ChatGPT Desktop
The ChatGPT desktop app reads the same MCP configuration file as Codex, so it connects with a key in a config file rather than by signing in.
This page is for the desktop app only. ChatGPT on the web cannot use a pasted key — it connects by signing in instead. See ChatGPT.
Add the server
Open or create ~/.codex/config.toml on the computer where ChatGPT desktop is installed, and paste
the block from Settings → MCP connectors:
[mcp_servers.aov-upsell-your-store]
url = "https://upsell.avada.io/mcp"
http_headers = { Authorization = "Bearer aov_mcp_YOUR_KEY" }If the file already contains a section with this server name, replace that section rather than adding a duplicate. Two sections with the same name is not an error TOML reports usefully.
The header is written out in full here rather than pointing at an environment variable. That is deliberate: a desktop app is often launched from the dock rather than from a terminal, so it never sees variables exported in your shell profile. A self-contained block keeps working either way.
Save the file, then restart the ChatGPT desktop app.
Check it worked
In a ChatGPT desktop chat, type /mcp. You should see aov-upsell-your-store listed, with a tool
count matching the access level you chose — 18 for read only, 25 with write, 27 with delete.
Then ask something only your store can answer:
What free gift campaigns am I running?
If the server is listed but the question comes back with a refusal, the address is right and the key is not — see Troubleshooting.
Related
- Authentication
- Codex — same config file, different app
- Troubleshooting