OpenAI's ChatGPT for Mac Now Works With Xcode

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The ChatGPT app for Mac is now able to integrate with coding apps like Xcode, VS Code, TextEdit, and Terminal, simplifying workflows where developers copy and paste their code from a coding app into ChatGPT.

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When ChatGPT is given permission to interact with an app like Xcode through a new Work with Apps feature, a selection of code can be sent directly to ChatGPT alongside a prompt. TechCrunch had a demo of the feature, and described how it works:

In a demo with TechCrunch, an OpenAI employee opened the ChatGPT app and an Xcode environment containing a simple project modeling the solar system - although it was missing the Earth. The employee selected an Xcode tab within ChatGPT, which tells the AI chatbot to look at the app, and prompted the chatbot to "add the missing planets." The chatbot was able to complete the task, writing a line of code to represent the Earth that matched the rest of the project's format.

Back in October, GitHub brought Copilot integration to Xcode, with Copilot providing coding assistance right in the app. ChatGPT's integration is not that deep, and it is not able to write code in Xcode. ChatGPT is instead using the macOS Accessibility API for screen readers that allows apps to read text, which also means that it cannot interpret images or videos.

The new ChatGPT for Mac feature is available for ChatGPT Plus and ChatGPT Teams users starting today, with Enterprise and Edu support coming in the near future. Going forward, OpenAI plans to bring this integration to other apps.

Tags: ChatGPT, OpenAI

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Top Rated Comments

NightFox Avatar
NightFox
17 months ago
The day that AI acquired the concept of the solar system without the Earth :oops:
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Seoras Avatar
Seoras
17 months ago
Oh happy day! I've spent the last year cutting and pasting between them.
Android Studio too. I find OpenAI's models better than Gemini.
There is a 3rd party studio plugin for other models like ChatGPT but there's a significant markup in query cost for using it.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PsykX Avatar
PsykX
17 months ago
...so this is live before Swift Assist ? ?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
johnsawyercjs Avatar
johnsawyercjs
17 months ago
To activate the settings to get this to work, if you're using the ChatGPT app (I don't see any settings related to this new feature when accessing ChatGPT using a web browser), install the latest version of the app, then go to its Settings > Work with Apps, enable the option, then also select here "Manage Apps". Selecting an app from the list that will appear will open macOS's System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility pane. Make sure ChatGPT is listed here, then slide its slider to the right. Then back in macOS System Settings > Privacy & Security, open Screen & System Audio Recording, make sure ChatGPT is listed, and slide its slider to the right.

Unfortunately when I followed these steps, including relaunching the ChatGPT app, GPT 4o said it was unable to read what I'd typed into a TextEdit window (just a simple "Hi there!") since it said it didn't have that capability. I switched to GPT o1 preview to see if that would help, then I pointed out that it was supposed to have this capability as of today, and told it to try again, and this time after a web search it acknowledged this new capability, and it tried to read the contents of the TextEdit window but failed:


Certainly! Since you’ve enabled the Work with Apps feature, I’ll attempt to access the content of your open TextEdit window.

[Attempting to retrieve content…]

It appears I couldn’t retrieve the content from TextEdit. Please ensure that all necessary permissions are granted and that the application is properly configured. If you’d like, you can also paste the text here, and I’ll be happy to assist you with it.
ChatGPT then refused to acknowledge that this new app-reading feature exists, even though it had acknowledged it just a few minutes earlier, this time offering its old excuse that it knows nothing beyond its last knowledge cutoff date, currently Oct 2023.

Edit: got it to work. The remaining step, not really explained in the article and not explained by ChatGPT at all, is to look down at the bottom of the ChatGPT window where the row of buttons appears, find the new button that looks like a cursor arrow pointing to the middle of a dashed square, click on it, then in the popup that appears which lists the apps this works with, click the + to the right of the name of the app(s) you want to work with. Then ask ChatGPT to read the open window in the app, giving it the name of the app you want it to look at.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
T
TechnoMonk
17 months ago
Apple and open AI just Sherlocked third party plugins and API wrappers that did this on Mac.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
macduke
17 months ago
Ok I like chatGPT more than most people around here seem to, but there’s no shot I’m giving it direct terminal access!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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