# Connect the ChatGPT desktop app to VCAD

> Let the ChatGPT app on your computer read the session you have open in VCAD and suggest changes for you to accept, or do the work automatically.

5 min · Updated 2026-11-11 · https://vcad.dk/en/help/connect-the-chatgpt-desktop-app-to-vcad

Once you are done, **vcad** is switched on in the list of servers in the ChatGPT desktop app, and the AI box in VCAD says **Connected**.

## What you need before you start

- A VCAD Pro license.

- A ChatGPT account with Codex.

## Turn on the AI bridge in VCAD

1. Click the account menu in the top right corner of VCAD.

    ![The VCAD account menu open and ringed, with the name and email at the top and Settings, About, Remote support and Sign out below them](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/vcad-account-menu-en.png)

2. Choose **Settings**.

3. Click the **Modules** tab.

4. Click the switch next to **AI-Bridge**.

    ![Settings on the Modules tab with the AI-Bridge switch on and ringed, the address https://mcp.vcad.dk/mcp next to it and AI Mode on Ask below it](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/vcad-bridge-on-en.png)

5. Click the copy button inside the field with the address `https://mcp.vcad.dk/mcp`. The button briefly turns into a tick, and the address is copied.

6. Under **AI Mode**, choose whether ChatGPT asks first: with **Ask** every change waits for you to accept it, and with **Auto** it is in the drawing at once.

## Add VCAD to the ChatGPT app

1. Click the circle with your initials in the bottom left corner of the ChatGPT app.

    ![The menu from the circle with your initials in the bottom left corner of the ChatGPT app, open and ringed, with Settings in the list](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/codex-profile-menu-en.png)

2. Choose **Settings**.

    ![Settings in the ChatGPT app open on General, with the heading Settings ringed and Plugins in the list on the left](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/codex-settings-en.png)

3. Choose **Plugins** in the list on the left.

    ![The Plugins page in the ChatGPT app's settings on its Plugins tab, with the heading and the line under it ringed and the installed plugins below](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/codex-plugins-en.png)

4. Click the **MCPs** tab.

    ![The Plugins page on the MCPs tab, which is ringed, with the list of servers under it](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/codex-mcps-tab-en.png)

5. Click **Add** in the top right corner.

    ![The Plugins page in the ChatGPT app's settings with the Add menu open and Add MCP server ringed](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/codex-add-mcp-server-en.png)

6. Choose **Add MCP server**.

    ![The empty form Connect to a custom MCP with its heading ringed, an empty Name field and STDIO chosen as the type](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/codex-server-form-empty-en.png)

7. Fill in the form:

    - **Name:** `vcad`

    - **Type:** **Streamable HTTP**

    - **URL:** paste the address you copied, `https://mcp.vcad.dk/mcp`

    ![The form Connect to a custom MCP with vcad as the name, the type Streamable HTTP chosen and ringed and https://mcp.vcad.dk/mcp as the URL](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/codex-add-server-form-en.png)

8. Click **Save** at the bottom of the form. **vcad** is in the list of servers with an **Authenticate** button next to it.

    ![The list of servers with vcad and the Authenticate button next to it, ringed](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/codex-authenticate-en.png)

## Give the ChatGPT app access to VCAD

1. Click **Authenticate** next to **vcad**. Your browser opens the VCAD portal on the **Authorize access** page with your company's name.

    ![The VCAD portal page Authorize access, where Codex asks for access to your VCAD account, with the Deny and Allow buttons](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/portal-consent.png)

    > If the VCAD portal asks you to sign in, use your VCAD login: the email and password you use in VCAD.

2. Click **Allow**. The portal sends the approval back to the ChatGPT app on your computer.

3. Go back to the ChatGPT app. **Authenticate** is gone, and the switch next to **vcad** is on.

    ![The list of servers, where the vcad row has no Authenticate button and its switch is on, ringed](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/codex-signed-in-en.png)

    > If **Authenticate** is still there, click it again, sign in to the VCAD portal and click **Allow**.

> **Using Codex in the terminal?** Type `codex mcp add vcad --url https://mcp.vcad.dk/mcp`, then `codex mcp login vcad`. The app and the terminal share the setting, so once you add VCAD in one of them, it is there in the other as well.

## Use the ChatGPT app with VCAD

1. Keep the session open in VCAD. The AI box in the bottom right corner says **Connected**.

    ![The bottom right corner of VCAD with the AI box, which says Connected, ringed](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/vcad-connected-en.png)

2. Click the house in the top left corner of the ChatGPT app. The list next to it says **ChatGPT** or **Codex** at the top.

    ![The top left corner of the ChatGPT app with the house and, next to it, Codex at the top of the list, ringed](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/codex-home-en.png)

3. If it says **ChatGPT**, click it.

    ![The menu with ChatGPT and Codex open under the name at the top of the list and ringed, here with Codex ticked](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/codex-mode-list-en.png)

4. Choose **Codex**.

5. Ask Codex for something in plain words, for example *"Find every point with the code WELL, put a well on each of them and draw the pipe between them with its slope"* or *"Set all points on layer Terrain to elevation 2.5"*. With **AI Mode** on **Auto**, the change is in the drawing at once. With **Ask**, it appears in VCAD as an **AI change proposal**.

    ![An AI change proposal in VCAD, ringed, to set 13 points on layer Terrain to Z 2.5, with the buttons Zoom to change, Reject and Accept and the points it changes highlighted in the drawing](https://vcad.dk/help/connect-chatgpt-desktop-to-vcad/vcad-proposal-en.png)

6. If **AI Mode** is on **Ask**, click **Zoom to change**.

7. Click **Accept**. The change is in the drawing.

    > If you do not want the change, click **Reject** instead.

> With the two buttons next to **Connected** in the AI box you can show Codex something in the drawing: one picks objects, the other a point.

## If something doesn't work

| What you see | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| Codex cannot get hold of your session | Open a session in VCAD. Check that **AI-Bridge** is on and that the AI box says **Connected**. |
| VCAD's Settings has no Modules tab or no AI bridge | AI comes with a VCAD Pro license. Ask your VCAD administrator to give you one. If you are the administrator, choose **Administration** when you sign in, and tick the box next to the user under **Users** in the column for Pro. |
| **AI module not enabled** | You do not have a VCAD Pro license. Do as in the row above. |
| **Reconnecting…** | VCAD has lost its connection and keeps trying again. Check your internet, and reload the page if it stays. |

## Related guides

- [Connect Claude to VCAD](https://vcad.dk/en/help/connect-claude-to-vcad.md): Let Claude read the session you have open in VCAD and suggest changes for you to accept, or do the work automatically.
- [Connect ChatGPT to VCAD](https://vcad.dk/en/help/connect-chatgpt-to-vcad.md): Let ChatGPT read the session you have open in VCAD and suggest changes for you to accept, or do the work automatically.

Stuck? Write to us at info@vcad.dk