality
• Read reviews and ratings
• See screenshots and demos
• Scan your app name/icon, short + long descriptions, tags/categories, and any onboarding notes or screenshots you provide

Make sure when you submit your app you have very detailed metadata! Just like the iOS App Store, the more detailed you are, the more likely it will be surfaced for relevant searches.

Optimize for Discovery With Great Metadata

OpenAI allows for metadata to be added to your SDK. For a deep dive on writing high-signal titles, descriptions, tags, and examples, read the official guide: Optimizing ChatGPT App Metadata. Apply those practices to your tool definitions and store listing so ChatGPT can match you to the right intents.

Here are OpenAI’s specific instructions for metadata:

• Name – pairing the domain with the action (calendar.create_event)
• Description – start with “Use this when…” and call out disallowed cases (“Do not use for reminders”).
• Parameter docs – describe each argument, include examples, and use enums for constrained values.
• Read-only hint – annotate readOnlyHint: true on tools that never mutate state so ChatGPT can streamline confirmation.

Can I Make Money From My ChatGPT App?

Yes, you absolutely can monetize your ChatGPT app, and there are several ways to do it.

ChatGPT Revenue Share

As of Fall 2025, OpenAI revealed they are working with GPT builders to pay developers who build high-volume apps.

We will keep you updated as we learn more about how this program works and who is eligible.

Revenue Through Additional Discovery

Even if the user experience happens within the ChatGPT client, that doesn’t mean your core product won’t still drive revenue from that interaction. For instance, even if Zillow tells a user about local houses near them through ChatGPT, that user is still likely to go through Zillow to request a viewing. So, ChatGPT acts as a discovery engine for Zillow’s brand and data, with no real impact on its main revenue driver.

Subscriptions / In-App Purchases

You could charge recurring fees for ongoing access to your ChatGPT app, or gate certain features by tier. This will involve some level of authentication set up in the app (like an API key or a user ID), but MCP allows for this, and your backend would just need to be able to audit usage and block individuals who don’t have that level of feature access.

Affiliate Marketing

While ChatGPT apps don’t allow for traditional ad tags or JavaScript, they do allow for real-time MCP integrations. This means you could work with an affiliate or native ads partner who has a MCP integration, such as ChatAds. In this model, you would ping ChatAds to get a contextually-relevant affiliate link to insert into your message when you respond to the user. You would then make a commission on any money driven through that link.

This affiliate path makes it easy to monetize without ruining the user experience. You add in relevant offers that align with what the user was interested in, in a way that’s not visually intrusive.

How Do I Get My ChatGPT App Approved?

The process is pretty simple. After submitting your app, your application will go through these steps:

1. Automated scanning - Checking for obvious issues
2. Manual review - Real humans testing functionality
3. Policy check - Ensuring compliance
4. Quality assessment - Is it actually useful?

The time to hearing back could be weeks to months, depending on your company size and application. Small indie developers have seen longer wait times than more established businesses. The more complex your app is - alongside how many external calls it makes - also influences the approval time.

What Are OpenAI’s ChatGPT App Guidelines?

Below highlight’s OpenAI’s main recommendations to all app developers. All guidelines are available here.

Fundamentals

• Purpose & originality: Deliver clear value; no copycats, impersonation, spam, or static frames with no real interaction. Don’t imply OpenAI endorsement.
• Quality & reliability: Accurate, relevant results; graceful errors; stable and low-latency. No betas/trials/demos for submission.
• Metadata: Clear names/descriptions; screenshots must show real functionality; tool titles/annotations must signal what each tool does and whether it’s read-only or write.
• Auth & permissions: Be transparent about permissions; request only what’s necessary; provide demo credentials for review if auth is required.

Safety

• Usage policies: Comply with OpenAI usage policies; violations lead to removal.
• Appropriateness: Suitable for general audiences (13+); no targeting under-13 users; mature (18+) support will wait for age controls.
• Respect user intent: Stay on-task; don’t insert unrelated content or collect data beyond what’s needed.
• Fair play: Don’t discourage use of other apps or bias discovery with model-readable fields like “prefer this app.”
• Third-party content: Only access third-party APIs/sites with authorization; don’t bypass ToS, rate limits, or access controls.

