Shipping ChatGPT apps as a distribution channel: a six-step launch guide
The author says shipping ChatGPT apps for agency clients lifted existing app revenue 50–200% and lays out a six-step launch path from picking a paid workflow to submitting a plugin.
my unpopular opinion is that ChatGPT apps are the best distribution play rn we spent last month shipping these for agency clients and... +50-200% on income those apps were already doing just you literally get an access to ~900M weekly users for free + you're not struggled with onboarding, since it's built on top of ChatGPT and for user who never used your product, much easier to get in via gpt interface same product, same pricing, just new way of using your product and the fear that OpenAI just clones you is backwards cloning your niche is the ONE move that costs them more than it returns... they'd rather buy you and ship it out of the box here's exactly how to launch it: 1. pick a workflow the client already gets paid for > not a new idea > an existing paid workflow with proven demand 2. build it as an MCP server > streamable HTTP on public HTTPS, usually at /mcp > that server is the whole product surface > UI is optional, tools come first 3. name and describe every tool like the model is reading it, because it is > action-oriented name, a human title, a description of when to use it > accurate annotations and a real input schema > that metadata is what decides whether you get called at all 4. add the UI after the tools already work > expose it as an MCP resource with a ui:// uri > set the type to text/html;profile=mcp-app > your built js gets inlined into that resource and runs in an iframe 5. connect it at http://chatgpt.com/plugins and break it yourself > plus button, add custom MCP server > paste the url with /mcp, create as a plugin > run MCP Inspector first and catch the schema errors there 6. submit at http://platform.openai.com/plugins and overprepare > a zip of the built plugin and publisher verification > a privacy policy url, no privacy policy means no review > 5 positive and 3 negative test cases > release notes and a demo video for the reviewer > a domain token hosted at /.well-known/openai-apps-challenge 7. keep billing on YOUR backend > OAuth 2.1 into the account system you already have > enforce authorization on every request, not through the model > there is no revenue share > the plugin is the channel and the MRR stays yours that's absolutely free traffic and by some reason most of products skip it... the guy below is a good case which shows real efficiency of this approach (he literally made around +$40k monthly income)
This post quotes another post: x.com/skirano/status/2107236581442720203