2026-07-10

New: Apps or "we built ChatGPT Sites the right way"

Archestra Apps are mini apps you build by chatting. They render in Archestra, in Claude, or by URL — and reach your data through MCP with per-user credentials, audit logs, and guardrails.

New: Apps or "we built ChatGPT Sites the right way"

Written by

Joey Orlando

Okay, this is a little funny. We spent the last month building mini apps into Archestra and were set to ship today — and then yesterday OpenAI announced nearly the same feature: ChatGPT Sites. Seems like we built pretty much the same thing, but got the distribution and the data layer right 🤭

What is it?

A portfolio overview dashboard App with revenue, margin, and expenses charts
A portfolio overview dashboard App with revenue, margin, and expenses charts
A 3D CAD viewer App showing a turbine manifold assembly with dimensions
A 3D CAD viewer App showing a turbine manifold assembly with dimensions
A pub round ledger. Yes, we actually use it in the London office.
A pub round ledger. Yes, we actually use it in the London office.
Neon Dodge, a mini game built as an App
Neon Dodge, a mini game built as an App
You build an App by talking to Archestra chat — and you get it immediately. No deploy needed.

Our Apps aren't locked inside Archestra

People will use apps alongside AI in most cases. It's just so handy to spin up a quick data viewer and keep tossing data back and forth in the chat.
A while back, we added support for a new MCP extension called MCP Apps, which lets MCP servers ship UI. Archestra's Apps are also technically MCP Apps, exposing their UIs via the MCP Gateway.
Archestra Apps also work in Claude Cowork and other AI agents. That's the crucial difference.

Apps should talk to third-party data

Imagine you build a task-tracker app. Your tasks live in Jira. How will your app gather data from Jira? Which credentials will it use? And if you share this app with a colleague, whose credentials get used then?
In Archestra, apps touch the data layer via MCP:
  1. If you build your own MCP server, you'll be able to build an app for it — same for anything in your private registry.
  2. They use Archestra's MCP credentials resolution engine — enterprise-managed auth with Entra ID on-behalf-of, Okta... Credentials are taken care of.
  3. Everything is logged for audit.
  4. Apps touch data through the guardrails engine.

Archestra is self-hosted and open source

I don't see a reason not to brag about it any time I have a chance 🤭. Which obviously means Archestra Apps run in your infrastructure.

Try it yourself!

Archestra 1.3.8 "Lyra" is out today — update to 1.3.8 or newer, open a chat, and describe the app you want over your connected data. Publish it for yourself, your team, or the whole org.
The Apps docs cover the SDK, the data store, and the trust model.