Developer documentation

ExpatsList for ChatGPT

ExpatsList is available as an app inside ChatGPT. It covers cities across five regions and is used by newcomers, expats, remote workers, retirees and locals. Ask about a city or a country and ChatGPT answers from ExpatsList: what people are asking, recommending and posting, which businesses locals trust, and the visa, cost of living and healthcare facts by country. Every answer links to the full page on ExpatsList.

Endpoint

The app is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server over Streamable HTTP. It needs no account and no API key. All tools are read-only. 

POST https://expatslist.org/api/mcp
Content-Type: application/json

To try it yourself, turn on Developer mode in ChatGPT (Settings, then Apps and connectors) and add the URL above as a new connector. Any MCP client that speaks Streamable HTTP works the same way.

Tools

list_cities

The cities ExpatsList covers, with the slug the other tools expect.

When: To resolve a city name, or when someone asks which cities are available.

city_pulse

Recent activity in one city: new questions, missed-connection posts, recommendations, classifieds, blog posts and businesses, grouped by type.

When: "What are people talking about in Playa del Carmen?"

search_expatslist

Keyword search across every content type, optionally limited to one city and one type.

When: "Find a dentist in Cancún that locals recommend."

browse

The newest items of one type in one city, with an optional category.

When: "Any missed connections posted in Tulum recently?"

get_item

One item in more depth: a question with its best answer, a post, a recommendation, a classified, a blog post or a business.

When: After a search, when the user wants more on one result.

country_info

Reference numbers for one country: digital nomad visa, cost of living, healthcare, tax, safety or tipping.

When: "What does the Portugal digital nomad visa require?"

search / fetch

The standard connector pair, so the same server works as a ChatGPT connector and a deep-research source.

When: Used by ChatGPT automatically when the app is attached as a connector.

Example prompts

  • What are people talking about in Playa del Carmen this month?
  • Find a dentist in Cancún that locals recommend.
  • Any missed connections posted in Tulum recently?
  • What does the Portugal digital nomad visa require?
  • Show me the latest questions about schools in Bangkok.
  • How much is a one-bedroom apartment in Chiang Mai?

What the app returns

  • Titles, short summaries, categories, neighborhoods, posting dates and a link to the page on ExpatsList.
  • For a question, the best answer and how many more answers are on the page.
  • For a country, the headline figures from the relevant ExpatsList tool and a link to the full table.
  • Never contact details, author names, internal identifiers or full timestamps. Contact details for a business or a poster are on the linked page, where they are shown to signed-in members.

Data and privacy

We receive the tool name and its parameters, nothing about the ChatGPT user. We keep a daily count of calls per tool and city, with no query text and no IP address. Links carry a utm_source=chatgpt tag so our analytics can tell app visits apart. Full detail is in the privacy policy and the terms of service.

Limits

  • Up to 10 results per call. The endpoint is rate-limited per client IP.
  • Search is keyword-based. Content is in English; the site itself is available in 13 languages.
  • Figures in country tables are indicative. Verify on the linked page, which cites sources.
  • Bulk extraction and scraping through the endpoint are not permitted.

Support

Questions, bug reports or removal requests: use the contact page or email hello@expatslist.org.