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Setup guide

Connect athletedata to ChatGPT

Add athletedata as a custom MCP plugin inside ChatGPT. Takes a couple of minutes - the only fiddly part is switching on Developer mode.

1

Turn on Developer mode

Go to chatgpt.com/#settings/Security (the Security and login tab). Scroll down to Developer mode and toggle it on.

ChatGPT Security and login settings with Developer mode toggled on

ChatGPT shows an Elevated risk warning - that's expected for any custom MCP server, because OpenAI hasn't reviewed it. We obviously vouch for the athletedata server, but use your own judgement here.

2

Open Plugins and add a new one

Go to chatgpt.com/plugins and click the + in the top right to open the New Plugin dialog.

ChatGPT Plugins page with the add (+) button in the top right
3

Fill out the New Plugin form

  • Name: athletedata
  • Connection: leave it on Server URL and paste your MCP URL. Grab it from your dashboard with the Copy MCP URL button - it already includes your ?apiKey=.
  • Authentication: choose No Auth. This is the important part - the API key is already in the URL, so ChatGPT shouldn't add a second auth layer on top.
  • Icon (optional): skip it, or grab the athletedata icon - it's already under ChatGPT's 10 KB limit. Purely cosmetic.
  • Tick I understand and want to continue, then click Create.
ChatGPT New Plugin dialog with the athletedata URL and No Auth selected
4

Connect it

After you create it, the plugin often lands as Disconnected (the list row shows Reconnect). Back in Plugins, click athletedata and hit Connect.

ChatGPT athletedata plugin showing Disconnected with a Connect button

An Add athletedata to ChatGPT dialog pops up - click Connect once more to confirm. Once it flips to Connected you're live.

ChatGPT 'Add athletedata to ChatGPT' confirmation dialog with Connect button
5

(Optional) Stop the approval prompts

By default ChatGPT asks for permission before every action. To let it pull your data without interrupting you, open the athletedata plugin's Permissions and pick Allow read actions (reads freely, still asks before any change) - or Allow all actions if you'd rather it never ask.

ChatGPT plugin permissions with Allow read / Allow all actions options
6

Start chatting

The athletedata plugin now lives in your Plugins list and is available in new chats. Open a new conversation and ask:

Pull my last 4 weeks of runs and tell me whether my training load is sustainable given my recent HRV.

Depending on your client, you may need to explicitly mention the plugin by name (“use the athletedata plugin to...”) on the first message.

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