·guide·Fasad Salatov
How to connect an MCP server to ChatGPT
ChatGPT supports custom MCP connectors. Here is the exact flow — and the one dropdown that trips everyone up.
ChatGPT can talk to remote MCP servers through custom connectors. The flow is short once you know the gotcha.
Steps
- In ChatGPT open Settings → Connectors (developer/beta mode).
- Create / New connection and paste the server's URL.
- Set Authentication:
- OAuth — for servers that implement it (like the Unyly Gateway). Click Authorize, sign in.
- No authentication — for public servers or when the token is already in the URL (
?token=…).
- Confirm the security notice and create it.
The gotcha
ChatGPT defaults Authentication to OAuth. If your server uses a token-in-URL instead, that default fails with "does not implement OAuth". Switch it to No authentication and it works.
stdio servers don't apply
ChatGPT connectors are remote-only (Streamable HTTP). A local stdio MCP has to be exposed over HTTP first — or reached through the Unyly Gateway, which does that for you.
Browse remote-ready MCPs at unyly.org/browse.