Connect CMEM to ChatGPT — Agentic install guide

Before you start

This guide connects ChatGPT to the memories in your CMEM account using MCP, the protocol ChatGPT uses to call external tools. Your installed claude-mem client sends memories to CMEM Cloud; ChatGPT searches that cloud copy.

A CMEM Pro account with an active subscription or trial. Start here if you don't have one.
claude-mem installed and connected to cloud sync. Use version 13.12.0 or later. The claude-mem documentation covers installation.
ChatGPT on the web with Developer mode available. Custom connections depend on your account and workspace policy. In a managed workspace, your administrator must allow the connection for your role. See OpenAI's connection guide and workspace plugin controls.
The same CMEM account for sync and ChatGPT. Sign in to the account with your cloud memories when ChatGPT opens the CMEM OAuth window.

Custom setup and a directory listing are separate.

The agentic instructions guide this custom OAuth setup and verify a memory result on your account. Follow the directory roadmap for broader validation, review preparation, and publishing status.

You authorize ChatGPT to read your CMEM memory by signing in to CMEM. You don't need approval for the separate “Sign in with ChatGPT” partner program or a public plugin listing. This setup does not use your ChatGPT subscription to pay for CMEM's observer.

Step 01

Get your memories into CMEM Cloud

If your recent memories already appear in the CMEM dashboard, continue to step 2.

Open CMEM Connect and sign in to the account with your Pro subscription or trial.
On the machine where claude-mem is installed, run npx claude-mem install in your own terminal.
Follow the installer's browser sign-in using the same CMEM account, approve the device code when asked, and select CMEM Pro when the installer prompts you.
Let the installer save the connection settings and restart the worker. You do not need to copy a sync token into an AI chat.
Continue working in a session that claude-mem observes. Open your CMEM dashboard and confirm a new memory appears.

Sync covers memories written after you connect. It does not automatically upload a pre-existing local memory library. A successful connection can still have no search results until new memories arrive.

Keep sync tokens and token-bearing setup prompts out of Claude Code and ChatGPT conversations. The installer saves your private connection settings locally. ChatGPT's connection form only needs the public server URL below.

Step 02

Add CMEM to ChatGPT

Keep CMEM Connect open in one tab and ChatGPT in another.

Use OAuth to approve memory access.

CMEM's OAuth connection is enabled. On CMEM Connect, select ChatGPT under Where do you want it? to see the connection instructions. You approve access in the CMEM sign-in window. If your panel says OAuth is unavailable, contact support@cmem.ai. Do not paste a token into ChatGPT or add one to the server URL.

In ChatGPT, open Settings → Security and login and turn on Developer mode.
Open ChatGPT Plugins and select the + button to add a connection.
Use the connection details below. Choose the public server URL option under Connection, and OAuth for authentication when prompted.

Name: CMEM
Description: Search my claude-mem project memory.
Authentication: OAuth

MCP server URL

https://cmem.ai/api/mcp

Create the connection. When the sign-in window opens, sign in to cmem.ai using the same CMEM account you used for cloud sync.
Review the request to search and read your memories, then choose Allow.
Return to ChatGPT. Open your personal plugins, select CMEM, and use the + button to install it if it isn't installed yet.

OAuth handles authentication. Leave optional OAuth client ID and client secret fields empty so ChatGPT can register the connection. You don't need an OpenAI API key, a CMEM sync token, or a token added to the URL.

These menu names follow OpenAI's current plugin quickstart. If your workspace shows Apps or Connectors instead, use its custom MCP connection flow with the same URL and OAuth settings. Missing creation controls can indicate a workspace permission restriction.

Step 03

Ask about something your agent remembers

Return to the ChatGPT homepage, switch from Chat to Work, and start a new conversation.
Type @ in the prompt box and select CMEM. If your interface uses the composer's + menu, select Developer mode and your connected CMEM app there.
Ask for a memory search using a project name or topic you can see in your CMEM dashboard.

Search my claude-mem memories for recent work on [project name]. Summarize the latest decisions and include the memory IDs you used.

