> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.gridshift.studio/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Connect an Assistant

> Connects Claude or ChatGPT on your Mac to Gridshift, once. Choose Help → Connect to Claude… or Help → Connect to ChatGPT… and follow the one step in the other app.

## Connect Claude

Install [Claude for Mac](https://claude.ai/download) and sign in. In Gridshift, choose `Help → Connect to Claude…`. Claude comes forward and asks you to install the Gridshift extension; click **Install**. Start a new chat, and Gridshift's tools are there.

## Connect ChatGPT

Install the [ChatGPT app for Mac](https://chatgpt.com/download) and sign in. In Gridshift, choose `Help → Connect to ChatGPT…`. Quit and reopen ChatGPT, then start a new chat in its **Codex** section: Gridshift's tools are there.

<video src="/videos/assistants-connect-chatgpt.mp4" poster="/videos/assistants-connect-chatgpt.jpg" aria-label="Help, Connect to ChatGPT in Gridshift, Open ChatGPT, then a new Codex chat asks what is in the song and the answer names its tempo, key and track groups" title="Help, Connect to ChatGPT in Gridshift, Open ChatGPT, then a new Codex chat asks what is in the song and the answer names its tempo, key and track groups" muted loop playsInline preload="none" />

Choose `Help → Connect to ChatGPT…`, then ask in a new Codex chat: *"What's in my song in Gridshift?"*

## Update the Claude extension after a Gridshift update

When Gridshift finds an older extension at launch, it offers **Update** in a banner. Click it, confirm in Claude, then start a new chat. ChatGPT needs nothing: it always uses the Gridshift you have installed.

## Check that it is connected

With a project open, ask *"What's in my song in Gridshift?"*. Name Gridshift: Codex otherwise looks at the files on your Mac. The assistant reads the session and answers with the tempo, key and tracks you see in the window.

## Good to know

* **Gridshift must be running.** Without it, the assistant still sees the tools, but every call answers "Gridshift is not running. Please start Gridshift and try again." Start Gridshift and ask again; the client does not need a restart.
* **The connection stays on this Mac.** The bridge talks to Gridshift over a local socket and opens no network port. What the assistant reads goes to the AI service your client uses.
* **The assistant works on the project open in the window**, and you see every change as it happens. What it can reach is on [What Assistants Can Do](/assistants/capabilities.md); prompts that work well are on [Use Cases](/assistants/use-cases.md).
* **ChatGPT reaches Gridshift only in Codex chats.** Regular ChatGPT chats, and ChatGPT and Claude on the web, cannot reach an app on your Mac.
* **Claude keeps the extension at the version it installed.** It only offers that version's tools, and a chat that was already open keeps the old ones after an update.

> **Details**
>
> * **MCP** ([Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io)) is the open standard AI clients use to call tools in other apps. Gridshift's server starts with the app; there is nothing to switch on.
> * The Claude Desktop extension is a `.mcpb` file Gridshift builds from the bridge inside the app and hands to Claude Desktop. It carries its own copy of the bridge.
> * **Later** on the update banner hides it until the next Gridshift version.
> * Connect to ChatGPT adds a `[mcp_servers.gridshift]` entry to `~/.codex/config.toml` (or `$CODEX_HOME/config.toml`), which the ChatGPT app, the Codex CLI and Codex in code editors all read. Your other settings in that file stay as they are; connecting again only replaces Gridshift's entry. **Connect to ChatGPT…** is also in the command palette.
> * Other MCP clients, such as Claude Code, start the bridge from inside the app. Add it to the client's MCP configuration as `"gridshift": { "command": "/Applications/Gridshift.app/Contents/Helpers/GridshiftBridge" }` under `mcpServers`; in Claude Code that is `claude mcp add gridshift /Applications/Gridshift.app/Contents/Helpers/GridshiftBridge`.
> * ChatGPT and other clients run the bridge from inside the app, so they always see the tools of the Gridshift you have installed. Nothing needs updating after a Gridshift update.
> * The bridge connects to `~/Library/Application Support/Gridshift/mcp.sock`. Pass `--socket <path>` in the client's `args` to point it elsewhere.
> * If Gridshift is quit and started again, the bridge reconnects on the next call.
> * A long call, such as a mix analysis or a stem split, may take minutes. The bridge waits up to 15 minutes for an answer before it gives up.
> * With two copies of Gridshift open, the one started last takes over the connection.


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