For developers, Dots are two things at once: a new user of your plugin, and a coworker that can drive Codex. The sources checked here do not document a public "create a Dot" API. OpenAI has expanded the tools described below: ChatGPT plugins (OpenAI's "over 4,000 apps" claim), plugin extensions, MCP events, Codex cloud tasks, and computer use on the Agents API.

All of that is as of September 29, 2026.

#What is the 4,000+ apps claim, exactly?

OpenAI's Dots launch post: "Through our ecosystem of plugins, they can readily connect to over 4,000 apps."

State the wording as OpenAI wrote it. The company has not published, in the pages fetched for this article, a spreadsheet or directory export that independently totals 4,000. "Over 4,000 apps" is OpenAI's plugin-ecosystem figure for Dots on September 29, 2026, not a third-party audit.

Practical meaning for a builder: a Dot can use supported plugins installed and enabled for the account, subject to permissions and the environment where the work runs. Local skills require a connected computer. Those permissions are shared across Dots, ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work, and Codex. The checked guidance directs users to supported ChatGPT plugin connections.

#What can a developer Dot actually do?

OpenAI's own developer scenario is specific. You are working on an app. Your Dot watches customer feedback for recurring requests, scopes smaller improvements and bugfixes, builds and tests them, and brings complete PRs with attached videos of the changes. You keep building the next feature while you review.

Help-center details that support that story:

  • A Dot can create cloud tasks in Codex cloud environments if you create the environment in Codex first.
  • Optional local computer access (desktop app, off by default) lets a Dot create Work or Codex tasks, use local skills, and use your local browser when the cloud browser is blocked.
  • Asking a Dot to start or manage Codex or ChatGPT Work tasks counts toward those usage limits. Talking to the Dot does not count toward ChatGPT conversation limits.
  • For the next month, Dots usage will not count toward eligible Pro, Business, and Enterprise allowances. After that, OpenAI will share plan terms.

A Dot is therefore an orchestrator with a standing identity. Codex remains the git-native coding agent (see the product split). If you want a Dot to work in your repo, provision a Codex cloud environment and connect GitHub the way you already would for Codex.

#What DevDay opened on the plugin platform

ChatGPT and Codex share one plugin directory. A plugin can contain skills (SKILL.md workflows), an MCP server, or both. DevDay 2026 added productized ways to look native inside ChatGPT.

Plugin extensions. OpenAI is opening "the platform we use to build ChatGPT features." Extensions can put your plugin in the sidebar, open conversation panels beside a chat, and add viewers for file types you support. Developer docs list a TypeScript SDK, a Python SDK, and a protocol spec. Canva is cited for sidebar tabs; Figma for composer mentions. Extensions on the web are listed as coming soon to ChatGPT Free and Go. Recap copy says the feature is available to all plans.

Plugin Creator and submission. A builder flow plus a redesigned submission path with clearer feedback. Ranking and recommendations in the directory and in conversations are supposed to help discovery. Users still choose which plugins to use and approve access.

Sites can host plugins on Business, Enterprise, Healthcare, and Edu, so teammates use the same app with their own connected data.

MCP events. OpenAI is adding support for the proposed MCP Events specification so a plugin can start an automation when something happens in a connected app. Example: watch a project board, then draft a plan from linked documents while the user is away.

If you are deciding what to build this week: an MCP server with a tight tool list, a skill pack for a repeatable workflow, and (if you have UI) a sidebar or panel extension is the path OpenAI documented. The checked documentation directs builders to the shared plugin directory.

#Agents API: build your own agent, not OpenAI's Dot

The Agents API entered public beta on September 10, 2026. It exposes the Codex harness: hosted sessions, compaction, tool search, programmatic tool calling, MCP, and multi-agent fan-out. OpenAI hosts the harness. You pick the environment (OpenAI-hosted sandbox, your infra, or partners including Blaxel, Cloudflare, Daytona, DigitalOcean, E2B, Modal, Oracle, Runloop, and Vercel).

DevDay added computer use to that API so agents can interact with software, plus Codex multi-agent capabilities inside your app. Recap copy says this is available through the API and in Codex and ChatGPT Work on Pro 500 and Enterprise.

Pricing: OpenAI says there are no additional fees for the Agents API. You pay for tokens and tools. GPT-6.1 Sol, also launched at DevDay, is $2 / $0.10 cached / $10 per million tokens (USD) for standard input, cached input, and output.

That is how you build a custom long-running agent. It is not documented as the way to mint a consumer Dot with a pet avatar inside ChatGPT. If you need that ChatGPT-native companion, you still go through ChatGPT's own setup flow.

Bedrock Managed Agents take the same Agents API core and run it in AWS. Decisions API (limited preview) points Luna at a finite set of answers for routing and classification.

#Identity, Sign in with ChatGPT, and Marketplace

Sign in with ChatGPT lets people use a ChatGPT account at participating tools. Eligible Plus and Pro users can authorize 16 partners, including Cognition's Devin, Notion, Vercel, T3, OpenClaw, and Dactyl, to draw from plan allowance with per-app limits. Usage counts toward existing plan limits. Connecting an app does not add quota. Identity is described as available globally. Signing in shares name, email, and profile picture if present. Conversations and memory stay in ChatGPT unless the user approves extra access.

OpenAI Marketplace is for enterprise procurement: apply part of an existing OpenAI commitment toward approved partner software. OpenAI lists 32 first partners (Adobe, Figma, Sierra, Decagon, HubSpot, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Harvey, Legora, Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, Baseten, and others on the Marketplace page). You contract with the partner. OpenAI reconciles the commitment. Eligibility depends on the customer's agreement.

Neither of those programs is a Dots SDK. They are how your product can sit next to the same users who now have a Dot.

#Constraints that will shape what you build

As of September 29, 2026, OpenAI has documented these limits:

  • One primary Dot at launch. Extra Dots are described as future.
  • Create on desktop or desktop web only. No mobile create. No mobile web.
  • Age 18+. Pro rollout excludes the EEA, Switzerland, and the UK.
  • Enterprise beta off by default.
  • A Dot cannot initiate calls at launch and cannot have its own email address at launch.
  • The Help Center describes US Pro texting as a limited beta, unavailable to Business and Enterprise; the launch post and messaging guide still say coming soon.
  • Privacy: Auto-review, Custom Rules, and prompt-injection monitoring. Purchases and outbound messages are gated. Disconnecting your plugin does not erase memories already formed.

The sources checked here do not specify per-plugin Dot rate limits, a Dots SLA, or a “Dot-certified” partner program.

#What to watch next

A public Dots API, add-on pricing for extra Dots, post-month-one usage terms, EEA/UK Pro access, and whether plugin extensions get a Dot-specific context object (so you can tell a session is the companion rather than a one-off Work chat) would change the builder map. While those details remain unconfirmed, treat Dots as a new runtime user of the plugin and Codex surfaces you already ship.