---
title: "Connect while to ChatGPT over MCP"
url: https://while.sh/en/guides/connect-chatgpt/
author: "Aloïs Oddon, co-founder of Nextmap"
updated: 2026-11-05
---

# Connect while to ChatGPT over MCP, to deploy your apps

ChatGPT already writes your tools in the conversation. Connected to while over MCP, it also deploys them, with their database, and asks for your approval on what matters.

## Prerequisites

- ChatGPT Business, Enterprise or Edu, on the web (source 1).
- On Business, an admin or owner of the workspace, who adds the server and publishes it for the team (source 1).

## Step 1: Add while as an MCP server

In ChatGPT, open Plugins, click "+", then choose Add custom MCP server. Paste the address of while's MCP server (source 1):

```text titre="MCP server address"
https://app.while.sh/mcp
```

Choose OAuth authentication, then tick the box that accepts the risk warning (source 1).

## Step 2: Authorize it in your browser

A while page opens. Choose "A new app", then click Authorize.

## Step 3: Call it in the conversation

In a new conversation, type @ and choose while (source 1).

## What your agent does

ChatGPT has no terminal: it sends your app's files to while in its tool calls, then deploys it. For a large project, an agent that works in a terminal, like Codex, is faster.

## Deploy what ChatGPT just wrote

> You, to your agent: Deploy this app with while.

ChatGPT writes while.yaml, sends the code, and gives you your app's address, over HTTPS.

## Understand an error

> You, to your agent: Why has the app been returning errors since this morning?

ChatGPT reads the logs and the grouped errors in while, finds the cause and fixes it.

## Query your database

> You, to your agent: How many sign-ups this week?

ChatGPT reads your database in SQL over MCP, with your permissions on the data, and can't write to it.

## Go back to the previous version

> You, to your agent: Go back to the previous version.

In the 30 minutes after a deployment, the previous version comes back in a second. After that, it takes a few seconds.

## Next steps

- [Try while without an account](/en/docs/get-started/try-without-an-account/)
- [Connect Codex](/en/guides/connect-codex/)
- [Compare the hosts that have an MCP server](/en/comparisons/mcp-hosting-claude-code/)

## Sources

1. [ChatGPT, custom MCP servers](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12584461-developer-mode-and-mcp-apps-in-chatgpt), 2026-11-05

## Questions

### Which ChatGPT plan do I need?

Business, Enterprise or Edu, on the web: those are the plans that add a custom MCP server, with read and write access (source 1).

### Does my agent see my keys?

No: your keys stay in while, and calls to an external API go through while, which adds the key.

### What can ChatGPT do without me?

It can deploy, and read the logs and the database. Sensitive actions, like deleting a production database, wait for your approval.