Building in the Open: ChatGPT/AI Assistant Apps by Noodle Seed
Why AI Assistant Apps Will Eclipse Traditional App Stores and How We're Building for It
Contents
TL;DR
- •AI assistant apps will be bigger than iOS/Android app stores because they work across all devices with zero downloads
- •Every major player (OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic, Apple) will build their own app ecosystem
- •Noodle Seed is building the one platform to create apps for ALL AI assistants: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Meta AI, and more
- •Build once, deploy everywhere. Whichever AI assistant wins, our customers win
- •We're starting with ChatGPT and expanding to all platforms as they open their developer ecosystems
We started Noodle Seed in September 2024 with a vision to build an app and demo platform. A few months in, we pivoted to custom SaaS development. Today, we're sharing our second pivot, and we believe this is the biggest opportunity we've seen yet.
We're building the one platform where you can create apps for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, and every major AI assistant. Build once, deploy everywhere.
Why This Will Be Bigger Than iOS and Android App Stores
Think about the friction in traditional app stores. A user finds your app, downloads it on their iPhone, and it's tied to that device and operating system. If they switch to Android or use a tablet or desktop, they need to download again, or the app might not even be available. Every device, every platform requires a separate experience.
AI assistant apps work fundamentally differently. They're more like WeChat in China. Independent of the OS and device. No downloads. A user connects your app once to their ChatGPT account, and they can use it on any device where they use ChatGPT. iPhone, Android, web browser, tablet. It just works. The same will apply to Gemini, Claude, and any other AI assistant.
This is massive. You're not building for a specific device or operating system. You're building for a behavior: the behavior of asking AI for help, advice, and recommendations. And that behavior is already happening billions of times per day across every device imaginable.
The Cross-Platform Advantage
Here's what we know: ChatGPT will likely announce features to let users make ChatGPT apps. But they'll never release a platform to help you make apps for their competitors like Claude or Gemini. The same strategy will play out with every major AI chatbot player: Google, Anthropic, xAI, Perplexity, Meta, and Apple. Each will build tools for their own ecosystem, but none will help you reach users on competing platforms.
That's where we come in. We're building the one platform where you can get apps for ALL these AI chatbots. Whichever platform wins, our customers win.
The Race for App Ecosystems
Remember Windows Phone? One of the main reasons it failed was the lack of apps. By the time Microsoft wanted to attract developers to build for Windows Phone, they had already invested in building apps for iOS and Android. Nobody wanted to develop for yet another platform.
Every major player learned this lesson. OpenAI's announcement changed the game. Perplexity already has the technical capability and has implemented it through private partnerships with a few companies, though they haven't yet announced an open third-party developer platform. After OpenAI's move, it's not only inevitable but certain that all players will accelerate their announcements and releases.
Meta has one of the largest distribution channels alongside Google. Meta AI is already integrated into WhatsApp, with over two billion users globally, and they're expanding across Instagram and Facebook Messenger. They will almost certainly build similar app capabilities into WhatsApp's Meta AI and their other platforms. Apple cannot sit back and let OpenAI eat their lunch. They will surely do something as well.
All players will massively push to grab app ecosystems for their platforms rather than wait for companies to develop apps for ChatGPT alone. The race is on, and it's accelerating faster than anyone expected.
The Unified Distribution Advantage
Traditional app development means building separate versions for iOS, Android, and web. Three codebases, three review processes, three sets of updates. Users download each app individually, taking up storage space, requiring permissions, and creating friction at every step.
With AI assistant apps, users already have the platform installed. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Meta AI: these apps are already on their devices. Your business app connects once and works everywhere that platform works. No storage concerns. No version fragmentation. No download friction. Just instant access to your products and services wherever users are already having conversations.
Why This Time Will Be Faster
We believe adoption will start with consumer apps and then move to B2B applications, following the pattern of most software and tech. Later, it will reach regulated industries like finance and healthcare, and perhaps eventually government services. But this time might be faster than previous paradigm shifts.
Every new technology wave seems to accelerate compared to the one before because of all the distribution infrastructure already in place. Mobile apps took four to five years from the iPhone SDK announcement in 2008 to reach mass adoption. But that involved the physical manufacture and distribution of billions of devices around the world.
