Connect ChatGPT via remote MCP

ChatGPT connects to MCP servers over the network via developer mode. To configure remote access:

1. Install a tunnel provider — Neotoma's --tunnel flag needs either ngrok or Cloudflare Tunnel (cloudflared) installed on your machine. Install one:

   # ngrok (via Homebrew)
   brew install ngrok
   ngrok config add-authtoken <YOUR_NGROK_TOKEN>
   
   # — or Cloudflare Tunnel —
   brew install cloudflared

   ngrok requires a free account and auth token from dashboard.ngrok.com. You can set the token as an environment variable instead of running ngrok config:

   # In your shell profile or .env
   export NGROK_AUTHTOKEN=<YOUR_NGROK_TOKEN>

   Cloudflare Tunnel works without an account for quick tunnels. If both providers are installed, Neotoma auto-detects which to use; pass --tunnel-provider ngrok or --tunnel-provider cloudflare to choose explicitly.

2. Start the API server with a tunnel — the --tunnel flag auto-provisions a public HTTPS URL via ngrok or Cloudflare (whichever is installed)

   neotoma api start --env prod --tunnel

   The tunnel URL is printed to the console and written to /tmp/ngrok-mcp-url.txt. You can also use a reverse proxy or your own domain instead of --tunnel.

   Your Neotoma API host

   https://

   Optional. Enter host only; URLs below use https:// + this host.

3. Enable developer mode in ChatGPT — go to Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode. On Business plans only admins/owners can enable it; you can also enable it when creating an app via Workspace settings → Apps → Create.
4. Add Neotoma as a remote MCP server — in ChatGPT's developer mode settings, add your tunnel URL (e.g. https://<tunnel-host>/mcp). ChatGPT authenticates via OAuth; the Neotoma API supports the MCP OAuth authorization flow.