One of the exciting new capabilities of ChatGPT is the ability to install plugins, enhancing the chatbot’s intelligence.
However, with over 80 plugins available in the ChatGPT store, selecting the most suitable ones can be challenging. Additionally, the limitation of running only three plugins concurrently necessitates careful consideration.
To assist you in this selection process, we’ve rigorously tested the most popular plugins available on the marketplace and curated a list of those we believe would be most beneficial for developers. It’s important to note that before accessing the store or these plugins, you’ll need to first set up the plugin beta feature.
1. ChatWithGit
A recent addition to the ChatGPT store, ChatWithGit enables users to search GitHub directly using ChatGPT to locate helpful code snippets. It conveniently presents a snippet of the code along with a link to the corresponding repository. Undoubtedly, this feature proves to be a significant time-saver, particularly when endeavoring to avoid reinventing the wheel.
This scenario often brings to mind the classic joke among developers where one jests to another, “Hey, I stole your code.” The second developer typically responds casually, “No worries, it’s not my code anyway.” In the context of GitHub, the exchange might humorously shift to, “Awesome, thanks for the fork.”
2. Code Interpreter
Although currently in closed alpha, this plugin merits inclusion on the list due to its highly promising addition to the plugin library. This innovative plugin enables users to execute Python code within a chat conversation with ChatGPT. Notably, it offers features such as file upload and download capabilities, code adjustment options, as well as the ability for ChatGPT to suggest changes and modifications.
Users have already begun exploring its potential, utilizing it for tasks like aggregating large datasets. For instance, one user uploaded a CSV file containing the locations of all lighthouses in the US and effortlessly generated a GIF displaying a map of these locations, all with a single prompt. Ethan Mollick at OneUsefulThing has demonstrated its prowess as a potential data analyst tool by creating various programs. In his own words, it’s “starting to get strange,” indicating the innovative and unexpected capabilities emerging from its use.
According to OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, this Python interpreter operates within a “sandboxed, firewalled execution environment, along with some ephemeral disk space.” However, despite these technical details, many individuals regard this plugin as the most thrilling addition to ChatGPT’s repertoire at present.
3. Zapier
In an unsurprising turn of events, Zapier, renowned for its integration prowess, offers a plugin that enables seamless integration of over 5,000 apps—including popular ones like Google Sheets, Gmail, and Slack—with ChatGPT. Be prepared to allocate a significant number of tokens for this functionality! Instead of toggling between platforms, users can directly access Zapier within ChatGPT’s interface. This integration supports any of Zapier’s 50,000 actions, such as search, update, and write, across a wide array of supported apps.
While the automation capability offered by Zapier integration is undeniably impressive, it also raises some valid concerns. Granting ChatGPT access to a vast array of apps could potentially expose sensitive data, leading to privacy breaches. For instance, ChatGPT encountered a significant data breach earlier this year, affecting 1.2% of ChatGPT Plus subscribers and divulging their prompts. If this breach had involved confidential business data concerning clients, the repercussions could be severe.
Despite these apprehensions, Zapier remains one of ChatGPT’s most popular plugins, highlighting its undeniable utility.
4. Prompt Perfect
Crafting the ideal prompt for ChatGPT can pose a significant challenge. Prompt Engineering has emerged as a crucial skill, with entire courses dedicated to it. However, Prompt Perfect simplifies this process by rephrasing your prompt in a manner that optimizes the results you seek. Simply begin your query with ‘perfect’ followed by your prompt, and Prompt Perfect will take care of the rest.
While available on the ChatGPT store, Prompt Perfect is also compatible with other large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4, MidJourney, DALL-E 2, StableLM, and others. Users have found that utilizing Prompt Perfect significantly streamlines their workflow, making tasks much more manageable.
5. Link Reader
Link Reader revolutionizes the way ChatGPT interacts with various types of links, including PDFs, PPTs, Word documents, and more. By employing phrases like “Translate the contents from this link,” “summarize,” “interpret,” or “analyze,” users can extract far more insightful information from examining a link compared to a traditional search engine.
We put Link Reader to the test by reviewing one of our Multicloud reports, and were delighted to find that it effectively captured most of the topics covered in the PDF with just a simple prompt.
You can see behind the scenes that it’s reading the content directly, so it’s not interpreting it from page or link context (as the GPT 3.5 version of ChatGPT likely would).
6. Wolfram Alpha
The Wolfram plugin significantly enhances ChatGPT’s capabilities in dealing with mathematical queries. It provides the chatbot with access to computation, mathematical functions, curated knowledge, and real-time data from Wolfram Alpha and the Wolfram Language. Below is an example of a query without the plugin installed:
And here’s with the Wolfram plugin installed.
Just a little bit of a difference. The visualization tools are particularly nice, as shown below.