AI assistant apps require no physical distribution. They're just a click to connect with people's existing AI chatbots. The infrastructure is already there. The users are already there. The behavior is already there. We're just making it possible for businesses to be there too.
Our Vision: Four Layers of Value
We're building this platform around four core layers that work across every AI assistant. This is our full end-to-end vision. The product isn't fully fleshed out yet, but here's where we're headed:
Presence
Establish your business across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, Meta AI, and other AI platforms from a single dashboard. We handle the technical implementation for each platform's unique requirements.
Discovery
Getting found is everything. We're building tools to help businesses be discovered across all major AI assistants, both organically through optimization and strategically through positioning.
Engagement
Once discovered, capture that interest. Appointment scheduling, lead collection, and communication tools work consistently across platforms for a seamless experience.
Transactions
Complete the loop by selling directly on any platform. Your customers can purchase without leaving their preferred AI assistant, regardless of which one they're using.
What We've Built So Far
This is our very first release, an initial preview starting with ChatGPT. We're focused primarily on presence and early engagement capabilities, with cross-platform expansion as our top priority.
We've started very simple. In this MVP, a single user makes a single app for a single platform. We're also considering management features like collaboration, multiple apps, and organizations, but we thought we'd implement those when we have some users with some apps asking for these things. If you need more flexibility, get in touch. We'd be happy to build these features out sooner.
Simple Onboarding
Getting started is straightforward. You enter your website URL, and our system analyzes your site to extract your business information, products, and services. Within minutes, you're ready to configure your first AI assistant app.
Current Capabilities
After connecting your website, you can customize your branding, add product photos, set prices, and configure your offerings. We extract your color scheme and business details automatically, but you have full control to refine everything.
When you publish your app, you receive a server URL that connects to ChatGPT. Currently, you set this up manually in ChatGPT's interface. Once OpenAI launches their app store, the process will be smoother. Users will discover your app organically or via direct connection.
Your customers can ask for your menu, browse products with photos and descriptions, contact you with questions, and interact with your business. All of this happens inside their conversation. Every interaction flows back to your Noodle Seed portal, where you can see engagement data and manage customer communications.
The key difference: once a user connects your app, it works on their iPhone, Android device, laptop, tablet. Anywhere they use ChatGPT. No separate downloads. No device-specific versions.
The Road Ahead
We're building for the multi-platform future that's coming. Discovery optimization, advanced engagement tools, transactions, CRM integrations, and enhanced analytics are all on the roadmap. Your needs and feedback will determine what we prioritize and how we build it.
We're starting with ChatGPT because they released their SDK first, but our architecture is designed for multi-platform deployment from day one. As Perplexity opens their developer platform, as Meta expands app capabilities in WhatsApp, and as Google, Anthropic, xAI, and Apple release their capabilities, we'll add support. The acceleration has already begun.
Who Should Try This
If you're a digital marketer working with forward-thinking clients, this is for you. If you're a business owner who wants to establish presence across emerging AI channels before your competitors do, this is for you.
We're looking for early adopters who understand that betting on a single AI platform is risky, and that building separate native apps for every device is obsolete. The businesses that establish broad AI assistant presence now, across multiple platforms with zero download friction, will have a significant advantage as these channels mature.
Building in the Open
This is an MVP in the truest sense. In the spirit of building in the open, we're sharing access even though the platform is incomplete and requires significant development. The four layers and cross-platform vision represent where we're going, not where we are today.
Try it out. Break it. Tell us what's missing. Help us understand what would make this genuinely useful for your business and your customers. Which AI platforms matter most to you? What features would make cross-platform management easier? We're going on this journey together.
Get Started
This is our second pivot, and we think we've found the inflection point. No one else is building a truly platform-agnostic solution for AI assistant apps. The distribution model is fundamentally better than traditional app stores: no downloads, device-independent, instantly available across every screen your customers use.
Whichever AI assistant wins, our customers win.
Ready to explore? Visit noodleseed.com and try the platform. Have questions or want to discuss your specific use case? Contact us directly. You'll be speaking with me or my co-founder. Let's build this together.
Fahd
Founder, Noodle Seed
Ready to be first on every AI platform?
Build once, deploy everywhere. Start with ChatGPT today and expand to Claude, Gemini, and every major AI assistant as they launch.