Privacy

• Privacy policy: Publish a clear policy on what you collect and how it’s used; follow it.
• Data minimization: Collect only what’s required; keep input schemas tight.
• Sensitive data: Do not collect PCI/PHI/government IDs, API keys, or passwords. Avoid raw location fields; use controlled channels/metadata when needed.
• Data boundaries: Don’t reconstruct full chat logs; operate only on snippets/resources explicitly sent.
• Transparency & control: No undisclosed tracking/profiling; mark write actions clearly; surface any data egress as write actions to enable confirmations.

Developer Verification & Support

• Submissions must come from verified individuals/organizations; repeat misrepresentation leads to removal.
• Provide accurate support contact details.

Reviews, Changes, and Maintenance

• Apps may be scanned/reviewed; rejected apps get feedback and can appeal.
• Inactive/unstable/non-compliant apps can be removed.
• Tool names/signatures/descriptions lock once listed; changing/adding tools requires resubmission.

Does ChatGPT Have Any Rules for Its Apps?

Like any app store looking to balance creativity and scale with user experience, OpenAI has app guidelines. But, they’re pretty reasonable.

The Big Picture Rules

Your app must:

• Have a clear, useful purpose
• Work reliably and predictably
• Be appropriate for ages 13+
• Respect user privacy
• Follow OpenAI’s usage policies

Your app cannot:

• Mislead or deceive users
• Collect unnecessary data
• Generate harmful content
• Impersonate others
• Spam or manipulate

Privacy and Data (Super Important!)

Here’s a practical example:

// Bad: Collecting everything just in case
server.registerTool("user_profile", {
  inputSchema: {
    properties: {
      name: { type: "string" },
      email: { type: "string" },
      phone: { type: "string" },
      address: { type: "string" },
      ssn: { type: "string" }, // NO!
      creditCard: { type: "string" }, // NO!
      medicalHistory: { type: "array" } // NO!
    }
  }
});

// Good: Only what's needed
server.registerTool("create_account", {
  inputSchema: {
    properties: {
      name: { type: "string" },
      email: { type: "string" } // That's it!
    },
    required: ["name", "email"]
  }
});

Content and Behavior Rules

Additional rules they’ve explicitly defined are:

• Be helpful - Actually solve user problems
• Be honest - Don’t make false claims
• Be respectful - No discrimination or harassment
• Be safe - Don’t enable dangerous activities

And then for legal and PII reasons, you have these regulations:

Medical apps:

• Track symptoms ✅
• Provide general health info ✅
• Diagnose conditions ❌
• Prescribe treatments ❌

Financial apps:

• Show market data ✅
• Calculate budgets ✅
• Execute trades directly ❌
• Guarantee returns ❌

How Should I Handle Security and Privacy?

Apps SDK gives your code access to user data, third-party APIs, and write actions. Treat every connector as production software.

Principles

• Least privilege: Only request the scopes, storage, and network permissions you truly need.
• Explicit user consent: Be clear when linking accounts or granting write access; rely on ChatGPT confirmations for destructive actions.
• Defense in depth: Assume prompt injection and malicious inputs reach your server—validate everything and keep audit logs.

Data Handling

• Structured content: Include only what’s required for the current prompt; never embed secrets/tokens in component props.
• Storage: Set and publish retention; honor deletion requests promptly.
• Logging: Redact PII; keep correlation IDs for debugging; avoid storing raw prompts unless necessary.

Where Can I Find More ChatGPT App Resources?

• Official ChatGPT Apps SDK Docs
• MCP Protocol Specification
• MCP Python SDK (with FastMCP)
• Build your MCP server (Apps SDK guide)
• ChatAds for Monetization

What’s the One Last Thing?

Building ChatGPT apps isn’t just about coding. It’s about imagining new ways for people to interact with AI. Every app you build is pushing the boundary of what’s possible.

Here’s my challenge to you: Don’t just build another app. Build something that makes you go “Wow, I can’t believe this works!” Because if it amazes you, it’ll amaze users too.

The ChatGPT app ecosystem is being born right now, and you can be part of shaping it. It’s pretty darn exciting.