ChatGPT Business Agent: what it can and can't do
What a ChatGPT Business Agent is, who can create one, how to set it up, what it can't do, and when your business also needs its own app in ChatGPT.
On this page
- 01What is a ChatGPT Business Agent?
- 02Who can create a ChatGPT Business Agent?
- 03How do I set up a Business Agent?
- 04What does a Business Agent answer from?
- 05Where do customers meet a Business Agent?
- 06What is a sponsored Business Agent?
- 07What can't a ChatGPT Business Agent do?
- 08ChatGPT Business Agent vs a ChatGPT app
- 09Do I need both?
- 10How Transica helps
- 11Common questions
- 12Sources
A ChatGPT Business Agent is a chat assistant that answers customer questions about one business inside ChatGPT. OpenAI launched it on 10 November 2026 as part of Businesses in ChatGPT, a beta. The agent answers from your product feed, your policies and the instructions you write. Only eligible US ecommerce and online service businesses can publish one. It can't complete a purchase, make a booking or check a customer's order, and it doesn't use your ChatGPT app. For those, a business needs its own app.
What is a ChatGPT Business Agent?
Businesses in ChatGPT has two parts. Business Hub is where an owner claims the business, edits its details and sees how often ChatGPT mentions it. The Business Agent is the optional second part, which the owner builds, tests and publishes from Business Hub.
OpenAI's example is a shopper comparing two products who asks how they differ and which one fits their needs. OpenAI runs the agent: Benji Shomair, OpenAI's VP of monetization, told Digiday that businesses can't bring their own agents.
Who can create a ChatGPT Business Agent?
OpenAI's help center lists these requirements:
| Requirement | What it means |
|---|---|
| Location | The business is in the US |
| Business type | Ecommerce or online service |
| Website | The business has one |
| Industry | It meets the industry rules in the Business Agents Policy |
| Verification | Your claim and your Persona ID check are both approved |
The policy says OpenAI looks at the business category and what the agent is for before it allows publishing. Verification alone doesn't guarantee an agent. Some businesses can claim and manage a profile without being eligible for an agent.
How do I set up a Business Agent?
- Open Business Hub. Sign in to ChatGPT, open Business Hub from the sidebar, search for your business and pick the right listing.
- Verify your claim. Use one of the methods shown: a code sent to the business phone or business email, a DNS TXT record on your website's domain, or your Shopify store. OpenAI reviews the claim and emails you its decision.
- Pass the ID check. Complete identity verification with Persona, a verification company. You may need a government ID, business registration details and proof that you can represent the business. You can't create an agent while this check is pending or after it fails.
- Add your information. Check your product details and policies, such as returns. If you sell products, connect a product feed.
- Write instructions. Tell the agent how to answer customers, within the Business Agents Policy.
- Preview it. Ask a question customers often ask. If the answer is wrong, fix the information or instructions and test again.
- Publish. Customers can only chat with a published agent.
Shopify isn't required. Shopify stores can connect from Business Hub or from the Shopify admin, and that setup may create a draft agent for you. Every claim step: how to claim your business in ChatGPT.
What does a Business Agent answer from?
| Source | What it covers | How to add it |
|---|---|---|
| Product feed | Products, prices and availability | Connect Shopify, upload a CSV that follows OpenAI's feed format, or give the URL of a hosted feed file |
| Business details | Website, description, category, delivery and return policies | Edit your profile in Business Hub. OpenAI reviews each change. |
| Instructions | How the agent should answer customers | Write them when you set up the agent |
A product feed is a file that lists your products with their prices and stock (what a product feed is). The Business Agents Policy says everything you give the agent must be true and current. You can't tell it to invent prices, stock, reviews or guarantees.
Where do customers meet a Business Agent?
When ChatGPT mentions your business in an answer, people can click through to your business profile. If you've published an agent, they can choose to start a chat with it there. OpenAI says that chat is clearly labeled and kept separate from the person's own ChatGPT conversation and from ChatGPT's independent answers.
You don't see these chats. The help center says businesses get no individual prompts or agent conversations, only overall numbers such as mentions and website clicks.
What is a sponsored Business Agent?
A business can also sponsor its agent and make it the destination of a ChatGPT ad. Someone clicks the ad and starts a labeled chat with the agent. OpenAI began testing Sponsored Agents with select US advertisers in September 2026. Shomair told Digiday the sponsored agent is the paid version, and the agent behind it should be the same one. Ad setup: how ChatGPT ads work.
