Introducing apps in ChatGPT and the new Apps SDK
OpenAI
ChatGPT can now run third-party apps inside chats, not just plugins. OpenAI's new Apps SDK lets developers build these starting today, in preview.
Based on reporting by OpenAI — read the original for the full story.
Summary, retelling and take written by AI under human oversight; images are AI-generated illustrations. How we work · Report an error
OpenAI just moved ChatGPT a step closer to becoming a platform rather than a product. The company announced apps that live directly inside chat conversations, and opened up an Apps SDK so outside developers can start building them right now, albeit in preview.
This isn't the plugin experiment from 2023 repackaged with a new name. Those early plugins felt bolted on, clunky, and most quietly disappeared. What OpenAI is describing this time sounds more like native integration: apps that respond conversationally, sit inside the chat window, and presumably tap into the same context ChatGPT already has about what you're trying to do.
The timing matters. ChatGPT has north of 800 million weekly users by OpenAI's own estimates, and turning that audience into a distribution channel for third-party software is exactly the kind of move that made the App Store and, before that, Facebook's platform era so lucrative for the companies that controlled the gate. OpenAI gets to decide what counts as an app, how it's surfaced, and eventually — almost certainly — how revenue gets split.
Developers get an early-mover advantage if this catches on, but preview releases from OpenAI have a habit of shifting fast, sometimes leaving early builders scrambling to keep pace with breaking changes. Anyone building now is betting that ChatGPT's chat interface becomes a genuine app surface, not just a novelty layer that gets ignored once the initial curiosity fades.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
This is OpenAI reaching for platform economics, and it's the smart move if you already have the users — which they do. I'd watch less for cool demos and more for how OpenAI handles review, discovery, and revenue share, because that's where every
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