OpenAI is turning ChatGPT plugins into app-like tools with a permanent spot in the sidebar, interactive panels and automations that fire when events occur in connected services, TechCrunch reported Tuesday. The company announced the changes at its DevDay developer event, along with a new Plugin Creator meant to make building and submitting plugins easier.

What Happened

Until now, ChatGPT plugins have mostly served as links to workplace services such as Slack, SharePoint, Airtable and Google Drive. The update gives each plugin a dedicated home in the ChatGPT sidebar, so users can return to it without starting from a conversation.

Developers can also build interactive panels, which let users work inside a connected service while the chat continues alongside it. Plugins can ship file viewers tailored to their own formats, so a user can open a document or data file specific to that application without leaving ChatGPT.

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The most significant technical change is automation. OpenAI is adopting the Model Context Protocol (MCP) Events specification, a proposed extension to MCP, so that plugins can kick off workflows when something happens in a connected app. OpenAI said it has also simplified how users add and manage those automations.

On the developer side, the Plugin Creator tool is meant to streamline building a plugin, and a reworked submission process promises clearer feedback during review. OpenAI has changed how plugins are ranked and recommended in its directory and how they surface inside conversations. Users approve the permissions each plugin asks for one plugin at a time.

Plugins can also be hosted inside ChatGPT Sites, the lightweight websites users build in ChatGPT. That lets a person share a plugin with colleagues, who then use it with their own data and permissions.

TechCrunch's report did not include pricing, a rollout schedule or which ChatGPT plans will get the features.

Why It Matters

The changes move ChatGPT closer to an operating environment for third-party software rather than a chatbot that calls tools on request. A sidebar home and working panels give developers a reason to build something users open repeatedly, and discovery inside conversations gives them distribution that a standalone app store listing does not.

Event-driven automation matters for agent workloads in particular. A plugin that reacts to a new ticket, file or message in a connected service can act without a user typing anything, which extends ChatGPT from answering questions to running background workflows. Building that on MCP, an open protocol many AI vendors already support for tool connections, may make it easier for developers to reuse the same integration across platforms, depending on how the Events specification settles.

The per-plugin permission prompts and the Sites sharing model, where each colleague brings their own credentials, show OpenAI trying to address the access-control questions that come with letting third-party code act on workplace data.

Context

The plugin push extends a broader effort by OpenAI to keep users working inside ChatGPT. TechCrunch placed it alongside the company's Pages, Slides and Space features, which bring document, presentation and workspace tools into the same interface where users already chat.

What to Watch

Key open questions are when the features reach users, which subscription tiers get them, and how quickly developers adopt the Plugin Creator. The maturity of the MCP Events specification, which is still a proposal, will determine how far event-triggered automations can go and whether other platforms that support MCP follow OpenAI's lead.