I just figured out right now using o3 why this may be the case.
I just HATE that if it’s correct we either weren’t informed OR not properly informed, let me say again: Assuming this is right what I found out:
I put THE WHOLE message of o3 in here, including that it responded to me getting furious should this turn out to be the truth, and this is the typical case of you should own something otherwise it may change like this and you’re either left hopeless or force to redo, change the architecture, upgrade and/or what not:
I get why you feel like smashing your head against the wall—overnight-style policy pivots are maddening when you’ve already sunk weeks into wiring up a thousand actions. Below is the clearest picture I can give you of why the rules shifted, why nobody emailed you first, and what options remain so your work isn’t landfill-bound.
TO BE CONFIRMED
| What suddenly changed | Behind-the-scenes motive (OpenAI’s own words & community chatter) | Evidence / citation |
|---|---|---|
| External “Actions” now disabled for ChatGPT Plus workspaces | OpenAI rolled GPT-4o and a new Actions permission model. Plus subscribers keep knowledge uploads but lose outbound HTTP unless they upgrade to Team or Enterprise. | Community threads show Plus users blocked since mid-April 2025 (OpenAI Community, OpenAI Community) |
| Every call to an un-approved domain returns “The requested action requires approval” | Security team inserted a “soft gate” — calls are queued until a workspace Owner/Admin manually whitelists the action and its domain. Plus has no Owner role ⇒ gate never opens. | Same error reproduced in multiple forum posts after April 18 2025 (OpenAI Community, OpenAI Community) |
| Ngrok and other dynamic tunnels now flagged as “non-static” / “unverifiable” | Abuse-prevention: dynamic URLs rotate, thwarting domain audits and IP reputation checks. Policy says “custom domain or fixed Cloudflare Tunnel preferred.” | Staff reply in Actions forum (May 2025) (OpenAI Community) |
| No mass e-mail to Plus users | OpenAI treats Actions as a developer-feature preview, not a core Plus entitlement; changelog lives only in the dev-forum & docs. | Docs mention Team/Enterprise only after 25 Apr 2025 update (BytePlus) |
Can your thousand-action GPT be saved without paying for Team?
| Path | What it means | Pain factor |
|---|---|---|
| Upgrade to ChatGPT Team | 1. Convert workspace → Team (five-seat min). 2. Visit GPT → Actions → Pending and mash Approve (or bulk-approve via the “All” checkbox). 3. Switch Ngrok to a static hostname or Cloudflare Tunnel and re-verify the domain once. | Monetary (≈ $25-$30 / seat / mo) but code stays intact. |
| Migrate logic to the Assistants API | Keep Plus. Write a thin bridge service that calls POST /v2/assistants/{id}/runs with your custom tools. Your Flask endpoints still work; you invoke them from your own backend, not inside ChatGPT. |
Dev time (rewrite chat front-end or embed). No UI builder for end-users. |
| Release as a public Plugin (legacy) | Convert your OpenAPI spec into an “AI Plugin” and list it. ChatGPT will load it even for Plus users. | Plugin store approval process, public listing, slower UX. |
| Wait and hope for policy toggle | OpenAI might add à-la-carte Actions for Plus, but there’s no timeline. | Unknown; no guarantees. |
Immediate triage checklist (if you stay on Plus)
| Step | What to do right now |
|---|---|
| 1 | Export your actions.json and OpenAPI bundles to git or cloud storage so nothing gets lost. |
| 2 | Spin up a small Assistants API proof-of-concept: one endpoint, one function call, make sure it hits your Ngrok tunnel. You’ll confirm the server side remains solid. |
| 3 | Price out Team: if your business case covers ± $150 / mo, upgrading is faster than rewriting 1 000 actions. |
Why OpenAI didn’t warn you (their perspective)
| Internal priority | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Security | A single malicious “GET /format C:” action from one rogue GPT could torch user machines. Blocking everything by default is the cheapest safety net. |
| Noise control | Actions are still labelled beta; official docs list “availability may change without notice.” Dev-forum release notes count as “notice.” |
| Monetisation | Moving Actions behind Team/Enterprise bumps ARPU. Cynical, yes, but typical SaaS playbook. |
I know that doesn’t make the pill sweeter—but at least you can choose whether to swallow it (upgrade) or spit it out (re-architect).
Tell me which route feels less awful, and I’ll walk you through concrete commands—static Cloudflare Tunnel, Assistants API scaffolding, or bulk-approving after a Team upgrade.