How to Use Plugins in ChatGPT (2026): @ Mentions to Approvals

Key Takeaways

• There are three ways to call a plugin: let ChatGPT pick it when it is relevant, mention it with @, or select + (or Plugins in the composer) and choose it. Some interfaces put extra options under More.
• A plugin acts on things it can find. Name the page, file, project or board, and say which account to use when you have more than one.
• Before a supported action, ChatGPT may show an approval card with Deny or Decline, Allow or Allow once, Allow low-risk actions and, for eligible personal accounts, Always allow.
• Plugins work inside ChatGPT Projects: select + in a project chat or refer to the app by name, and put standing instructions in the project.
• OpenAI's articles set no limit on how many plugins one chat can use. Name each one in the order the work flows, and expect each app's own approval prompts.
• Through the Storyflow plugin, ChatGPT reads boards, builds walls, tables, mind maps, charts and decks, and reports what changed. Photos you attach in the chat do not reach the board; ChatGPT gives you an upload link instead.

Why an Installed Plugin Can Still Do Nothing

You installed the plugin, connected your account, asked a question, and ChatGPT answered from its own knowledge as if the plugin did not exist. Nothing is broken. ChatGPT uses installed plugins automatically when it judges them relevant to the request (Plugins in ChatGPT), so a request that general knowledge can answer may never reach the plugin.

This guide is about the part after installation: how to call a plugin on purpose, how to word a request so the plugin can act on it, what each approval button does, and how plugins behave inside Projects, deep research, voice and tasks. Every mechanic is taken from OpenAI's help articles, linked where used; where OpenAI is silent, the guide says so. The worked example is a campaign board built through Storyflow, our product. If you have not installed anything yet, start with how to install plugins in ChatGPT.

ChatGPT decides when a plugin is relevant

Automatic use is convenient when your request plainly belongs to one connected service, such as "summarize the latest messages in our launch channel" with Slack connected. It is unreliable when the request could go several ways. "Plan the launch" can be answered in chat, written to a Notion page or built on a Storyflow board, and ChatGPT will not always pick the destination you had in mind. When the destination matters, name the plugin.

A general request gets a general answer

The second cause is vague wording. "What did we decide about the budget?" gives a plugin nothing to search for. "Find the Q3 budget page in Notion and list the decisions" gives it a title, a source and a task. OpenAI's own Notion guidance makes the same point: include a page title, project name, workspace or subject when you can (Notion app and setup in ChatGPT).

The Three Ways to Call a Plugin

OpenAI documents the same three routes in its plugin and connected-app articles (Plugins in ChatGPT, Connected apps in ChatGPT). They are not ranked; each fits a different moment.

Mention it with @

Type @ in the composer, pick the plugin, and keep typing your request in the same message. This is the most dependable route, because it removes the guess about which tool to use. It is also the route OpenAI gives for plugins you build yourself with Plugin Creator (Plugins in ChatGPT). With Storyflow, type @, pick Storyflow, and write the request in the same message.

Choose it from the + menu

Select + in the composer and enter the plugin's name, or select Plugins in the composer to see what you can use. OpenAI notes that some interfaces place additional options under More (Connected apps in ChatGPT). Use this route when you are not sure which plugins this chat can reach.

Let ChatGPT pick it

Leave the plugin out of the message and ChatGPT decides. This works best once your requests are specific: "find the onboarding guide and list the steps" with only Notion connected is unambiguous. When several installed plugins could each handle the request, ChatGPT may pick a different one than you meant, so switch back to @.

Write Requests a Plugin Can Act On

An app inside a plugin is a set of actions on an outside service: search, read, create, update. Your request has to map onto one of them. OpenAI's test request for a connected app that seems unused is exactly that: start a new chat and ask for one specific, supported task, such as finding a document by its title (Troubleshooting plugins and apps).

Name the item, not just the topic

Give the plugin something to find: a page title, a file name, a project, a board, a channel, a date range. "The brief" could be forty files; "the Kestrel spring brief in the Clients folder" is one.

Ask for one action per turn while you learn a plugin

A request that bundles find, summarize, rewrite and post into one message fails in ways that are hard to read, because you cannot tell which step broke. Ask for the read first, check it, then ask for the change. Once you know how a plugin behaves, combine steps.

