Pika puts 40+ creative tools inside ChatGPT's side panel

Pika shipped an official ChatGPT plugin that puts its image, video and sound apps into a side panel beside the conversation. The October 16 announcement came in an X thread, RuntimeWire reported. The listing is live in ChatGPT's plugin directory at version 0.19.3, with interactive, read and write permissions and an MCP server at mcp.pika.art.

The numbers Pika gives for it do not agree. Pika's plugin page leads with "40+ Tools" and "55+ leading gen media models", then its app gallery counts "57 apps and models" and its FAQ promises "access to over 100 of the leading gen media models". AlphaSignal settled on more than 40 apps backed by over 100 models. All of those counts sit on Pika's own page.

The plugin adds a workspace, not just tool calls. Users open Video Studio, Image Studio, Music Studio, Speech Studio or a guided app such as Product Ad, then ask ChatGPT for an editing timeline and work through timing, clips, transitions, effects and music. The plugin reads the existing Pika library and saves new work into it, so a project started in chat ends up in the user's Pika account.

AlphaSignal reported Pika built it on OpenAI's Plugin Extensions framework, which OpenAI introduced at DevDay on September 29, 2026. Extensions give a plugin a sidebar home, conversation panels, file viewers and forms, all built on the Model Context Protocol.

Costs start at the account, not the plugin. Pika grants 250 credits after a user's first generation, shows an estimate before each run, and bills every job against Pika credits. At the rate on Pika's pricing page, 122 credits for a 5-second 720p Seedance 2.5 clip, that welcome balance is two clips. The same page says top-up packs work only in Pika Create on pika.art and cannot be used with the API, MCP, the iOS app or old.pika.art. Free carries no monthly credits, Starter is $10 a month for 900, and commercial rights start at Creator, $35.

Pika has company in the directory. Runway's plugin, at version 1.3.1, makes and edits video, image and audio against a Runway account, keeps results in the connected Runway workspace and takes payment on runway.com. Runway's directory listing pitches "Generate with every AI model", and its own page hands work off by @mention. Pika's differentiator is the panel and the timeline, which Runway's listing omits.

OpenAI says web plugin extensions are coming soon to Free and Go users, and composer mentions work only in the desktop app. Neither Pika nor OpenAI disclosed usage targets or revenue terms, Fathom reported. If the panel holds up on real projects, the chat window becomes the brief and the timeline, and Pika's library holds the work.

Search Pika in ChatGPT's plugin directory or tell ChatGPT to install the Pika plugin, sign in with a Pika account, and the first generation unlocks the 250 credits.