> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://www.cakewalk.security/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://www.cakewalk.security/docs/ai-agent-access/connections-and-integrations/agent-platforms/chatgpt.md). # ChatGPT Add Cakewalk's MCP Gateway as a custom MCP app on ChatGPT web (chatgpt.com). An admin creates it, tests it as a draft and publishes it to the workspace. **This page is for ChatGPT on the web — chatgpt.com in your browser.** ChatGPT web connects to remote MCP servers through **custom MCP apps**, configured in your workspace. An admin creates the app once against the Cakewalk gateway, tests it as a draft and publishes it — then everyone in the workspace can use it in chat. {% hint style="info" %} **On the ChatGPT desktop app or the Codex app?** The workspace app you set up here is connected at your **account level**, so it shows up automatically in both — nothing extra to do; a published app just appears as a connected plugin. There is also a *separate* way to add Cakewalk as a **local** MCP server in Codex, which is a different integration — see [The Workspace App Follows Your Account Everywhere](#the-workspace-app-follows-your-account-everywhere) below and [Codex](/docs/ai-agent-access/connections-and-integrations/agent-platforms/codex.md). {% endhint %} {% hint style="info" %} OpenAI reworked this feature in 2026: what used to be a simple "custom connector" is now an **app** with a create → test → publish workflow, managed under **Settings → Plugins**. If you set up a connector under the old flow, the pages and labels described here will look different from what you remember. {% endhint %} ## Requirements * A ChatGPT **Business, Enterprise or Edu** workspace. Custom MCP apps with write actions (what Cakewalk's gateway proxies) are in beta on these plans. * **Setup happens on ChatGPT web.** MCP apps are created in the browser (chatgpt.com), not on mobile. Once published, the app is connected at the account level and usable in the browser, the ChatGPT desktop app, the Codex app and the Codex CLI — see [Codex](/docs/ai-agent-access/connections-and-integrations/agent-platforms/codex.md). * **Admin or Owner role** to enable developer mode and publish the app. On Enterprise/Edu, admins can additionally authorize individual members as developers via RBAC. ## Install Method Custom form at chatgpt.com. The app is configured once by an admin, appears as a draft for testing, and becomes available to the workspace after publishing. {% hint style="info" %} **"Apps" vs. "Plugins" — they are not the same thing.** In ChatGPT's settings an **App** is an MCP-server connector you add by URL — this is what Cakewalk's gateway is, and where you create it (**Create** opens a "New App" form). A **Plugin** is a packaged bundle you upload as a `.tar.gz` or `.zip` archive, which can wrap skills and tools. Apps are a kind of plugin, so a Cakewalk app you create also shows up in the broader **Plugins** list — but you always **create and publish it from the Apps view**, not by uploading a plugin. {% endhint %} ## Step 1: Enable Developer Mode If ChatGPT asks you to **choose a workspace** at sign-in, pick your **company workspace**, not your personal account — the app lives in the workspace, and the Apps settings described below do not exist in a personal account. Already signed in? You can switch context anytime via the account menu. One menu, two settings areas: the account menu (click your workspace name) contains both **Settings** — your personal user settings, where developer mode lives — and **Workspace settings** — the admin area, where apps are created and published. The steps below move between the two, so read the labels carefully. Developer mode is required to create custom MCP apps. The path differs by plan: ### Business Only admins/owners can use developer mode, and each admin enables it for themselves: 1. Open **User Settings → Plugins**. 2. Scroll to **Developer mode** at the bottom of the list and turn it on. {% hint style="info" %} OpenAI's help article calls this "Apps → Advanced settings," but the live web UI puts it under **Settings → Plugins → Developer mode**. If the labels differ again, look for "Developer mode" wherever plugins or apps are managed. {% endhint %} ### Enterprise/Edu 1. An admin grants developer access under **Workspace Settings → Permissions & Roles → Connected Data** (optionally scoped to specific members via RBAC). 2. Authorized members then enable it for their account under **Settings → Apps → Advanced Settings** (on the current web UI this may read **Settings → Plugins → Developer mode**, as it does on Business — look for "Developer mode" wherever apps or plugins are managed). ## Step 2: Create the App 1. Go to **Workspace settings → Apps** and click **Create**. The **New App** dialog opens. 2. Fill the form: * **Name:** a descriptive name like `All company apps` (see the tip below). * **Description** (optional): e.g. "MCP Gateway to all our company apps." * **Connection:** leave the toggle on **Server URL** (not **Tunnel**) and paste `https://mcp-gateway.getcakewalk.io/mcp/meta` into the URL field. * **Authentication:** **OAuth** (the default). * Tick **I understand and want to continue** to acknowledge the custom-MCP-server risk notice. 3. Click **Create**. ChatGPT opens the Cakewalk OAuth prompt — sign in with your Cakewalk account and approve the Connection, then it discovers the available tools. The app now appears as a **draft** under **Workspace settings → Apps → Drafts**, and in your own settings it carries a **Dev** label until it is published. {% hint style="info" %} **Name the app for what it does, not "Cakewalk."** ChatGPT decides whether to use an app partly from its name. A descriptive name like "All company apps" helps it find the gateway across every model. {% endhint %} {% hint style="info" %} **Use the `/mcp/meta` URL, not `/mcp`.** ChatGPT limits how many tools it handles well, so an app that exposes every tool your company has approved can fail to scan or load. The `/mcp/meta` endpoint presents three tools instead (list, describe, run) and ChatGPT reaches everything else through them. One app then covers every Connection you have, however many that is. {% endhint %} ## Step 3: Test the Draft Open a new chat, select the draft app from the tools menu (or mention it in your prompt) and try a few Cakewalk shaped requests. Confirm actions when ChatGPT asks — for write actions it may request confirmation based on the app's permissions and the action's context. ## Step 4: Publish Only admins and owners can publish: 1. Go to **Workspace settings → Apps → Drafts**. 