# Connect ChatGPT to Write
### What connecting means
Write can work alongside an AI assistant. Once connected, the assistant can do in your books the kinds of things you do—read a chapter, draft or revise a scene, keep notes, look something up in the codex, build a PDF—when you ask it to. It signs in as you, so it sees only the books you can see, and nothing in them changes unless you ask for it.
Connecting takes a couple of minutes, and you only do it once per app.
#### Before you start
Adding your own connections is something ChatGPT offers on its paid plans (Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu). On the free plan the **Add** button described below isn't there, and nothing on our side can change that. If you're on a Business or Enterprise workspace, an administrator may need to switch connections on for the workspace first.
The written steps are below the video.
#### Connect ChatGPT in your web browser
1. Click your profile icon in the lower left and choose **Settings**.
2. Choose **Plugins** from the left menu.
3. At the top of the page, click the **Browse directory** button.
4. At the top right of the screen, there will be an **Add** button. Click it, and then select **Add custom MCP server**.
5. On the next screen, give it a name you'll recognize—*AuthorTools Write* is a good one—and paste this address into the **Connection** field: `https://write.authortools.net/mcp`
6. Click **Create as plugin** at the bottom of the window.
7. ChatGPT will validate that it can connect, and then show you a connection button for you to continue to our site
8. On our site, click **Allow** and then ChatGPT will be authorized to use the Write software.
[](https://help.authortools.net/uploads/images/gallery/2026-10/chatgpt-web-mcp-add.png)
#### Connect ChatGPT in the desktop app
1. Click your profile icon in the lower left and choose **Settings**.
2. Choose **Plugins** from the left menu.
3. At the top right of the screen, there will be an **Add** button. Click it, and then select **Add custom MCP server**.
4. On the next screen, give it a name you'll recognize—*AuthorTools Write* is a good one
5. On the next row, is **Type**. Change that from STDIO to **Streamable HTTP**
6. Paste this address into the **URL** field: `https://write.authortools.net/mcp`
7. Click **save** at the bottom of the window.
8. The page will reload and it will look like nothing has happened. Underneath the **"Plugins"** title, click the tab that says **"MCPs"** (with a number following).
9. **authortools\_write** will be listed under servers with an **Authorize** button. Click that button to be taken to our site
10. On our site, click **Allow** and then ChatGPT will be authorized to use the Write software.
*Screenshot: The ChatGPT desktop app's Add custom MCP server form, with the name AuthorTools Write, Type set to Streamable HTTP, and https://write.authortools.net/mcp in the URL field.*
*Screenshot: The ChatGPT desktop app's Settings → Plugins page with the MCPs tab open, showing authortools\_write listed under servers with its Authorize button.*
#### About the permission screen
When you allow access, Write is granted both reading and writing in one step; there isn't a read-only option at the moment. If you'd rather an AI only looked and never changed anything, the simplest way is to say so in your conversation—and know that whatever it does is saved in your book's history, where you can see it and undo it.
#### What to expect once it's connected
Start a new chat and try *What books do I have in Write?* ChatGPT asks you before it changes anything in a book—adding a scene, say, or renaming a chapter—and just goes ahead with reading. That's ChatGPT's own habit with connected tools, not a sign that something is wrong, and it's a good one.
#### If something doesn't work
- **The sign-in page wants a password you don't recognize.** It's asking for your *Author Tools* account, not your Claude or ChatGPT account.
- **There's no Add button.** Custom connections are part of ChatGPT's paid plans; see *Before you start* above.
- **ChatGPT only offers to search Write, or says it can read but not change anything.** ChatGPT has two ways of using a connection: a plain "research" mode, which can search and read, and a fuller mode that uses everything Write offers. If you're seeing only the first, look in ChatGPT's settings for the connection, under its advanced options, for a switch called **Developer mode**, and turn it on. Then start a new chat.
- **The connector sits there saying "not connected."** Usually the address was mistyped. Remove it and add it again, copying the address from this page.
- **You signed out of Author Tools in your browser and expected the AI to stop.** It won't—the connection has its own sign-in. To stop it, see [Disconnect an AI](https://help.authortools.net/link/28).