Say which account, when you have more than one

Some apps support several connected accounts. If an app keeps using the wrong one, OpenAI's advice is to review the connected accounts and, when supported, name the account you want in your request (Connecting and managing app accounts).

Say where the result should go

If the answer should stay in the chat, say so. If it should become a page, a task or a board, name the destination and its shape: "as a table with columns for date, channel and owner" or "as four walls on the launch board".

Approval Prompts: What Each Button Does

Before a supported action runs, ChatGPT may show an approval card naming the app and the action it proposes (Managing app permissions). The buttons you see depend on the action and your account.

OpenAI is specific about where Always allow does not appear: not for managed-workspace members, not for automatically available connections, and not for actions that need additional safety review (Managing app permissions).

Read the card before you click

Check three things on every card: the app, the account and the proposed action. The account matters most when you have a personal and a work connection to the same app; approving the right action on the wrong account is an easy way to write something in the wrong place.

Which actions ask first

OpenAI lists the kinds of action that may need extra review because they affect another service, expose sensitive information or are hard to undo:

• Sending an email, message, comment or invitation.
• Creating, editing or deleting a file or record.
• Changing account, access, sharing or security settings.
• Making a purchase or other financial transaction.
• Sharing sensitive personal, financial, health or identity information.

Why some requests are refused without a card

Some requests are denied outright instead of showing an approval prompt, and OpenAI says that depending on the product surface, a sensitive action may be denied rather than offered for approval (Managing app permissions). A saved approval, a changed permission or a reconnected account does not override those safety protections (Troubleshooting plugins and apps), so do not try to approve your way past one.

Set Defaults So You Click Less

Approval cards follow your permission setting. For an eligible personal account, set the default in your profile menu > Settings > Plugins > Permissions; for one connected account, open Settings > Plugins, select the plugin, open that account's ••• menu under Connected accounts, select Settings and review Permissions (Managing app permissions). To go back to the inherited setting, select the option marked Default and Save; a single-account page may show Reset. Managed-workspace members may not get these controls and see prompts set by workspace policy instead. The four levels are explained in the install guide.

A different default per kind of plugin keeps prompts where they are useful:

These are our suggestions, not OpenAI defaults. The setting never widens what an app can reach; it only changes when ChatGPT asks before using access the app already has (Connected apps in ChatGPT).

What a Plugin Sees From Your Chat

Using a plugin shares more than the words of your request. OpenAI describes three kinds of information an enabled app may use (Connected apps in ChatGPT).

Context from the conversation and your memories

An app may use relevant context from your ChatGPT conversation, such as names or slogans already discussed in the chat, to carry out a request. If Memory is on, it may also draw on relevant saved memories. Data shared with an app is handled under that app's terms and privacy policy, which you see before enabling it.

Basic device and location information

Apps may see what a website usually sees: IP address, device or browser type, language and region settings, and an approximate location based on IP, at city or region level rather than a street address or GPS position.

What ChatGPT keeps, and what OpenAI may train on

With Memory on, ChatGPT may remember relevant information it accessed from an app, unless that app restricts it. For Business, Enterprise and Edu, OpenAI says it does not train on information accessed from apps by default; for Free, Plus, Go and Pro, it may when the Improve the model for everyone setting is on. App permissions are separate from these settings, so manage Memory and training choices in their own settings.

Using Plugins Inside a ChatGPT Project

A Project keeps related chats, files and instructions together, and connected apps work in project chats: select + or refer to the app by name (Projects in ChatGPT). Two details make Projects and plugins work well together. Project instructions override your global custom instructions inside the project, so a standing rule such as "build plans on the Kestrel board in Storyflow" applies to every chat there. And Google Drive files and folders and Slack channels can be added as project sources. File and collaborator limits per plan, and when a Project is enough without a plugin, are compared in plugins vs custom GPTs vs Projects.

Put the plugin rule in the project instructions

Write the destination and the shape once: "When I ask for a plan, build it in the Kestrel project in Storyflow as walls for goals, audience, channels and next steps, and keep the chat answer to a summary." Every chat in the project then starts from that rule instead of you retyping it. ChatGPT Projects and apps for creative work covers project setup in depth.

