Popcorn Editor
Documentation AI agents (MCP)

AI agents (MCP)

Connect ChatGPT

Last updated Aug 23, 2026

ChatGPT can connect to Popcorn Editor as a custom connector over MCP. Once connected, ChatGPT can browse your templates, author Design Documents, and create or update designs in your workspace, using its own model, so no Popcorn AI credits are consumed.

Two constraints are worth knowing before you start, because they trip most people up:

  • Developer mode is the only route. ChatGPT's built-in connector list is curated by OpenAI. Adding your own MCP server, which is what Popcorn is, only becomes possible once developer mode is switched on. It is a paid-plan ChatGPT feature.
  • It is a web feature. You cannot add or use a custom connector from the ChatGPT mobile app. Set it up and use it in a browser.

If that does not suit you, Claude connects on web, desktop and mobile with no developer mode required. See Where you can connect.

You'll need your MCP endpoint URL. It looks like:

https://popcorneditor.com/mcp/popcorn

Your exact URL is shown in the app under Settings → Your agent access.

Step 1: enable developer mode

In ChatGPT on the web:

  1. Open Settings, then the section covering apps and connectors.
  2. Open Advanced settings.
  3. Turn Developer mode on and accept the warning.

On Team, Enterprise and Edu plans an administrator can disable developer mode for the whole organization or restrict which connectors are allowed. If the toggle is not there, that is usually why.

OpenAI reorganizes this area regularly, and it has been called apps, connectors and plugins at different times. The setting you are looking for is developer mode, under the advanced settings of whichever section currently holds your connectors. The Popcorn side never changes.

Step 2: create the connector

  1. Go to the connectors page and choose to add or create one.
  2. Give it a name (for example Popcorn Editor).
  3. Paste your MCP server URL (https://popcorneditor.com/mcp/popcorn).
  4. Set Authentication to OAuth.
  5. Create it.
  6. You're redirected to a Popcorn sign-in page. Sign in, then click Authorize on the consent screen.

The connector dialog has no field for pasting an agent token, so use OAuth. That's fine: Popcorn's MCP server fully supports OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration, so you don't need to enter any Client ID or Secret anywhere. OAuth connections can both read and write (create and edit designs).

About the warning ChatGPT shows. ChatGPT tells you a custom connector can read and write data, and asks you to confirm you trust it. That is expected here: writing is how the assistant creates and edits your designs. What a connected agent can actually touch, and what it can never touch, is spelled out in Is it safe to connect an AI agent?.

Step 3: use it in a chat

The connector isn't active in every conversation by default. In the chat composer, open the tools menu and enable your Popcorn connector for that conversation. ChatGPT will then call Popcorn's tools as needed.

Try it

With the connector enabled, ask:

Read Popcorn's design authoring guide and schema, then create an A5 flyer
for a weekend farmers market with bold type and warm colors. Validate the
design document before creating it, then give me the editor link.

ChatGPT should call get-schema, loop validate-design until the document passes, call create-design, and reply with an editor_url you can open directly.

Notes

  • Access tokens expire after 24 hours and refresh automatically for up to 30 days. To revoke access, remove the connector in ChatGPT; access lapses at the next refresh.
  • Everything is scoped to your active workspace and permission-checked server-side. Requests are rate-limited to 60 per minute per user.
  • ChatGPT's connector features and plan requirements are OpenAI's and may change. Check OpenAI's documentation if the settings don't match what you see.

Next steps

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