OpenAI's ChatGPT for Mac Now Works With Xcode

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.

open ai logo
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.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID

Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found. Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
Johny Srouji

Apple's Chipmaking Chief Johny Srouji Responds to Report About Him Potentially Leaving

Monday December 8, 2025 9:23 am PST by
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future. "I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
Johny Srouji

Apple Chip Chief Johny Srouji Could Be Next to Go as Exodus Continues

Sunday December 7, 2025 10:41 am PST by
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...
google pixel 10

Switching Between iPhone and Android Will Get Easier With New Apple and Google Collaboration

Monday December 8, 2025 11:10 am PST by
Apple and Google are teaming up to make it easier for users to switch between iPhone and Android smartphones, according to 9to5Google. There is a new Android Canary build available today that simplifies data transfer between two smartphones, and Apple is going to implement the functionality in an upcoming iOS 26 beta. Apple already has a Move to iOS app for transferring data from an Android...
Intel Inside iPhone Feature

Apple's Return to Intel Rumored to Extend to iPhone

Friday December 5, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Intel is expected to begin supplying some Mac and iPad chips in a few years, and the latest rumor claims the partnership might extend to the iPhone. In a research note with investment firm GF Securities this week, obtained by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu said he and his colleagues "now expect" Intel to reach a supply deal with Apple for at least some non-pro iPhone chips starting in 2028....
Apple Fitness Plus expansion hero

Apple Fitness+ Coming to 28 New Regions With Digital Voice Dubbing

Monday December 8, 2025 6:19 am PST by
Apple today announced that Fitness+ is expanding to 28 new markets on December 15 in the service's largest international rollout since launch, accompanied by new language dubbing and a K-Pop music genre. Apple Fitness+ will become available in Chile, Hong Kong, India, the Netherlands, Singapore, Taiwan, and additional regions on December 15, with Japan scheduled to follow early next year....

Top Rated Comments

NightFox Avatar
14 months ago
The day that AI acquired the concept of the solar system without the Earth :oops:
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Seoras Avatar
14 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
14 months ago
...so this is live before Swift Assist ? ?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
johnsawyercjs Avatar
14 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)
TechnoMonk Avatar
14 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
14 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)