Keep the project and the board separate in your head

The project holds the conversation, its files and instructions. A board holds the plan your team works from. Collaborators on a shared ChatGPT project see the chats; people you invite to a Storyflow board see the plan, by link, without opening ChatGPT. Use both: the project for thinking, the board for the record.

Using Several Plugins in One Chat

OpenAI does not publish a limit on how many plugins one conversation can use, and it describes ChatGPT using installed plugins whenever they are relevant. Its own example of a custom plugin gathers progress from Slack and Linear into one weekly update (Plugins in ChatGPT). So combining sources in one chat is normal use. Three habits keep it predictable.

Chain them in the order the work flows

Name the source first, the destination last: "@Google Drive find the Kestrel brief. Then @Storyflow lay it out as walls on the Kestrel board." Mention each plugin with @ in the part of the request it serves, and the order of the sentence becomes the order of the work. OpenAI's articles do not say whether one message can carry two @ mentions; if your interface takes only one, send the source request first and the destination request as the next message.

Each plugin keeps its own permissions

Every app inside a chat stays under its own controls: workspace availability, provider authorization, supported actions and approval requirements (Plugins in ChatGPT). Expect one card for the Storyflow build and another if you then ask Slack to post a summary, and read each one.

Split the chat when the plugins fight for the same job

If two installed plugins can both hold a plan, say Notion and Storyflow, ChatGPT may pick either when you do not name one. Name the destination every time, or keep one kind of work per chat.

Beyond the Chat Box: Research, Voice, Tasks and Extensions

Plugins reach further than one typed request. OpenAI documents four other places they work, each with its own conditions.

Deep research

Some apps can be used as sources in deep research, so a report can draw on your connected files as well as the web (Connected apps in ChatGPT). Support varies by app; check the app's description.

Voice

Live supports connected apps through the plugins available to your account, and approvals appear as on-screen controls in the voice conversation. Support varies by app; if an app is unavailable in voice, use a text conversation (Connected apps in ChatGPT, Connecting and managing app accounts).

Scheduled and event-triggered tasks

You can ask ChatGPT to automate a task, such as a daily summary. Eligible users can create a task in Work that runs when a connected app receives a matching event; supported events include new Gmail messages, new Slack channel messages and GitHub pull request activity. A task uses only the connected account's existing permissions, and if an action needs approval the task pauses until you review it (Connected apps in ChatGPT). Not every plugin supports events yet.

Plugin extensions

Some plugins include interactive apps you open full screen by selecting their icon in the ChatGPT sidebar; others add interactive views in the conversation, let you mention specific items in a prompt, open and edit supported files, or collect details through forms (Plugins in ChatGPT). On Free and Go accounts you can discover plugins, but extensions are not available (Troubleshooting plugins and apps).

Worked Example: A Campaign Board Built Through the Storyflow Plugin

Harbor & Pine is a fictional four-person brand studio planning a six-week spring social campaign for a coffee roaster client, Kestrel. The client wants a plan they can open without a ChatGPT account. The studio's lead has Google Drive and Storyflow installed in ChatGPT, a Storyflow project called Kestrel granted to ChatGPT with changes allowed, and the default permission set to Allow read actions. The turns below are illustrative; your wording and ChatGPT's exact replies will differ.

The turns, request by request

Turn 5 is where most people expect a different answer. A photo attached to the ChatGPT chat does not reach Storyflow, so the plugin hands over an upload link instead. The link is good for 15 minutes; the studio lead taps it, picks the pictures from a laptop or phone, and each one lands on the board as it uploads.

A campaign brief board of this shape is what turn 2 asks for: one wall per section of the brief, side by side, so the client reads it left to right.

What the client sees

The studio shares a view-only link to the board. It opens with no account; to comment or draw, the client signs in. The deck from turn 7 presents fullscreen and exports as PDF. None of this needs the client to use ChatGPT, which is the point of putting the plan on a board rather than leaving it in a chat.

What the studio did not have to do

No copying of chat answers into a document, no rebuilding the brief as slides by hand, and no "which version is current" thread: the board is the version. On turn 6, the answer comes from the board's own record of changes, so it covers edits teammates made in Storyflow directly as well as the ones ChatGPT made.

