ChatGPT

Not available for self-hosted Crow (planned as a follow-on)

ChatGPT connects to MCP servers from OpenAI's cloud, so it can only reach a server that is publicly accessible on the internet. A self-hosted Crow is deliberately not reachable from the internet — that privacy posture is the product's core promise, not a missing feature. There is currently no supported way to connect ChatGPT to a private Crow. Public cloud-client access is planned as a follow-on after v1, behind a dedicated security review.

Use instead: any of the local MCP clients on the platforms index — they run on your machine and reach your private Crow directly.

The instructions below apply only to the unsupported, advanced case where you have made your gateway publicly reachable yourself (your own domain and reverse proxy — read SECURITY.md first). Tailscale Funnel is not such a path: Crow's gateway rejects funneled requests to MCP and OAuth routes by design.

Prerequisites

• Crow gateway deployed, healthy, and publicly reachable (unsupported — see above)
• A ChatGPT plan with custom MCP access (behind Developer Mode; plan/region availability varies)

Setup Steps

1. Go to ChatGPT Settings → Apps (or Connectors)
2. Click Create or Add MCP Server
3. Enter your Crow SSE endpoint URL:

   https://your-crow-server/memory/sse

4. ChatGPT will discover the OAuth metadata and initiate authorization
5. Authorize the connection when prompted

Repeat for additional servers:

Server	SSE URL
Memory	https://your-crow-server/memory/sse
Projects	https://your-crow-server/projects/sse
External Tools	https://your-crow-server/tools/sse

Transport

• Type: SSE (Server-Sent Events)
• Protocol: 2024-11-05
• Auth: OAuth 2.1 (automatic discovery)

Transport note

ChatGPT historically required the SSE transport; newer ChatGPT releases also accept Streamable HTTP. If a /sse endpoint fails to connect, try the matching /mcp endpoint.

Self-Hosted Crow

A standard self-hosted Crow cannot be connected to ChatGPT — see the notice at the top of this page. In particular, Tailscale Funnel does not work for this: the gateway rejects funneled requests to every MCP and OAuth route (only the blog and a few public files are Funnel-safe). Earlier versions of this page documented a Funnel-based setup; that flow has never worked on current Crow and the instructions were removed.

Verification

After connecting, try asking ChatGPT:

"Use the memory tool to store that ChatGPT is connected to Crow."

Then verify:

"Search my memories for 'ChatGPT'."

Troubleshooting OAuth

If the connector fails to connect or tools don't appear:

• Leave OAuth fields blank if prompted. Crow uses Dynamic Client Registration — ChatGPT discovers OAuth endpoints automatically from the .well-known metadata.
• Verify your gateway's OAuth metadata is reachable. Visit https://your-crow-server/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server in your browser — you should see a JSON response with authorization_endpoint, token_endpoint, and registration_endpoint.
• Check CROW_GATEWAY_URL in your .env file. This must match your actual public URL exactly (including https://).
• Start a new conversation after gateway restarts. OAuth sessions are tied to the gateway process. When the gateway restarts, existing sessions become invalid.
• Try the other transport. Older ChatGPT builds require /sse; newer ones accept /mcp. If one fails, try the other.

Cross-Platform Context

Crow automatically delivers behavioral context when ChatGPT connects. During the MCP handshake, ChatGPT receives Crow's identity, memory protocols, session protocol, and transparency rules — no manual setup required.

This means ChatGPT knows to recall relevant memories at the start of each conversation and store important information automatically.

For deeper guidance, ChatGPT can request MCP prompts:

• session-start — Detailed session start/end protocol
• crow-guide — Full crow.md document (use with platform: "chatgpt" for ChatGPT-specific formatting)
• research-guide / blog-guide / sharing-guide — Workflow guidance for specific features

You can also manually load the full context:

"Use the crow_get_context tool with platform set to chatgpt"

Or fetch it via HTTP:

GET https://your-crow-server/crow.md?platform=chatgpt

Any memories you store in ChatGPT are instantly available from Claude, Gemini, or any other connected platform. See the Cross-Platform Guide for more details.

Context Optimization

ChatGPT connects via the gateway. If you have many integrations enabled, consider using the /router/mcp endpoint instead of connecting each server individually. The router consolidates 126+ tools into 10 category tools, reducing context window usage:

https://your-crow-server/router/sse

See the Context & Performance guide for more details.

Limitations

• ChatGPT's MCP support may vary by plan and region
• The SSE transport is a legacy protocol but is fully functional
• Tool calling behavior may differ slightly from Claude