How to connect Coach Leo to ChatGPT

ChatGPT can talk about running all day, but it can't see your training — it forgets your history and never reads your actual paces. Coach Leo fixes that from inside ChatGPT: it's a published plugin that gives the assistant real coaching tools connected to your Strava data, through the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

The short answer

Coach Leo is in the official ChatGPT plugin directory: open the directory, search for Coach Leo, add it, then sign in with your Coach Leo account when ChatGPT asks. That's it — ask for your coaching briefing to check the connection. If you prefer a manual setup, developer mode also accepts the MCP server URL https://mcp.coachleo.ai/mcp directly.

What you need

  • A ChatGPT account. Apps and plugins availability varies by plan and region — if you don't see the directory entry, the manual developer-mode route below works on paid plans.
  • A Coach Leo account, free to create at coachleo.ai, with your Strava, Suunto or Polar connected so Leo has real training data to coach from.
  • Nothing to install. Coach Leo runs as a remote server; the connection follows your ChatGPT account across web and apps.

The one-click route: the plugin directory

  1. 1

    Open Coach Leo in the directory

    In ChatGPT, browse the plugin directory and search for "Coach Leo" — or open the listing directly from the link below.

  2. 2

    Add it

    Click Add. ChatGPT enables Coach Leo for your account.

  3. 3

    Sign in to Coach Leo

    On first use, ChatGPT opens a coachleo.ai page asking you to sign in and authorize the connection. Use your Coach Leo account, or create one — it's free.

  4. 4

    Talk to your coach

    Ask something like: "Give me my coaching briefing" or "How did my week of training go?"

Open Coach Leo in the ChatGPT directory →

The manual route: developer mode (MCP)

If you'd rather add the MCP server yourself — or the directory isn't available on your plan or region — go to Settings → Apps → Advanced settings, enable Developer mode, choose Create app, and paste the server URL below. When asked about authentication, select "No authentication": Coach Leo announces its own OAuth flow and ChatGPT will open the sign-in page on first connection.

Server URL

https://mcp.coachleo.ai/mcp

What you can do once connected

Once authorized, ChatGPT can call Coach Leo's coaching tools on your behalf. In practice, that means you can:

  • Get your coaching briefing — recent runs, training load, personalized heart-rate zones, today's session and how the week is going.
  • Ask about any run: "How was my long run on Sunday compared to two weeks ago?" Leo reads the actual data, not your recollection of it.
  • Create a training plan built from your real paces — a free Coach Leo account includes a first plan.
  • Log how you feel (fatigue, sleep, aches) so readiness is judged on your feel, not on wearable scores.
  • Ask for race-time predictions, shoe mileage tracking, or answers from Leo's scientific knowledge base of peer-reviewed running research.

It's the same Leo you'd talk to in the Coach Leo web app or on Telegram — same memory, same data, same coach. And unlike plain ChatGPT, Leo doesn't forget your training between conversations. For the full list of tools and the technical details of the MCP server, see the documentation.

What's free and what isn't

Connecting Coach Leo to ChatGPT is free: any signed-in Coach Leo account can authorize the connection, and a free account gets the coaching briefing, questions about your training, and a first training plan. Ongoing adaptive coaching — the plan that reshapes itself every week around what you actually ran and how you felt — is part of the Coach Leo subscription, which you manage at coachleo.ai.

Frequently asked questions

Is Coach Leo an official ChatGPT plugin?

Yes — Coach Leo went through OpenAI's review and is published in the ChatGPT plugin directory, so you can add it in one click without any technical setup.

Why should I use Coach Leo instead of just asking ChatGPT for a plan?

Plain ChatGPT can't see your runs: it writes a plausible one-off plan from what you tell it, then forgets you. With Coach Leo connected, it reads your actual training history, builds the plan from your real paces, and the same coach follows you week after week across every channel.

What data does ChatGPT get access to?

Only what Coach Leo's tools return, and only after you explicitly authorize the connection with your own Coach Leo sign-in. ChatGPT never gets your Strava credentials — it talks to Coach Leo, which holds the data. You can revoke the connection at any time from ChatGPT's settings.

The connection fails or ChatGPT asks for authentication settings. What do I do?

On the manual route, check the URL is exactly https://mcp.coachleo.ai/mcp and select "No authentication" — Coach Leo handles sign-in itself via OAuth. If the coachleo.ai sign-in page never appears, remove the app and add it again.

Can I use Coach Leo with Claude instead?

Yes — Coach Leo connects to Claude as a custom connector, on every Claude plan including the free one. Both connections can coexist: it's the same coach and the same memory behind them.

Keep going

Give ChatGPT a coach who knows your training

Create your free Coach Leo account, connect your Strava, and add Coach Leo from the ChatGPT directory in one click. No credit card.

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