As of 2026, ChatGPT had 700 million weekly active users, and considering the value ChatGPT applications give, this number doesn’t seem to drop. Such massive popularity has converted ChatGPT from a simple chatbot used for everyday purposes into a central hub, where companies can integrate third-party tools and custom data.
Thus, a notion ChatGPT apps have surged, meaning interactive mini-apps that leverage a business’ unique content (wikis, product manuals, brand guidelines, etc.), instructions, and third-party tools to perform specific tasks. With such specialized apps for ChatGPT, companies can run tailored workflows directly inside the ChatGPT interface without needing code.
Custom ChatGPTs: Three main benefits
Here’re major reasons why custom ChatGPT applications are a good choice for your business.
Automation and efficiency
With custom apps for ChatGPT, you can smoothly handle multi-step workflows for routine tasks, including reports generation, long documents summarization, and presentation formatting. The direct connection with third-party business tools like Slack, Salesforce, or Jira will allow pulling meeting notes, automatically assigning tasks, tracking order statuses, generating support tickets, and more. As models are trained and operated on proprietary data, maximum precision and accuracy are guaranteed.
Data sovereignty, security, and control
Tailored ChatGPT apps ensure the total ownership of information, i.e. you can exclude sensitive company-wide information from general model training by default and isolate instances so that interaction histories couldn’t be shared between different bots. Rock-solid security is guaranteed through industry-standard data encryption, multi-factor authentication, data anonymization and redaction, bespoke data retention periods, robust role-based controls, and detailed audit logging. Moreover, you can embed specific compliance frameworks (GDPR, HIPAA, etc.) directly into the ML model’s behavior.
Unified knowledge management and great customer experience
Empowered with centralized access to internal data, your employees are spared the need to navigate and search through disparate folders. Instead, they can instantly query internal information, including policies, technical manuals, or past project histories. On top of that, with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) at hand, your custom ChatGPTs will always deliver contextually accurate answers rather than generic guesses.
Enhance your business efficiency
with custom ChatGPTs
How ChatGPT apps work: A detailed workflow
What’s under the hood of such ChatGPT apps? As opposed to traditional apps that need to be downloaded and require tabs switching, ChatGPT apps work as conversation-native tools directly inside your chat interface and leverage a specific technical framework for ensuring interactive, real-time user experiences.
Such apps are developed upon the architectural core of the OpenAI ChatGPT apps SDK that in turn is built on the Model Context Protocol (MCP). The MCP represents an open standard that securely pairs ChatGPT with third-party data sources and tools. The SDK is used to define the app’s internal logic (the core set of rules and instructions that govern the app’s functions) and its Generative UI (buttons, maps, sliders that appear in the chat).
ChatGPT apps are usually activated through three key methods:
- Direct mention, or, in other words, explicit invocation, means targeting a specific tool for a particular task. You just summon an app by typing the ‘@‘ symbol followed by the app’s name. For example, “@Spotify, create a Latin rock playlist for a birthday party”. The app interface will appear directly within the chat as a React-based widget.
- Contextual suggestion. This method presupposes that ChatGPT monitors all the conversations and then proactively offers apps able to accomplish the detected needs and functions. To wit, if you’re talking about renting a house, ChatGPT might suggest interactive listings from the Zillow app.
- Tools Menu / App Directory is one more way to connect with ChatGPT apps. Once the app is added from the directory, it will be permanently available in the menu.
When you’ve triggered the app, AI agents launch a standardized workflow:
- Account linking. The first time you summon the app, ChatGPT initiates an authentication handshake (using protocols like OAuth) to securely connect to your third-party account. At the same time, you can control what exactly the app can access, restricting the access to the files you don’t want to expose. Once linked, the connection is saved across sessions, until you revoke the access.
- Interactive interface. ChatGPT apps render interactive elements directly in the chat window, representing them as mini-apps inside your conversation. It might include interactive maps for Booking.com, design previews for Canva, or task tabs for Slack — all of them accessed without switching tabs.
