ChatGPT Can Build Apps You’ll Actually Use (ChatGPT Sites)
What this video is
⚡ a 13-minute video, readable in 60 secondsThe creator built an app called Social Scrape (also called Shortform Scrape) that pulls down entire short-form videos, stats, and transcripts from platforms like Instagram and TikTok, storing them in a site his team uses for content and ad ideas. He says he built it using ChatGPT Sites in three prompts, with a Cloudflare D1 database for records, R2 storage for the video files, and a 'Scrape Creators' skill that calls the external Scrape Creators API to pull platform data. He presents it as a live, working system his team already uses, and demonstrates it running with real scraped videos from creators including Riley Brown, Kallaway, Rowan Cheung, and Alex Hormozi.
System does (~00:05): the creator built an app called Social Scrape (also called Shortform Scrape).
Key takeaways
- Cost claim (~00:05): he says it replaced three SaaS tools costing thousands of dollars, done in three prompts using ChatGPT (creator's claim, not independently verified).
- System does (~00:21-00:37): the app scrapes entire videos from Instagram or TikTok along with stats and transcripts.
- System does (~00:21-00:37): scraped data is stored in a site his team uses for content and ad ideas.
- Stack (~00:43): ChatGPT Sites includes a built-in database, hosting, authentication, storage, and custom domain support.
+ 64 more takeaways
- Stack (~01:16-01:39): ChatGPT Work builds a hosted site from a request like 'Hey, please build a sites that does blank,' auto-including database, authentication, and storage, shareable with others.
- Stack (~01:47-02:08): ChatGPT Work is described as the midpoint between ChatGPT (normal chats) and Codex (OpenAI's agent platform for developers doing intense coding tasks), acting like an agent in the cloud with a computer.
- Wiring (~02:16-02:33): Sites is invoked by @-mentioning 'sites' in the ChatGPT desktop or phone app.
- Stack (~02:39-02:46): about a month before this recording, OpenAI combined the ChatGPT app and Codex app into one platform, giving direct access to ChatGPT Work from the desktop app.
- Wiring (~02:48): Sites serves the frontend and checks sign-in status.
- Wiring (~02:48): the frontend requests the creator and video library from the server.
- Wiring (~02:48): the server reads records from D1 and retrieves the video file from R2 when a video is played.
- Wiring (~02:48): switching creators filters the D1 records.
- Wiring (~02:48): caption and transcript tabs read from the selected video's database record.
- Wiring (~02:48): downloads serve the same R2 file as an attachment.
- Wiring (~03:07): uploading a video saves the file to R2 and saves its metadata, transcript, stats, and storage location to D1.
- System does (~02:52): the creator says he built the app the day before and it can scrape any social media platform and pull down videos.
- Feature (~03:09): the app's 'Switch creator' dropdown lists 8 tracked accounts, including Rowan Cheung.
- Demo data (~03:13): a scraped Rowan Cheung reel about AI-designed underwater adhesives from Hokkaido University shows 3,779,752 views, 256.8K likes, and 553 comments.
- Demo data (~03:13): the described research analyzed over 24,000 adhesive proteins from mussels and barnacles, synthesized 180 hydrogels, and ran three AI-guided rounds of prediction and testing.
- Wiring (~03:22): the scraped video is hosted on ChatGPT Sites.
- Reference (~03:32): a Notion page titled 'Prompt,' published at meteor-rhodium-927.notion.site, contains the exact prompt used to have ChatGPT Sites build the app.
- PROMPT (~03:35-04:07, paraphrased from extraction, not verbatim on-screen text): a beautiful all-white frontend in a large centered phone frame, shareable with the team via sign-in/authentication.
- PROMPT (~03:35-04:07, paraphrased): manual or agent-driven video upload via a copyable prompt icon.
- PROMPT (~03:35-04:07, paraphrased): video storage plus a database for per-video stats, defaulting to 0 if none.
- PROMPT (~03:35-04:07, paraphrased): integration with a 'scrape creators skill' using the Scrape Creators API.
- PROMPT (~03:49, paraphrased): videos can be uploaded manually, or a prompt below the phone frame can be copied and given to any agent, which can then upload videos to the app.
- PROMPT (~04:01, paraphrased): the app should have video storage and a database so stats for each video are tracked.
- PROMPT (~04:07, paraphrased): the app will use a scrape creators skill built on the Scrape Creators API.
- PROMPT (~04:14, paraphrased): instead of adding scraped content to the site directly, the agent should scrape a creator and build a playlist titled with the creator's name.
- PROMPT (~04:22, paraphrased): scraped videos can then be played in the hosted app.
- PROMPT (~04:26, paraphrased): start with Riley Brown's best videos from 2025 that are not sponsored.
- PROMPT (~04:38, paraphrased): those videos should include a download button so anyone on the app can download them.
- Wiring (~05:06): the ChatGPT Sites build ran for 25 minutes and 8 seconds, after which the creator opened it in the browser.
- Stack (~05:22): the deployed site (riley-video-vault.rileybrownai.chatgpt.site) uses ChatGPT security, so users sign in via 'Continue with ChatGPT.'
- Features (~05:37): workspace-wide team access with ChatGPT authentication.
- Features (~05:37): six fresh non-sponsored 2025 Riley Brown videos with creator playlists and reel navigation.
- Features (~05:37): manual video uploads with secure storage, captions, transcripts, dates, and editable stats, with missing stats shown as 0.
