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Connect ChatGPT Desktop and Codex

This is the recommended way to use your account from ChatGPT. The desktop app signs in through your browser, so there is no API key to copy, no limit on the number of tools, and ChatGPT gets every capability, including media uploads.

Before you start

  • Where this works: Work and Codex. In the desktop app the switch at the top of the window selects Chat or Work, and it opens on Work. Your social media tools appear in Work and in Codex. They do not appear in Chat.
  • This integration is supported only through ChatGPT Desktop. Do not paste your API credential into ChatGPT on the web or into any ChatGPT conversation. The desktop integration connects your account without requiring you to enter your API credential in chat.
  • Requires the ChatGPT desktop app on macOS or Windows. Plugin availability and permissions depend on your ChatGPT plan and workspace settings.
  • You do not need to create an API key first. When you approve the connection in your browser, a key is created for this application and connected for you.

Open the setup page

  1. Sign in, open the account menu and choose API Console.
  2. Choose Connect your tools, then ChatGPT Desktop and Codex, then Add a connection.
  3. Under Set up on your computer, choose the computer you are setting up. Both are here, so you can set up the other kind of computer from this page too.

On macOS

  1. Open the ChatGPT desktop app and choose Codex in the menu at the top left.
  2. Click Copy setup block for macOS on the setup page.
  3. Paste the block into Codex. Do not paste it into Chat. Codex asks permission before it runs anything, so approve it when it asks.
  4. It writes your setup file and adds the connection to your account, and then a browser window opens by itself so you can approve that connection. Approve it there, then return to the app.

Nothing is downloaded, so your computer has nothing to warn you about. There is no API key in this block and nothing in it asks you for one. Pasting it again on a computer that is already set up is safe: it repairs the setup you have instead of adding a second one.

On Windows

  1. Click Install for ChatGPT Desktop to download the package.
  2. Unzip the package and run install-windows.cmd.
  3. The first time you open the installer, your computer may say it cannot verify the file. That is expected for a download that is not signed yet, and it does not mean anything is wrong. If you see "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then click Run anyway.
  4. Near the end of the install, a browser window opens so you can approve the connection. Approve it there, then return to the app. If the browser does not open, you can start the sign-in again from the app or by running the installer again.

Approving in the browser

Your browser asks which key the app should use at the end of these steps. Creating a new key there adds a new connection in the API Console; choosing an existing key repairs or extends that connection. Running the steps again on a computer that is already set up repairs it and adds nothing.

Test your connection

Open the ChatGPT desktop app, make sure the switch at the top is on Work, and ask: "List my social profiles." You should see the profiles your credential can access. If nothing is listed, check that the credential has access to at least one workspace.

Another computer, or running the setup again

On the setup page, expand Install on another computer, or run the installer again. Your connection is not changed by anything in there. These are the same steps you used the first time: run them on another computer to set that one up, or on this one to repair the setup you have.

Set up in the app settings (advanced)

Some desktop apps have a settings screen for adding connections and some do not: it depends on your plan and your workspace settings. If yours lists MCP servers under Settings, you can add the connection there instead:

  1. Open Settings in the desktop app.
  2. Go to MCP servers.
  3. Choose Add server.
  4. Set the type to Streamable HTTP.
  5. Paste the address shown on the setup page as the server URL.
  6. Save the server.
  7. Choose Authenticate, and approve the connection in the browser window that opens.

If there is no MCP servers entry on that screen, this route is not available to you and the setup above is.

Disconnect

On the setup page, Disconnect signs the desktop app out. The key stays in place, so any other tool using it keeps working, and the app signs in again the next time it connects.

If the connection fails

Open Fix a problem in the API Console and run the analyzer. It is pre-filtered to ChatGPT Desktop and Codex.

👆 You’re all caught up