What the Storyflow Plugin Can and Cannot Do in a Chat

The plugin gives ChatGPT a fixed set of actions. Everything else Storyflow does happens inside Storyflow, with its own AI.

Plugin actions run on ChatGPT's model and your ChatGPT plan, so they use no Storyflow AI credits. An invited free Storyflow account can make 25 plugin actions a week, reset every Monday (UTC); Plus, Pro and Max have no weekly limit. The board types it builds are shown on the ChatGPT whiteboard, mind map and campaign plan pages.

A full campaign board mixes walls, photos and a mind map on one canvas; through the plugin, ChatGPT builds the walls and the mind map, and your own photos come in through the upload link.

Prompts to Copy

Each prompt names the plugin, the item and the shape of the result. Replace the project and board names with yours.

Reading what is already there

• "@Storyflow list my projects and the boards in each."
• "@Storyflow summarize the Kestrel board: what is decided, what is open, what is overdue."
• "@Storyflow who is on the Kestrel board, and what did each person change this week?"
• "@Notion find the onboarding guide and list the steps for a new team member."

Building something new

• "@Storyflow lay out these notes on the Launch board as walls for scope, tasks, risks and open questions."
• "@Storyflow add three walls to the Launch board, To do, Doing and Done, with this week's tasks as to-dos."
• "@Storyflow make a mind map of campaign ideas around the theme Slow mornings."
• "@Storyflow turn the Launch board into a ten-slide update for investors."

Combining plugins

• "@Google Drive find the spring brief, then @Storyflow lay it out as a campaign brief on the Kestrel board."
• "@Slack summarize the launch channel since Monday, then @Storyflow add the open questions as to-dos on the Launch board."

Inside a project

• Project instruction: "Build every plan in the Kestrel project in Storyflow; keep the chat reply to five lines."
• "Using the files in this project, add a timeline wall to the Kestrel board with one note per week."

Common Mistakes When Using Plugins

Expecting automatic use with several plugins installed

Automatic choice works when only one installed plugin fits the request. Once two or more could, ChatGPT may choose the other one. Mention the plugin with @ whenever the destination matters.

Approving a card without reading the account

OpenAI's advice is to review the app, the account and the proposed action before approving. With a personal and a work connection to the same app, the account is the part people skip, so check it on every write, especially after you add a second account.

Changing permissions to fix missing access

If a plugin cannot see a file, a project or a page, a more permissive approval setting will not help: permissions never widen access. The fix is in the provider, in your workspace's controls or, for Storyflow, in the projects you granted at sign-in.

Attaching photos for the board to the chat

ChatGPT can see an image you attach, but it cannot pass the file to Storyflow. Ask for the upload link instead; it places the pictures on the board as they upload. ChatGPT can offer the link only on a connection that allowed changes at sign-in.

Repeating an action that stopped halfway

If an action stops or its result is unclear, OpenAI's advice is to check the destination before trying again and retry only what you confirm is still needed (Troubleshooting plugins and apps). For a board, open it in Storyflow first; repeating a build adds a second copy.

When a Plugin Is the Wrong Tool

A plugin helps when ChatGPT needs to read or change something outside the chat. For a one-time look at a file, uploading it is faster. For long-form writing or code that stays in ChatGPT, Canvas opens a writing and coding pane beside the chat (Canvas in ChatGPT). For a set of chats that share files and instructions, a Project is enough on its own.

Storyflow is the wrong plugin for some jobs, too. When the plan is a schedule where one task waits on another, use a project management tool: Storyflow has no Gantt chart, dependencies, calendar view or time tracking. It does not send or schedule social posts. Decks export as PDF, not PPTX, with no speaker notes. And the creative work stays yours: Storyflow will never add AI video generation.

The Bottom Line

Using a ChatGPT plugin well comes down to three habits: call it on purpose with @, give it an item it can find and a shape for the result, and read the approval card before you click. Projects make the habits stick by holding the rule, and several plugins in one chat work when you name each in the order the work flows.

Storyflow is our pick when the result is a plan other people will work from: a campaign, a shoot or a launch, built by ChatGPT as a board your team and client open by link. Install it, grant one project, and start with "@Storyflow summarize this board" before you ask it to build.