What can't a ChatGPT Business Agent do?
OpenAI's help center answers this directly. The agent can explain products and policies and "link to your website", where customers finish the task themselves.
| The agent can't | What happens instead |
|---|---|
| Complete a purchase, make a booking or check an order | It links to your website |
| Use your ChatGPT app | Its chat doesn't use your app's data or tools |
| Run an agent you built yourself | OpenAI runs it from the information you provide |
| Show you what customers asked | You see only overall numbers in Business Hub |
OpenAI says it plans to bring Business Agents to more markets and business categories.
ChatGPT Business Agent vs a ChatGPT app
An app is your own server (an MCP server) that ChatGPT calls when a customer uses it. OpenAI's help center calls apps plugins. Because the app works with your own systems, a signed-in customer can see their own data and get things done.
| Need | Business Agent | Your own app, built with Transica |
|---|---|---|
| Answers product and policy questions | Yes, from your feed, policies and instructions | Yes, from your API or website |
| Customer signs in with their existing account | No | Yes, with your existing login |
| Check an order, booking or balance | No | Yes, for the signed-in customer |
| Book, reorder or start a return | No, it links to your website | Yes, as tools on your own API |
| Business based outside the US | Not yet | Yes |
| Businesses that aren't ecommerce or online services | Not yet | Yes |
| Works in Claude too | No, ChatGPT only | Yes, the same app can list in Claude's directory |
| Cost | Free for now, per Digiday | Building is free; hosting from $19 a month |
The app's actions call your own API, so your systems need one. Transica can't connect to Shopify's customer accounts yet.
Do I need both?
Yes. They do different jobs, and claiming your business is free for now.
- Claim your business first. You get the blue check on your profile, control over your details and products, and insights. If you're eligible, publish the agent for product and policy questions.
- Add an app for actions. Customers sign in and check orders, book or start returns, in ChatGPT and in Claude. List it in ChatGPT's directory and Claude's directory.
Customers use your app in their normal ChatGPT chat, not inside the agent's chat.
How Transica helps
- Build your app. Transica builds it from your API spec, or by sending AI agents through your website to find what customers can do there. You approve each tool. Building is free.
- Keep your login. Customers sign in with the account they already have with you. Transica hosts the app, from $19 a month.
- List it in ChatGPT and Claude. Transica checks each tool against both directories' rules, runs the review test prompts and prepares both submissions. You submit from your own accounts. The free MCP directory check shows what review would flag.
- Done for you. On the done-for-you listing, from $1,500, Transica builds the app, prepares the submission and stays with you through review.
Common questions
Can a ChatGPT Business Agent take orders?
No. OpenAI's help center says it can't complete purchases. It explains your products and links to your website, where the customer buys.
Can a ChatGPT Business Agent book appointments?
No, it can't make bookings. Your own app in ChatGPT can, if your booking system has an API the app can call.
What's the difference between a ChatGPT Business Agent and a ChatGPT app?
The agent answers questions from information you give OpenAI, in its own chat. An app is your own server, so signed-in customers can check orders, book or start returns, and it works in Claude too.
How do I create a ChatGPT Business Agent?
Claim your business in Business Hub and pass Persona's ID check. Then create, preview and publish the agent from your business in Business Hub.
Is ChatGPT Business Agent free?
Digiday reports that Business Hub and agents are free for now, and OpenAI's Benji Shomair didn't rule out a paid model. Sponsoring the agent as an ad costs money.
Can a ChatGPT Business Agent check order status?
No. It can't check a customer's order. An app that signs customers in with your existing login can.
Can I connect my own AI agent or ChatGPT app to it?
No. Shomair told Digiday that businesses can't bring their own agents, and the help center says the agent's chat doesn't use your app's data or abilities.
Is a Business Agent part of ChatGPT Business?
No. ChatGPT Business is OpenAI's paid workspace plan for teams. Business Agents come with Businesses in ChatGPT, through Business Hub.
Sources
Read on 11 November 2026.
- OpenAI: Introducing Businesses in ChatGPT, 10 November 2026; Setting up your business on ChatGPT; Business Agents Policy; Reimagining advertising with AI, 16 September 2026; ChatGPT Business
- Krystal Scanlon, Digiday, OpenAI's new business agents give brands a free way into the conversation it's also selling as an ad, 10 November 2026