- Features (~05:37): download controls and a copyable Scrape Creators agent prompt.
- Demo data (~05:39): the example reel is Riley Brown's March 14, 2025 Instagram post captioned 'Controlling Blender. Using MCPs on the Claude App,' with 10,150 likes.
- Usage/edit request (~06:15): using the app's annotate feature, the creator requested the video be full screen with likes and comments overlaid like TikTok/Reels.
- Usage/edit request (~06:15): further requests were made to make the top bar less tall and improve the download button's appearance.
- Limitation (~06:40): the creator called the download button visually awkward and asked for its UI to be improved.
- Usage (~07:00-07:06): the creator reopened and refreshed the app in the browser to view it full screen.
- Limitation (~07:20-07:34): a bug was flagged where the account profile picture shows 'RB' instead of Riley Brown's actual photo, and a fix was requested to match Instagram.
- Usage (~07:34): the creator asked the AI to look up Kallaway on Instagram and add 10 of his videos to the app.
- Wiring (~07:40-07:47): Riley Brown states requested changes update live on the deployed site, working in both the ChatGPT in-app browser and Chrome.
- Usage (~07:53): the creator switched to @hormozi (Alex Hormozi, 10 reels), showing a reel about trading money for time.
- Features (~08:06): one-click video downloading, automatic display of missing stats, and an optional engagement-stat overlay.
- Features (~08:06): editable views, likes, comments, and shares.
- Features (~08:06): manual upload supports MP4, MOV, or WebM files up to 95MB.
- Features (~08:06): a 'Copy upload prompt' button for instructing another agent to upload a video, plus permanent database/file storage for videos, creators, captions, transcripts, and stats.
- Features (~08:06): Kallaway's videos are ranked by views to surface the strongest performers first, and the layout is responsive across desktop and smaller screens.
- Stack (~08:24): the creator says he used a skill called 'Scrape Creators' even before discovering ChatGPT Sites.
- Stack (~08:32): Scrape Creators lets him scrape data from any social media account.
- Stack (~08:40): Scrape Creators works via an external API.
- Wiring (~08:50): get an API key from Scrape Creators, then tell ChatGPT or Codex to create a skill that uses it.
- Wiring (~09:09): the workflow is telling the agent 'Please create it' and providing the API key.
- Limitation (~09:19): the creator admits pasting the API key directly like this is technically not best practice, but is how he creates his skills.
- System does (~09:30): presenting the scraped data was the annoying part, which is why he built it into a site so the agent could place scraped data directly in the app.
- Features (~09:47): the app displays views, likes, comments, shares, duration, creator, and posting date for each video, with missing stats shown as 0.
- Wiring (~09:47): videos are auto-stored under their selected creator.
- Features (~09:48): the app also scrapes the video transcript, which can be copied to the clipboard.
- System does (~10:15): the creator states the site is live and shareable with anyone.
- Wiring (~10:33): clicking the three dots on a site and choosing Settings lets you change the domain, add custom domains, rename the site, and add environment variables including API keys.
- Stack (~11:29): the Sites built-in database shows stored data, including creators (RealRileyBrown and Kallaway) with verified status, avatar key, and creation date, plus videos with captions, file names, and content type.
- Aside (~12:24, not part of the built app): the creator recommends updating to the latest ChatGPT desktop app and asking Codex to make a site web MCP enabled and deploy it to Sites.
- Aside (~12:31): OpenAI Developers (@OpenAIDevs) announced 'The WebMCP Challenge' on X, a 10-day hackathon with web infrastructure partners.
- Aside (~12:46): the WebMCP challenge offers $35,000 in cash prizes and is live now.
Shown on screen — grab and go
PROMPTThe GPT Sites video-vault build prompt
Please build an app with GPT Sites that has a beautiful frontend that is all white and it's a phone frame big and center. This will be an app I share with my team. This site also allows anyone from the team to sign in and authenticate and view the presentation that I create. I should be able to upload the short form videos to the site manually, or copy a prompt beneath the phone frame (By pressing an icon) and give it to any agent and the agent can upload any video to the app. So the app should have video storage, and database so that all the stats for each video are there. The display of the phone should show the actual stats for the video that are optional. If no stats are there have 0 for all stats. This app will be used with the scrape creators skill which uses the scrape creators API. Instead of adding it to the site, I'll simply ask the agent to scrape creators and it will create a playlist with the title as the creator. And then I'll be able to play the videos you scrape in the hosted app. Start with Riley Brown's best videos from 2025 that are not sponsored, put those in the app and there should be a download button so anyone can download the videos who is on the app.
transcribed from the fully legible Notion 'Prompt' page (edited version, ~03:32-04:55); OCR crushed spacing and had systematic l/I misreads, both restored for legibility. shown at 4:55
PROMPTThe 'rebuild with fresh data' follow-up prompt
make it the exact same but not with the data you have in that one it will be fresh and new
transcribed from the 'Build Video Vault' chat message shown on screen at 05:35; only whitespace crushed by OCR was restored. shown at 5:35
How this brief was shaped: Personal AI Build / System Demo · confidence High
Transcript describes building a personal app on ChatGPT Sites in a few prompts, naming the exact system and stack, and OCR shows the actual on-screen architecture spec with numbered data flow steps for D1 and R2 storage, verbatim system detail that fits a build/demo more than a generic coding walkthrough.
The lens sets this brief's structure, never its facts — every claim is held to the same citation and fact-check standard.
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