2. Click **Publish** and review the safety warnings (expected for a gateway that proxies write actions). The published app appears in the workspace's approved list and in members' **Apps** settings with a **custom** label. * **Business:** apps cannot be changed after publishing — to update, recreate and republish. * **Enterprise/Edu:** before publishing, **Configure Actions** lets you enable or disable individual tools and **Configure Access** scopes the app to specific groups. After publishing, **Action control** (ellipsis menu next to the app) manages the same; **Refresh** pulls newly added tools, which stay disabled until an admin enables them. ## For Workspace Members (non-admins) Everything above is the admin's one-time job. A regular member never creates or publishes anything. Once the admin has published the Cakewalk app, each member just adds and connects it: 1. In ChatGPT, click **Plugins** in the left sidebar. 2. Search for the app by name (e.g. **All company apps**). 3. **Install** it. 4. **Connect** it — ChatGPT opens the **Cakewalk sign-in** in your browser. Sign in with **your own** Cakewalk account and approve. That's it — no developer mode, no app creation, no config. Each member authorizes individually, so everyone acts as themselves and sees only the tools their own Cakewalk Connections expose. From then on, select the app (or @mention it) in any chat. {% hint style="info" %} Depending on how the admin set the app's **Availability**, it may already be installed for everyone (**Installed**) or offered for members to add themselves (**Available**). If you cannot find it under Plugins, ask your admin to check that setting. {% endhint %} ## Verifying It Works In a chat, select the app and ask ChatGPT to list its available tools — phrase it as a direct instruction like "List the tools available through this app; call the tool, don't guess," so ChatGPT runs the discovery tool instead of answering from memory. The tools you see are exactly the Connections **you** have authorized in Cakewalk, not everything the gateway can proxy: a user with only Fireflies connected sees only the Fireflies tools. In Cakewalk, the ChatGPT card on **My Agents** flips to **Connected** after the first agent call. {% hint style="info" %} **The connection can expire.** When it does, ChatGPT shows a **Reconnect** button before the next tool call — one click reopens the Cakewalk sign-in and restores access. This is normal OAuth token expiry, not a setup error. {% endhint %} ## Where the App Appears * **ChatGPT web** (chatgpt.com): members select the app per message, or @mention it. App selection applies to the message where you use it; @mention the app again when a follow-up needs another app action. * **ChatGPT mobile:** not available — MCP apps are web only. * **ChatGPT desktop app:** yes, automatically — see the note below. * **Codex app:** yes, automatically — the workspace app appears there as a connected plugin too. See below. ## The Workspace App Follows Your Account Everywhere The Cakewalk workspace app is connected at your **account level**, not per surface. Once an admin publishes it, it shows up as a connected plugin everywhere you use that account — **ChatGPT web, the ChatGPT desktop app, and the Codex app** — with no extra setup and no separate sign-in per surface. Because it is one account-wide connection, **connecting or disconnecting it in any of those places applies to all of them.** You see exactly the tools your own Cakewalk Connections expose. This even includes the **Codex CLI** (the terminal `codex` tool): once you have connected the plugin in your account, its tools are available in a `codex` session too, exposed as `codex_apps..…`. One thing that trips people up: the plugin does **not** appear in `codex mcp list`, because that command lists a different, machine-local kind of connection — the plugin still works in the session. See [Codex](/docs/ai-agent-access/connections-and-integrations/agent-platforms/codex.md) for the Codex-side details. ## Troubleshooting * **The Apps settings or the Create button are missing entirely:** you are probably in your personal account instead of the company workspace. Switch via the account menu and check again. * **Developer mode toggle is missing:** check plan and role. On Business, only admins/owners have it, and each admin must enable it for their own account. On Enterprise/Edu, an admin must first grant access under Permissions & Roles → Connected Data. * **You cannot find "Connectors" in settings:** OpenAI renamed and reworked the feature — custom MCP now lives under **Settings → Plugins** (with a separate **Workspace settings** area for creating and publishing apps). * **Tool discovery hangs or fails on Create:** confirm the **Connection** is set to **Server URL** (not **Tunnel**) and the URL is `https://mcp-gateway.getcakewalk.io/mcp/meta` (three tools resolve quickly; the full `/mcp` tool list can be too long for ChatGPT). * **The Create button stays greyed out:** you have not ticked **I understand and want to continue** — ChatGPT requires that acknowledgement for any custom MCP server. * **ChatGPT loses access after a while and asks to reauthenticate constantly:** the MCP server's OAuth provider must issue refresh tokens (`offline_access`). Cakewalk's gateway advertises `offline_access` and the `refresh_token` grant, so this should not happen against the gateway — if it does, contact Cakewalk support. * **A published app does not show a newly connected Cakewalk tool (Enterprise/Edu):** open **Action control** on the app and click **Refresh** — new actions arrive disabled by default and an admin has to enable them. * **OAuth flow returns to an error page:** copy the full callback URL from your browser's address bar and paste it back into the prompt at chatgpt.com. ## Learn more * [Developer mode and MCP apps in ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12584461-developer-mode-apps-and-full-mcp-connectors-in-chatgpt-beta) from the OpenAI Help Center. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. 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