ChatGPT Apps SDK not creating a custom app on my account

ChatGPT Apps SDK
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I’m running the official openai-apps-sdk-examples pizza app locally with the Node MCP server on localhost (port 8000) and static assets on localhost (port 4444), exposed via an HTTPS tunnel (ngrok). The MCP endpoint on that public /mcp URL works: a verbose curl request returns HTTP/2 200 with a text/event-stream response, and when I add it as an MCP server in the OpenAI platform Playground, the tools load and calls succeed (the tunnel logs show POST requests to /mcp/messages returning 202).

However, in the main ChatGPT web app (Free account), after enabling Developer Mode and creating a connector in Settings using the same /mcp endpoint, I don’t see any error, but the connector never shows up in the Connectors list or as a selectable tool in chats, even though the tunnel logs prove ChatGPT is hitting /mcp/messages. So the MCP server and tunnel are clearly working (the Playground proves it), but the consumer ChatGPT UI isn’t surfacing the connector. I’m trying to figure out if this is a limitation or bug with my account’s Apps & Connectors UI, and whether there’s any way for me to debug this further, or if it’s something only OpenAI can fix on their side.

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4

I have the same problem trying to set up the NEXT.JS App Example repo. MCP server is running, can connect via the API Playground but trying to add it via options through the regular ChatGPT UI yields nothing.

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Yeah me too. Tested in playground, tools work. Just I don’t see the app created when I press Create in Developer mode.

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okay apparently it’s a free plan issue. upgraded to pro and now it’s working……

2 Likes
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Yes, that is the explanation.Thank you for posting your findings @maosi100
A plus account will suffice. I don’t think Go existed when custom connectors were introduced. This is still an open question.

Custom connectors
Custom connectors let you bring third-party systems and internal data into ChatGPT using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). They’re available to:

  • ChatGPT Plus and Pro users
  • ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Edu workspaces

https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11487775-connectors-in-chatgpt