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ChatGPT Integration

ChatGPT supports Model Context Protocol (MCP) . You can point ChatGPT at the SearchMCP remote endpoint and include your API key via headers. Availability and features may vary by plan (see OpenAI’s docs).

Prerequisites

  • A SearchMCP API key
  • A ChatGPT plan with MCP support (availability may differ)
  • SearchMCP endpoints: https://api.searchmcp.io/mcp (modern), /sse (legacy)

See OpenAI MCP docs  for availability and setup details.

Add the SearchMCP server to ChatGPT

  1. Open ChatGPT settings and locate the MCP/third-party tool connections section.
  2. Create a new remote MCP server connection.
  3. Set the URL to https://api.searchmcp.io/mcp (StreamableHTTP).
  4. Add a header:
x-api-key: smcp_<YOUR_API_KEY>
  1. Save, then test by asking ChatGPT to perform a web search (it should invoke the SearchMCP tool).

If your ChatGPT workspace exposes a “Connectors”/“Tools” UI, choose “Remote MCP”, paste the URL, and add the header above. For org-specific environments, consult your admin or OpenAI docs.

Optional: verify the endpoint locally

Before wiring ChatGPT, sanity-check the server with the MCP client shim:

npx mcp-remote https://api.searchmcp.io/mcp --header "x-api-key: smcp_<YOUR_API_KEY>"

This confirms your API key and endpoint are reachable over StreamableHTTP.

Alternative: OpenAI Agents SDK

Teams embedding ChatGPT via code can consume MCP using OpenAI’s Agents SDK:

// Pseudocode: register a remote MCP server for your agent
// See: https://platform.openai.com/docs/mcp
import {createAgent} from '@openai/agents';
import {mcp} from '@openai/agents/mcp';
 
const searchMcp = mcp.remote({
    url: 'https://api.searchmcp.io/mcp',
    headers: {'x-api-key': 'smcp_<YOUR_API_KEY>'}
  });
 
const agent = createAgent({
    name: 'search-agent',
    tools: [searchMcp], // MCP tools are now available to the agent
  });
 
// ...invoke your agent as usual

Exact APIs may differ by language/runtime. See OpenAI MCP docs .

Troubleshooting

  • 401 Unauthorized — Check the X-API-Key header and key validity.
  • Initialize errors — Ensure ChatGPT creates a session on the first call; the server responds with Mcp-Session-Id which the client must echo.
  • Legacy vs modern — Prefer /mcp (StreamableHTTP). SSE (/sse + /message) is for legacy clients only.

Next steps

Last updated on
Client SDKsClaude Desktop