ChatGPT Connectors: How to Add One and What to Try

ChatGPT connectors let ChatGPT use other apps from inside a conversation, so it can read from them or update them while you talk. You add one in ChatGPT’s settings, under Connectors, by pasting the app’s connector address and signing in. A good first one to try is Dashly, which turns the things you mention to ChatGPT into a live dashboard of your habits, health, money and tasks.

What a connector is

On its own, ChatGPT can only work with what is in the chat. A connector gives it a door to another app. Once it is added, ChatGPT can call that app when a conversation needs it: look something up, create a record, update a number.

Custom connectors are built on MCP, the Model Context Protocol, an open standard that Claude and other assistants use too. That is why the same app, at the same address, can work in ChatGPT and in Claude.

Adding a custom connector

The steps are short:

1. In ChatGPT, open Settings and then Connectors.
2. Choose Create.
3. Paste the connector’s address and save it. For Dashly that is https://dashly.si/mcp.
4. Sign in to the app when ChatGPT asks, and approve what it may do.

That is the whole setup. The connector is now available in your chats, and ChatGPT uses it when it is relevant. The ChatGPT guide has the same steps with the Dashly address ready to copy.

Developer mode

If you open Connectors and there is no Create option, your account may need developer mode for custom connectors. You turn it on in ChatGPT’s settings under Advanced. Then go back to Connectors and Create will be there.

What to try first

The connectors that pay off fastest are the ones you would use without thinking. Look for something that matches what you already ask ChatGPT about.

If you talk to ChatGPT about your day, a tracking connector is a good start. With Dashly connected, try one of these:

• “keep track of my water, 64 ounces a day”
• “log my mood daily on a 1 to 5 scale”
• “remind me to call the dentist friday”

Each one sets up a topic in Dashly. After that, ChatGPT updates it whenever you mention it, without being asked, and your Dashly wall shows each topic as a live tile against its goal. Send a photo of your lunch and the calorie tile moves. Say the invoice is sent and the task closes.

Why tracking is a good use of a connector

Most of what you tell ChatGPT disappears into chat history. Memory keeps a few facts about you, but not the numbers: how much water today, how many workouts this week, how much you spent this month. A tracking connector gives those numbers a home, with dates, so they add up and can be shown.

It also changes what you can ask. “How did this week compare with last?” has a real answer once the record exists, and ChatGPT reads it from Dashly in any new chat. The ChatGPT memory post goes deeper on that difference.

Removing a connector

You stay in control. Remove a connector from ChatGPT’s Connectors settings and it stops working at once. In Dashly you can also see every assistant you have connected, and disconnect any of them from Settings.

How to start

Pick one connector you would use every day and add it. If that is tracking, the Dashly guide for ChatGPT takes about a minute, and the first thing you mention starts filling your wall.