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ChatGPT connects to MCP servers as custom plugins. You add your project’s URL on ChatGPT’s Plugins page, and your tools show up in chat, with Interactive Tools rendering their UI in the conversation. How ChatGPT authenticates depends on your project. A Public project connects with no sign-in at all. A Private project authenticates against Metabind with OAuth: ChatGPT opens Metabind’s authorization page, you click Authorize, and ChatGPT holds the token from then on. Either way, there’s no API key to copy or paste. This guide covers connecting your own ChatGPT account for development and testing. To give your app a ChatGPT sidebar entry, its own icon, and a permanent address, see Publish to ChatGPT as a plugin.
No project yet? Add the public Metabind connector, https://mcp.metabind.ai/ui, the same way, with no account and no sign-in. See Try Metabind.

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Prerequisites

  • A ChatGPT account that can add custom MCP servers. In Business, Enterprise, and Edu workspaces, an admin may need to allow this first.
  • A Metabind project with at least one published Type. See Your first MCP App.
  • For a private project, a Metabind login with access to the project. The OAuth flow uses your Metabind session, so anyone who connects must be a member of the organization.

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Get the connection URL

In Metabind Studio:
  1. Open the project.
  2. On the Server tab, switch the endpoint dropdown to Production (for the published URL) or Draft (for the working copy).
  3. Copy the URL.
The URL takes the form:
The draft URL adds /draft to the end. If you’ve assigned a plugin address, you can use it instead of the production URL. Both serve the same tools.
The Server tab in Metabind Studio with the endpoint dropdown open and Draft selected, showing the project's draft URL
Which authentication you pick in ChatGPT depends on the project’s Access setting and the URL: Change a project’s access in Project Settings → General → Access.

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Add the server in ChatGPT

  1. On chatgpt.com, select Plugins in the sidebar.
  2. Click Add in the top-right corner and choose Add custom MCP server.
  3. Enter a Name and, optionally, a Description. These are how the server appears in your ChatGPT account.
  4. Under Connection, leave Server URL selected and paste the URL from Metabind Studio.
  5. Under Authentication, choose No authentication for a public project’s production URL or plugin address. For a private project or the draft URL, leave it on OAuth.
  6. Select I understand and want to continue, then click Create as a plugin.
  7. ChatGPT shows a Connect dialog for the server. Click Connect. For OAuth, the button reads Continue to followed by the server’s name.
ChatGPT's Add custom MCP server dialog with a name, the Metabind project URL in Server URL, and No authentication selected under Authentication
The form’s Icon field is optional. It takes a PNG of up to 10 KB, and ChatGPT recommends 256×256 pixels or larger. It’s only used for this server in your account. With OAuth, ChatGPT opens Metabind’s authorization page. Sign in if you aren’t already, review what ChatGPT is asking to do, and click Authorize. ChatGPT returns to Plugins, and the server’s settings list your account under Connected accounts.
The Metabind authorization page saying the host wants to access your Metabind workspace, followed by the list of permissions it requests and the Authorize and Deny buttons
Add the server from Plugins on chatgpt.com, not from the desktop app’s Settings → Plugins → MCPs → Add MCP server. That form adds the server to ChatGPT’s coding agent, and chat conversations can’t use it.

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Verify the connection

Select Plugins in the sidebar and open your server under Installed. Under Apps, select the app to see its tools, grouped by permission (for example, Read). Every tool the URL serves should be there: all tools for the draft URL, published tools for production.
A Metabind server's page in ChatGPT's Plugins, with the app's tool list open showing each tool's name and description under Read
Then start a new conversation and ask ChatGPT to use one of your tools:
Interactive Tools render their UI in the conversation. If a tool fails, ChatGPT shows the error inline. For deeper debugging, check Recent Executions under Analytics in Metabind Studio, which records every call from any host. Execution history is available on paid plans.
A ChatGPT conversation where a Metabind Interactive Tool has rendered an Oak & Ivory product carousel inline in the reply to a search for lounge chairs

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Draft vs. production for ChatGPT

Treat draft and production as separate servers in ChatGPT:
  • Draft. Add a server with the draft URL and OAuth. Conversations see your latest unpublished work.
  • Production. Add a second server with the production URL. This is what other people see.
After you publish, the production app serves the new version. If ChatGPT still lists old tools, open Settings → Plugins, select your server, and under Manage app click Refresh tools. The desktop app can keep showing an older version of a view; see Troubleshooting.

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Share with other people

Anyone can add your project the same way: share the URL and they add it as a custom MCP server in their own ChatGPT. For a public project, that’s all they need. For a private project, they authorize with their own Metabind login, so invite them to the organization first via Team management. To drop a server’s access, open it from Settings → Plugins and, under Manage app, click Delete app. To give your app a sidebar entry and a permanent address, publish your project as a ChatGPT plugin.

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Troubleshooting

Publish to ChatGPT as a plugin

Sidebar entry, icon, and a permanent address.

Connect to Claude

Same project, different host.

Custom MCP hosts

Connect any MCP-compatible client.

Draft and production

Why two endpoints exist and when to use each.