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ChatGPT connectors are the integrations that let ChatGPT reach data and tools outside its own chat window. They take two main forms: the connected apps and connectors OpenAI wires into ChatGPT directly, and MCP servers, which expose any tool or data source through the Model Context Protocol. When you ask a question, ChatGPT calls the connector, the connector reads the source in place, and the answer comes back grounded in that live data instead of the model's training.
Related pillar: Connect ChatGPT to your business data
A connector is the bridge between ChatGPT and a system it cannot see on its own. OpenAI ships connected apps and connectors that link ChatGPT to a set list of services, so a user can grant access and start asking questions without building anything. The second path is an MCP server, a small service that exposes a tool or data source through the Model Context Protocol, an open standard. Both solve the same problem. The built-in connectors are turnkey for a fixed list, and MCP servers cover everything else, including your own internal systems.
The connector is the reason an answer can be about your data instead of the model's training. When you ask ChatGPT something, the model decides a connected tool is needed, calls the connector with a read request, and the connector queries the source in place. The result travels back into the conversation, and ChatGPT writes the answer from what it just read. Because the read happens at question time, the answer reflects the current state of the tool, not a snapshot taken hours ago.
These overlap but are not the same thing. Connectors is the broader term for anything that links ChatGPT to an outside system, including the connected apps OpenAI maintains. Plugins was the earlier name for ChatGPT's first integration format, and much of that surface has since been folded into the connector system. MCP is a specific protocol that many of those connections use under the hood. For most people the distinction matters less than the outcome: ChatGPT can read a tool it could not see before.
A connector is only as trustworthy as the access it is given, so check three things before you hand ChatGPT a data source. Scope, which records the connector can reach, and whether it is limited to read access. Revocation, whether you can cut the connection off from the tool itself without help. And retention, what the connector and its operator keep after a query. Read access, revocable tokens, and a clear retention answer are the three signs the integration is safe to connect.
ChatGPT is a natively supported assistant in CorpusIQ, so the same 40+ connectors that serve ChatGPT also serve Claude and Perplexity. CorpusIQ reads the systems you approve at question time, returns the answer with a citation on each figure, and takes no actions inside the connected tools. If you already use ChatGPT and want it answering from your live business data, this is the path.
40+ read-only connectors. ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity. Solo $29.95 a month. 30-day free trial.