Connect apps to ChatGPT Dots and set what they can do

Your dot uses your apps through ChatGPT plugins. You connect an app once, pick how much your dot can do there without asking, and it can read and act in that app from then on.

#The three kinds of connection

Before you connect anything, it helps to know that a dot has three separate kinds of connection, and apps are only one of them.

Connecting one never connects another. Adding your dot to Slack gives you a place to talk to it, and your inbox stays closed until you connect Gmail as an app.

#Connect an app

Your dot starts with every plugin already on your ChatGPT account, so look before you connect. These four steps check what's there and add what's missing.

Walkthrough

Connect an app

Marker 1 Marker 2
1. Everything under Plugins is an app your dot can use right now.
2. Pick one to point a single message at that app.
Image: Zinho Automates
1See which apps your dot already has
Click + in the box where you message your dot. A brand-new account still lists a few built-in plugins here, such as Documents, Spreadsheets and PDF.
Image: Taha El Harti

2Ask for a job, then click the connect button
If the app you want isn't in that list, ask your dot for something that needs it, such as "Send me a short test email". It tells you the app isn't connected and puts a button in the chat. Click Connect with Gmail, then sign in on the page that opens.
Image: Taha El Harti

3Check the button says Connected
Back in ChatGPT, the button has turned grey and reads Connected with Gmail, with a tick. Your dot picks the job up where it stopped.
Marker 1 Marker 2 Marker 3
1. Search for the app by name.
2. Three dots: this app is already connected.
3. A plus: click it to connect this one.
Image: Skill Leap AI
4For any other app, use the Plugins page
Click the @ icon in the narrow bar at the far left of ChatGPT to open Plugins. Find the app with Search plugins, click the + on its row, and sign in.

If your dot can't find something you know is there, check which account you connected.

#Choose how much your dot can do without asking

Once an app is connected, it has a permission level of its own. To change it, open Plugins, click ... on the app's row, choose Manage, then open Permission.

The Permission screen for Gmail with four choices: Always ask, Read-only actions, Allow low-risk actions (selected) and Allow all actions, each with a line of explanation — Image: OpenAI

A newly connected app starts on Allow low-risk actions. Each level lets a little more happen without a question, and the next section lets you try all four.

#Try it: the permission playground

Pick an app and a level, and watch where each request lands.

The permission playground

Pick an app and a permission level. Six things you might ask for sort themselves into what your dot just does, what waits for your OK, and what can't happen.

App

What this level means

Just does it0

Asks you first0

Can't0

The six requests

Find last week's email from a client
Write a reply in the chat for you to look at
Send the reply you told it to send
Send a reply when you only asked for a draft
Permanently delete old emails
Email someone on its own, with no request from you
Check tomorrow's meetings
Suggest three free times in the chat
Add the event you told it to add
Send invites when you only asked for free times
Permanently delete an event
Move a meeting on its own, with no request from you
Open a doc and pull out the numbers
Outline a report in the chat from two docs
Create the new doc you told it to create
Share a doc when you only asked for a summary
Permanently delete a folder
Edit a file on its own, with no request from you

What each level does with them

Level	Just does it	Asks you first	Can't
Not connected	Nothing	Nothing	Everything in that app
Always ask	Nothing	Reading, drafting, sending, creating, deleting	Acting on its own
Read-only actions	Reading, drafting in the chat	Sending, creating, deleting	Acting on its own
Allow low-risk actions	Reading, drafting in the chat	Sending, creating, deleting	Acting on its own
Allow all actions	Reading, drafting, and the sends and changes you asked for	Anything you didn't ask for, and every permanent delete	Acting on its own

What each level means

Not connected: Your dot has no way into the app. It tells you the app isn't connected and offers a button to connect it.
Always ask: ChatGPT will ask before using this app.
Read-only actions: ChatGPT can use the app to read without asking, but will ask before making changes.
Allow low-risk actions: ChatGPT will automatically approve low-risk actions but may deny actions involving sensitive information. This is the level a newly connected app starts on.
Allow all actions: ChatGPT won't ask before using this app to read or take action. You can choose this level for one app at a time. It isn't offered as the default for all your plugins.

Why each request lands where it does

The app isn't connected: The app isn't connected, so there's nothing for your dot to use.
Always ask: At this level ChatGPT asks before using the app at all, even to read.
Reading: Reading changes nothing in the app, so there's nothing to approve.
Drafting in the chat: The draft lives in your conversation. Nothing in the app changes.
A change at Read-only actions: Read-only stops at reading. Any change in the app waits for your OK.
A change at Allow low-risk actions: OpenAI doesn't list which actions count as low-risk. Sending and creating can still need your OK, and an action that involves sensitive information can be refused.
A change you asked for at Allow all actions: The app won't prompt. Your request has to cover what goes out and who it goes to.
Something you didn't ask for: Asking for a draft isn't permission to send. Your dot stops and checks with you at every level.
A permanent delete: Permanently deleting data needs your confirmation every time, whatever the level.
Acting on its own: When your dot looks through a connected app without being asked, it only has read-only tools. They can't send a message or change anything.

Three of the six never reach "Just does it", whatever the level. Open on its own page

OpenAI doesn't publish which actions count as low-risk. For certainty about one kind of action, write a rule for it.

#What your dot reads without being asked

A connected app isn't only used when you ask. Your dot looks through it on its own to find ways to help.

It only reads. Background reading can't send a message or change anything in the app.
Old connections count. An app you connected to ChatGPT last year is open to your dot from its first minute.
It remembers what it reads. Taking the app away stops new reading, and what your dot already learned stays in its memory.

To take an app away, open Plugins, click ... on its row and choose Uninstall.

#Check yourself

One question before you move on.

Predict

You added your dot to Slack this morning. Can it read your Gmail now?

Yes. Slack and Gmail are both apps, so one covers the other
No. Slack is only a place to talk to it
Only the emails you forward to it in Slack

Show the answer

No. Slack is only a place to talk to it

Messaging your dot in Slack doesn't connect your inbox. Gmail is its own connection, with its own permission level.

Your apps are connected. Next, decide what your dot has to ask you about.

Next lessonCustom rules and approvals

Your dot reads and drafts freely and asks before it sends, buys or deletes. Add a custom rule in Settings to change that, with one of four behaviors.

Can my dot act when something changes in an app, without a schedule?

Yes, where the app supports it. Tell your dot what to watch for, such as new bug reports in a Slack channel, and ask it to confirm what it set up. Give your dot a job covers this.

Can I connect apps on a work account?

Your workspace admin decides which apps are available and what they can do. Dots for workspace admins has the settings.

6 October 2026
Rebuilt as a lesson with the real screens and the permission playground.
5 October 2026
First published.