On January 26, Anthropic launched interactive app support in Claude, bringing MCP-based applications with rich UIs directly into Claude's chat window for the first time. The same day, MCP Apps (SEP-1865), which was first proposed in November 2024, became the first official MCP extension to reach production-ready status.

Claude, an enterprise-first launch

The initial nine partner apps reflect Anthropic's enterprise focus: draft Slack messages with live preview, build Asana project timelines, create Figma diagrams, explore analytics in Amplitude, manage files in Box, design presentations in Canva, research companies in Clay, visualize data in Hex, and update boards in Monday.com.

These aren't just MCP integrations: they're fully interactive applications that render directly in the chat interface, letting users preview both invoke tools and accomplish tasks, all while interacting with a rich UI.

Cross-platform support arrives fast

Claude wasn't alone. VS Code Insiders and Goose also shipped MCP Apps support on January 26, with ChatGPT following later that week. The promise of open standardization is compelling: build your app once, and it should render across all supporting clients.

This coordinated launch signals real momentum behind MCP as an interoperable standard for AI-native applications.

The reality: quirks remain

Each implementation has its peculiarities. Claude requires domain signing (a subdomain hash tied to your server URL). VScode doesn't support full screen and PiP display modes, ChatGPT doesn't support all functions yet (no Tool Calling from the UI, no useFiles or useCheckout), and debugging remains challenging across the board.

Expect CSP issues, state management quirks, and missing features as implementations mature. 

But we’re on it! Alpic is ensuring that Skybridge supports the many implementation differences and limitations of the various platforms (starting with the domain signing requirement, which we’ve already incorporated into the framework in this PR!). 

Submitting Your App to Claude

Ready to get your MCP App into the Claude Connectors directory? Submit through Anthropic's form, which requires a privacy policy, a minimum of three working examples, complete documentation, and test credentials if your app needs authentication. OAuth 2.0 is strongly recommended for authenticated apps.

Try it out

The distribution channel for rich interactive apps in AI is suddenly opening wide. Whether you're targeting Claude's enterprise audience, ChatGPT's consumer base, or VS Code's developer community, the infrastructure is now in place to build interactive MCP+UI apps that run across diverse platforms using a shared standard.