OpenAI is steadily turning ChatGPT from a chatbot into a hub for everyday tasks. The company has broadened the set of third-party apps that work inside the chat window to include Uber, DoorDash, Target, Wix and Angi, joining earlier partners such as Spotify, Expedia, Booking.com, Canva, Figma, Zillow and Quizlet. Users can now book a ride, order a meal, plan a trip, design a graphic or shop from a retailer without leaving the conversation.
The feature, called apps in ChatGPT, was introduced at OpenAI’s DevDay developer conference on October 6, 2025, with a small group of launch partners. Since then OpenAI has been adding services in batches, with the latest additions reported in mid-March 2026.
How it works
A user can call an app by naming it at the start of a message, for example asking Spotify to build a playlist for a dinner party or asking DoorDash to order from a nearby restaurant. The first time an app is used, ChatGPT guides the user through linking the relevant account. After that, interactive elements such as maps, playlists, booking forms and shopping carts appear directly inside the chat, so the transaction is completed in place rather than through a redirect.
ChatGPT can also suggest an app on its own when a request matches one, such as surfacing Zillow listings when someone asks about homes in a particular city. OpenAI has said apps must meet its usage policies and that users control which accounts are connected.
Built on an open protocol
The apps run on the Apps SDK, which OpenAI built on top of the Model Context Protocol, an open standard originally developed by Anthropic for connecting AI models to external tools and data. Using a shared protocol lowers the cost for companies to integrate and, in principle, allows the same integration to work across different AI assistants. DoorDash’s integration, for example, lets users turn a meal plan into a shopping list and then order the ingredients from participating stores.
A second try at an app ecosystem
This is OpenAI’s second attempt to build a platform around ChatGPT. The GPT Store, launched in January 2024, let anyone publish custom versions of ChatGPT, but it produced few breakout successes and little revenue for creators. The new approach is different in kind: rather than user-made chatbots, it brings established brands with real transactions into the chat, and OpenAI has said it plans to let developers monetize through its Agentic Commerce Protocol, which supports in-chat checkout.
With ChatGPT’s weekly audience in the hundreds of millions, according to OpenAI’s public statements, the platform is attractive to retailers and service providers that want to be present where people already ask for recommendations. Analysts at eMarketer have described the travel integrations in particular as pushing ChatGPT deeper into commerce, where it competes with Google’s efforts to embed shopping into Gemini and AI Mode in Search.
If the strategy holds, the long-term vision OpenAI is describing is one in which users complete much of their daily digital activity through a single conversational interface instead of switching between dozens of separate apps. Whether consumers adopt that habit at scale, and whether partners find the economics worthwhile, remains to be demonstrated.
