OpenAI is transforming ChatGPT into a platform. With the new App Directory and the Apps SDK, developers can for the first time integrate fully-fledged applications directly into the chat – from Spotify playlists to booking systems. A step that turns ChatGPT from chatbot into operating system.
It began with a simple idea: what if you no longer had to switch between apps, but could simply say in the chat what you wanted? “Spotify, make me a party playlist.” “Canva, turn these bullet points into a presentation.” “Zillow, show me flats in my price range.” In December 2025, this idea became reality. OpenAI launched the App Directory within ChatGPT – an app store that doesn’t live on the home screen but in the conversation itself. Apps are no longer separate programmes that you open and operate, but interactive experiences controlled via natural language, whose interface appears directly in the chat. ChatGPT thus becomes a platform, and the conversation becomes the user interface.
The App Directory has been available since mid-December 2025 for ChatGPT Plus, Team and Enterprise on web, iOS and Android. Users find it under “Tools” or in the sidebar, organised into categories like Featured, Lifestyle and Productivity. What were previously called “Connectors” – loose links to third-party services – are now fully-fledged apps with their own logic, their own backend and their own user interface. Launch partners include Booking.com, Expedia, Spotify, Figma, Coursera, Zillow, Canva, Apple Music, Google Drive, Dropbox and DoorDash. Further services for mobility, shopping and leisure – including Uber, Instacart, OpenTable and AllTrails – have been announced. The message is clear: ChatGPT is to become the central interface through which one accesses digital services, without ever leaving the chat interface.
The functionality is elegant. Apps can be addressed directly in the chat by name: “Spotify, make a party playlist”, “Canva, turn this outline into a deck”. On first use, a dialogue appears for account linking – an OAuth flow that grants permissions such as access to playlists or files. After that, the app runs in the chat. ChatGPT can also suggest apps contextually: anyone discussing flat-hunting is offered Zillow, anyone planning a presentation sees Canva. The app’s interface – maps, sliders, players, interactive elements – is displayed inline in the chat. You generate a Canva presentation, see it in the chat, say “make the second slide more colourful”, and the change happens immediately. The boundary between conversation and application disappears.
Technically, the apps are based on the Apps SDK, which OpenAI has released as open source. The SDK builds on the Model Context Protocol and defines an app’s logic and UI. It enables secure API connectors for real-time data, custom in-chat widgets, state management and full OAuth integration. Developers can test apps locally – there’s a Developer Mode and example repositories like the “Pizza App” tutorial – and later submit them for review via a developer portal. OpenAI has published Developer Guidelines that set out quality, security and UX criteria. Apps that meet these standards are listed in the Directory and can be prominently suggested in conversations. Apps that violate guidelines, security or abuse policies are rejected or removed. It’s a curated ecosystem, not a free-for-all.
Important is the distinction from the GPT Store, which OpenAI already launched in January 2024. The GPT Store is a marketplace for Custom GPTs – configurable ChatGPT variants created in the Builder without code that function as specialised assistants. Apps, by contrast, are code-based integrations with their own backend logic and UI, built via the Apps SDK and running as “proper” applications in the chat. Both ecosystems coexist: Custom GPTs for quick, persona-like assistants, Apps for deeply integrated workflows, data access and actions such as bookings, purchases or file management. The GPT Store is for creators who want to share knowledge and personality. The App Directory is for developers who want to embed services.
Monetisation is still under construction. For the GPT Store there’s an experimental revenue-sharing programme – a user-based payout for selected creators, whose precise terms remain somewhat opaque. For Apps, OpenAI announces it will later introduce a monetisation framework, possibly with in-app purchases and transaction flows. Details are to follow with the broad rollout in 2026. In the short term, the focus is on brands integrating their existing SaaS subscriptions via OAuth and using ChatGPT as a conversational UI over their services, without billing primarily running through OpenAI. It’s less about a new payment channel than a new access layer – ChatGPT as frontend for existing business models.
For businesses and brands, this opens up new possibilities. With the Apps SDK they can embed their own services directly into ChatGPT – product finders, booking flows, support portals or internal business tools. Use cases range from product discovery to self-service support through to B2B workflows such as ERP, CRM or BI integrations. For ChatGPT Enterprise customers, a rollout of the Apps function including governance options is announced – app whitelisting, blocking, control over which third-party services employees may use. ChatGPT thus becomes not just a consumer platform but enterprise infrastructure through which companies make their own systems accessible.
The strategic dimension is remarkable. OpenAI is positioning ChatGPT no longer as a tool but as a platform – comparable to the iPhone, which became an ecosystem with the App Store. The parallel is intentional. Just as Apple with iOS controls the interface between user and digital life, OpenAI wants to control the interface between user and services with ChatGPT. The difference: the interface isn’t a grid of icons but a conversation. Apps disappear into the background, interaction becomes natural language, and ChatGPT becomes the invisible control centre that decides which app is suggested when, which data flows, which actions are executed.
This raises questions. Who controls the visibility of apps in the chat – OpenAI or the user? How transparent is the algorithm that contextually suggests apps? What happens to the data flowing between ChatGPT, the user and the app? OpenAI emphasises OAuth security and user control, yet the architecture means that ChatGPT becomes an intermediary – between user and Spotify, between user and Canva, between user and every other app. That’s power. And as with any platform, the question arises whether the rules are fair, whether small developers have the same chances as launch partners, whether monetisation runs transparently.
For developers, the Apps SDK is both opportunity and wager. The opportunity: access to millions of ChatGPT users, a new distribution layer, the possibility of offering services where users already are – in the chat. The wager: that OpenAI keeps the platform open, that the rules remain stable, that monetisation works. The history of platforms shows that early developers often profit, but later platform operators tighten conditions, launch their own competing apps or increase margins. OpenAI promises openness – the SDK is open source, the guidelines are public. Yet control over the Directory, over visibility and recommendations, lies with OpenAI.
What remains is the realisation that the architecture of digital services is shifting fundamentally. Apps become modules embedded in conversations. The user interface becomes language. And platforms like ChatGPT become operating systems that decide how we access digital services. The app store in the chat isn’t just a feature. It’s a paradigm shift – from apps we open to apps we address. From interfaces we operate to interfaces that understand us. And from platforms that offer tools to platforms that orchestrate conversations. ChatGPT is no longer just a chatbot. It’s an ecosystem. And the conversation is the new user interface.
Post picture copyright: OpenAI
