As the field of natural language processing continues to advance, ChatGPT emerges as a powerful tool for generating human-like responses in conversational AI applications. To further extend its capabilities and enhance its functionality, developers have introduced the concept of plugins.
In this article, we will delve into what ChatGPT plugins are, how they work, and why they are useful. Additionally, we will provide a step-by-step guide on installing plugins to unlock a world of endless possibilities for your ChatGPT instance.
Understanding ChatGPT Plugins
ChatGPT plugins can be thought of as modular components that add new features and functionalities to the base model. These plugins enable developers to customize the behavior of ChatGPT, making it more suitable for specific use cases.
They allow users to expand the model’s capabilities beyond its default behavior, empowering developers to create tailored conversational experiences.
How Plugins Work
ChatGPT plugins work by intercepting the messages passed between the user interface and the model. When a message is received, it is processed by the plugin before being forwarded to the model for generating a response.
This mechanism allows plugins to modify the input, alter the model’s behavior, or enrich the response with additional information.
Benefits of ChatGPT Plugins
Plugins offer several advantages for ChatGPT users and developers:
Customization
Plugins provide a way to tailor ChatGPT’s behavior to specific use cases, enabling developers to create conversational agents with specialized knowledge or domain-specific expertise.
Extensibility
By adding plugins, developers can extend the functionalities of ChatGPT beyond its built-in capabilities. This opens avenues for integration with external services, databases, APIs, and more.
Control and safety
Plugins allow developers to have more control over the model’s behavior, making it easier to ensure the responses align with ethical and legal guidelines. Plugins can filter or modify outputs, adding an extra layer of safety.
Community contributions
With the plugin system, developers can create and share their plugins, fostering a collaborative environment where users can benefit from each other’s innovations and contribute to the ecosystem.
Comprehensive Guide: How to Install and Create Your Own Plugins
Note: You must join the waitlist of OpenAI in order to acquire the permissions necessary.
For this new plugin, we’ll host our plugin at Replit and use News API to search and retrieve relevant AI news.
The three main files we’ll need to build this plugin include:
- A main.py to serve the API’s functionality
- A plugin manifest for the metadata called ai-plugin.json
- and an openapi.yaml file to document the API for ChatGPT
As you can see, this plugin allows you to specify a topic or query within which you want AI news.
Step 1
To begin, we’ll navigate to Replit and initiate a new Python Repl to establish our API’s functionality. We’ll create a main.py file, along with other necessary files.
Step 1.2
Initially, we’ll import the necessary packages, initialize our Flask application, and set up two constants to hold the URL and API key for the News API.
Step 1.3
Additionally, we will set basic logging settings to monitor events and errors for development purposes
Step 1.4
Moving forward, we will proceed to define a function named “fetch_news_articles.” This function will be responsible for sending a request to the News API and retrieving relevant articles in JSON format. It accepts parameters such as the user’s query, data rate, sorting, and page size.
Step 1.5
Subsequently, we will proceed to define an API route that handles the user-defined query parameters. Within this route, we will call the “fetch_news_articles” function and retrieve the relevant articles. Finally, we will return the obtained articles as the response.
Step 1.6
Having established our News API functions, we will now proceed to create three routes to serve the essential ChatGPT plugin files: ai-plugin.json, openapi.yaml, and the plugin logo.
To begin, we will define a route responsible for serving the plugin manifest file, which can be found in the. well-known folder.
Step 1.7
Additionally, we will define a route to serve the OpenAPI specification file in the following manner:
Step 1.8
Subsequently, we will establish a route that serves the logo of the plugin as follows:
Step 1.9
Finally, we can utilize Waitress, which is a lightweight WSGI server, to initiate our Flask application and handle incoming web requests for the ChatGPT plugin:
Step 2
Now that we have our main.py file, let’s proceed with creating our ai-plugin.json file, which should be placed in the .well-known folder. The ai-plugin.json file serves as the manifest, providing essential information about your plugin, including:
- Name and description for both the model and humans
- Authentication type (for this example, we’ll set it to “none” for now)
- API configuration: Here, you need to update the URL to your Repl URL, which should be in the format “https://your-repl-url.repl.co/.well-known/openapi.yaml“
- You can also update the URL of your logo by modifying the value for “logo” to the desired logo URL, such as “https://your-repl-url.repl.co/logo.png“.
Step 3
Alright, next, let’s create our OpenAPI specification, which is crucial for describing and documenting our API so that ChatGPT can comprehend the application. It includes metadata such as the title, description, and version.
You’ll need to update the “url” parameter with your Replit URL, which should be in the format “https://your-repl-url.username.repl.co“.
After that, we specify the “/news” endpoint along with its customizable parameters, including “query”, “from”, “to”, “sortBy”, “page”, and “pageSize”. These parameters allow users to customize their news search.
In the “components” section, we define the schema for JSON responses, ensuring that the returned data adheres to a specific structure.
Step 4
Now that we have our main.py file, let’s proceed with creating our ai-plugin.json file, which should be placed in the .well-known folder. The ai-plugin.json file serves as the manifest, providing essential information about your plugin, including:
- Name and description for both the model and humans
- Authentication type (for this example, we’ll set it to “none” for now)
- API configuration: Here, you need to update the URL to your Repl URL, which should be in the format “https://your-repl-url.repl.co/.well-known/openapi.yaml”
- You can also update the URL of your logo by modifying the value for “logo” to the desired logo URL, such as “https://your-repl-url.repl.co/logo.png”.
Step 4.1
Choose the option “Develop your custom plugin” and input the URL of your active Replit project.
Step 4.2
Now, you can activate, for example, the AI News Assistant plugin from the dropdown menu of your installed plugins.
After enabling the new plugin, let’s proceed to test it within ChatGPT by searching for generative AI news.
Step 5
To search for AI news articles, type “AI news” into the ChatGPT search bar and press enter. The AI News Assistant plugin should return a list of AI news articles.
Remember, this comprehensive guide will assist you in every step of the installation and creation process. If you have any questions or need further clarification, feel free to contact us for assistance.
Popular ChatGPT Plugins
Here are some other plugins that are popular with developers:
ChatWithGit
This plugin allows ChatGPT to interact with Git repositories, making it easy to collaborate on code projects.
Code Interpreter
This plugin allows ChatGPT to interpret and execute code, making it a powerful tool for debugging and testing.
Zapier
This plugin allows ChatGPT to connect to a wide range of third-party applications, automating tasks and workflows.
Prompt Perfect
This plugin helps developers write better code by providing feedback on their prompts and suggestions for improvements.
Link Reader
This plugin allows ChatGPT to extract information from links, such as the title, description, and URL, making it easier to research topics.
These are just a few of the many plugins that are available for ChatGPT. With so many options to choose from, developers can find the perfect plugins to help them with their work.
Here are some other plugins that are not specifically for developers, but can be helpful for developers:
Grammarly
This plugin helps users improve their grammar and writing style.
Hemingway Editor
This plugin helps users make their writing clearer and more concise.
To-doist
This plugin helps users manage their tasks and projects.
Evernote
This plugin helps users take notes and organize their thoughts.
Google Docs
This plugin allows users to create and edit documents collaboratively.
Conclusion
ChatGPT’s plugins empower developers to extend the capabilities of the base model, customize conversational AI experiences, and foster collaboration within the ecosystem.
If you need help utilizing the full potential of conversational AI with plugin capabilities, Inclusion Cloud is here for you. Contact us today to learn more.
