Introducing apps in ChatGPT and the new Apps SDK

Source: OpenAI Date: 2025-10-06 URL: https://openai.com/index/introducing-apps-in-chatgpt

Summary

OpenAI’s October 2025 launch of third-party apps inside ChatGPT and the companion Apps SDK for developers. The feature allows third-party developers to build apps that run within the ChatGPT interface — extending ChatGPT beyond a conversation interface into a lightweight application platform. The Apps SDK provides the developer primitives: UI rendering inside ChatGPT, API access, user authentication, and payment integration.

Implications

ChatGPT as an app platform. This launch is OpenAI’s most explicit move toward making ChatGPT a platform (like iOS or the web browser) rather than just a product. If successful, it creates a developer ecosystem where ChatGPT is the distribution channel — apps built for ChatGPT reach ChatGPT’s user base without requiring separate marketing or app store placement.

The GPT store evolution. OpenAI had launched custom GPTs and the GPT Store earlier (November 2023) but with limited third-party developer capability. The Apps SDK is a more ambitious API with proper development primitives. Whether this succeeds where the GPT Store underwhelmed depends on whether developers find the distribution reach worthwhile relative to web or native app distribution.

Competitive parallel: Anthropic skills, Claude apps. Anthropic’s parallel approach (Claude Skills, the Managed Agents platform) is building a similar developer ecosystem from a different starting point. The question is which platform’s developer tooling attracts the better apps, and whether users care which AI platform their AI-powered apps run on.

Watch: Developer adoption of the Apps SDK in the first 6 months, and whether any breakout apps emerge that drive ChatGPT user engagement in measurable ways.