ChatGPT for macOS now works with third-party apps, including Apple's Xcode

OpenAI launched its own ChatGPT app for macOS earlier this year, making it easier for Mac users to interact with the company's AI chatbot. Now, OpenAI is rolling out a huge update to ChatGPT for Mac that adds integration with third-party apps.

ChatGPT now integrates with macOS apps

With the update, users can ask ChatGPT to read the contents of the screen in certain apps. In this first version, third-party software integration works with developer tools like VS Code, Terminal, iTerm2, and Apple's Xcode.

In a demo seen by 9to5Mac, ChatGPT was able to understand code from an Xcode project and then provide code suggestions without having to manually copy and paste the content into the ChatGPT app. It can even read content from multiple apps at once, which is very useful for working with developer tools.

According to OpenAI, the idea is to expand the integration to more apps in the future. For now, third-party app integration is exclusive to the Mac version of ChatGPT, but there’s a catch. The feature requires a paid ChatGPT subscription, at least for now.

ChatGPT Plus and Team subscribers will get access to third-party app integration on macOS starting today, while access for Enterprise and Education users will roll out “over the next few weeks.” OpenAI told 9to5Mac that it wants to make the feature available to everyone in the future, though there’s no estimate on when that will happen.

For privacy reasons, users can control when and which apps ChatGPT can read at any time.

It’s worth noting that with macOS 15.2, which is currently in beta, Apple is adding ChatGPT’s promised integration with Siri, which lets users ask questions related to the content they see on their screen. However, this integration doesn’t yet work with certain apps.

You can download the ChatGPT app for macOS from OpenAI’s website. It is available for free, while ChatGPT Plus subscribers can log in and access their full account. In keeping with this, OpenAI is also making the ChatGPT app for Windows available to free users starting today.