- Natural Language Refinement presupposes you can treat the app as a collaborator through iterative follow-ups. Namely, once the app provides you with a generated presentation through Figma, you can simply put a natural language command such as “make the fourth slide more business-like”, and ChtGPT will instantly enhance the output. As apps are smoothly intertwined, you can generate one output and use it for creating other output. For example, you first summarize a project from Jira and then leverage this recap to create a Figma roadmap. Thanks to the integrated agentic memory, the app remembers the preferences indicated earlier in the chat to provide subsequent outputs, in line with your previous instructions.
ChatGPT applications and use cases by industry
Official ChatGPT integrations listed in the ChatGPT App Directory allow companies to perform complex tasks without leaving the chat. Here are some of the ChatGPT app use cases based on industries and business domains.
Source: https://x.com/btibor91/status/1993447242876043302
Travel and real estate
For this industry, you can leverage the following ChatGPT apps:
- Booking.com / Expedia integrations allow users to find hotels and book flights in real time directly in the chat. For instance, you can create a command “@Booking.com, find me a five-star hotel in New York for about $300 per night for April 1-5” and automatically book for a business meeting using a saved corporate card.
- Zillow can help you generate interactive, feature-rich proposals of homes for your clients by using natural language prompts instead manual filters. Such personalized property summaries can include not only property details and interactive content (photos, videos, maps), but also financial guidance with affordability checks and market comparisons. Besides, with Zillow integration, real estate experts are able to optimize their listing descriptions, instantly schedule tours for clients, and give details on pre-approval options.
Marketing and design
Automation around your design workflows and creation of diverse marketing materials is also possible with ChatGPT-powered apps.
- Canva. Robust integrations with these tools will allow you to create instant presentations with fully formatted slides for any business meeting or call. Thanks to connecting with your company’s Canva library, such presentations will not only contain the latest logos, brand colors, and custom fonts, but will also be fully contextualized (based on the content from existing whiteboards, presentations, etc.). Besides from-scratch content, Canva integration into your ChatGPT apps will allow updating texts (making it more conversational or business-like) and doing context-aware translations (while maintaining the original layout and formatting).
- Figma is among other ChatGPT app use cases. By pairing your ChatGPT apps with this tool, you can automatically create branded marketing content, including on-brand social media assets, polished presentations, and editable FigJamdiagrams ( flowcharts, mind maps, etc.) — all with utmost multi-channel consistency. Going further, your product managers can upload a Product Requirements Document (PRD) to the chat to build initial wireframes or a complete screen map for new functionality. Other use cases include defining complex user interactions, design-led website localization, instant website publishing (with no need of a third-party builder).
Business operations
If you want to revamp your everyday business workflows, ChatGPT integrations are a must.
- SharePoint & Google Drive. The connection with these tools enables ChatGPT to securely index your organization’s document library, saving hours otherwise spent digging through numerous folders. Employees can ask any question about the current policy, and the chat will find the specific file and create a recap of key points to provide the answer. The integration also allows performing a cross-document analysis, coming up with a comparison table on the needed aspects and topics. Other functions include drafting emails and other marketing materials based on the project brief in Google Docs and the campaign assets in SharePoint.
- Jira. By using natural language commands, Jira integration with your ChatGPT apps will allow you to perform a variety of tasks. For example, based on the conversation of a meeting, employees can ask to automatically generate a number of Jira tickets for development teams. Product managers can command to summarize blockers in a sprint and offer the tickets that should be prioritized. ChatGPT apps are able to thoroughly analyze bug reports and automatically assign the relevant expert. Ticket updates, tracking, and reading project boards workflows are also easily automated.
Partner with Aetsoft for ChatGPT app development and customization
ChatGPT app use cases show that the implementation of custom ChatGPT into business workflows brings tangible value, no matter the industry you’re in. However, mind the fact that the technical part of this endeavor is quite a challenge.
An AI consulting and development company with multi-year experience, Aetsoft will help you solve all the technical issues. From full-fledged engineering and customization to ChatGPT applications enhancement and scaling, we’re here to assist. Connect with our experts to discuss the details of your project.