Replace the bracketed text with your actual project name. Ask ChatGPT to search with memory_search, then read a matching result with get_observations or get_summaries. Check that its answer cites the source ID and matches your cloud memory. Review any permission prompt ChatGPT presents.

A responding tool confirms connectivity. An empty account or an empty search does not yet verify memory recall; check cloud sync and account matching before marking setup complete.

Then try a more specific question:

What did we decide about authentication in [project name]? Find the relevant memories and read the details before answering.

CMEM Connect records authenticated requests after ChatGPT uses the tools. If it shows activity from an unidentified client, the returned memory results are a better check than the client label. Select CMEM again whenever you want a new conversation to use it.

What ChatGPT can access

The connection can search and read the cloud memories belonging to the CMEM account you authorize, including project observations and session summaries. Relevant results are returned to ChatGPT so it can answer your request.

Memory access is read-only. These tools cannot create, change, or delete your memories.
Cloud sync determines what is available. Files and memories that remain only on your computer are not exposed by this connection.
ChatGPT conversations aren't automatically captured. Connecting CMEM does not install a ChatGPT observer or save every chat back to claude-mem.
This is separate from ChatGPT's built-in memory. CMEM supplies results through its tools when the connection is used.

For how CMEM handles your data, read our privacy policy.

If something doesn't connect

I can't find Developer mode or the add button

Use ChatGPT on the web and check Settings → Security and login. Developer mode and custom connections depend on your plan and workspace policy. In a managed workspace, ask your administrator for permission to create and use MCP plugins. Enabling it in one workspace may not enable it in another.

Check OpenAI's current availability and setup instructions.

CMEM Connect says OAuth is unavailable

If the ChatGPT panel says OAuth is unavailable, contact support@cmem.ai before continuing. Do not use a manually supplied token as a fallback. If you see older bearer-token instructions, use this OAuth guide once the connection is available.

OpenAI's authentication guide says ChatGPT cannot present custom API keys. Keep the server URL separate from your credentials; never append a token to it.

The connection asks for keys or fails during authorization

Check that the URL is exactly https://cmem.ai/api/mcp and authentication is OAuth. Leave optional client credentials empty. Sign in with the CMEM account that has your active Pro subscription or trial, and complete the Allow step. If you dismissed the sign-in window, start the connection again.

A browser tab showing “Unauthorized” when you open the MCP URL directly is expected: it is a tool endpoint that requires authentication. Add it through ChatGPT's connection form.

CMEM is connected, but ChatGPT doesn't use it

Install CMEM from your personal plugins, then start a new Work conversation. Type @ and select CMEM explicitly. Ask it to “search my claude-mem memories” with a concrete project or topic. If the connection's tools changed, open its plugin settings, refresh the connection, and start a new chat.

The search returns no memories

First check whether the expected memories appear in your CMEM dashboard. If they don't, finish cloud sync and create a new observed session. Existing local history is not automatically backfilled. If the dashboard has the memory, check that ChatGPT authorized the same CMEM account and try a distinctive phrase from that memory.

My recent work is missing or sync has stopped

Check the installed claude-mem client's sync and observer status, and your CMEM account's usage and billing. A paused observer cannot create new memories for ChatGPT to retrieve. Once the underlying sync or observer issue is resolved, verify a new memory in the dashboard before testing ChatGPT again.

It worked before, but access has stopped

Check your CMEM Pro subscription or trial status and the Connected apps section on CMEM Connect. If access was revoked, reconnect in ChatGPT and authorize CMEM again. If an old connection remains after reconnecting, remove it and use the new one.

Still stuck? Email support@cmem.ai with the step that failed and the error text. Keep tokens, setup prompts, and private memory contents out of screenshots.

Disconnect whenever you need to

Open CMEM Connect, find the ChatGPT connection under Connected apps, and choose Revoke. Confirm the action. Remove or disconnect CMEM in ChatGPT's plugin settings as well if you no longer want it available there.

Revoking the app blocks future requests through that connection. It doesn't delete your CMEM memories or remove information already returned to an existing ChatGPT conversation. Manage those conversations separately in ChatGPT.

Manage your connections