ServiceM8 15 lets you open ChatGPT, give it the ServiceM8 development toolkit, and describe a small tool you want. ChatGPT builds and deploys it as a private add-on inside your own account, with no developer account or public listing needed.
- Over the past year ServiceM8 opened up much more of its data and workflows to add-ons, including ones that run on its own infrastructure.
- The new flow: open ChatGPT, load the ServiceM8 development toolkit, follow setup, then describe the add-on in plain English.
- Two examples shown at launch: auto-assigning new jobs to a staff member and window, and saved checklist templates by job type.
- Private means no developer account, no public add-on listing, it shows in your add-ons area, and you can disable it any time.
- It suits small rule-based tools well. Money, integrations and anything you can't afford to get wrong still want a proper build.
Keep asking about it in
Quick answer: Yes, with ServiceM8 15 you can open ChatGPT, hand it ServiceM8’s new development toolkit, and describe a small tool you want built. ChatGPT writes it, deploys it directly into your own ServiceM8 account as a Private Add-on, and you can ask for changes in plain English afterwards. There’s no developer account, no public listing, and no separate hosting to pay for. It’s genuinely useful for small, rule-based jobs. For anything that touches money, another system, or data you can’t afford to get wrong, we’d still recommend a proper build. This is based on the ServiceM8 15 launch livestream, so some detail may shift as the feature rolls out. For everything else announced, see the ServiceM8 15 launch roundup.
The launch video below is cued to the Private Add-ons segment (33:44). It is the source for everything in this post.
What changed with ServiceM8 add-ons over the last year?
Custom add-ons and third party integrations aren’t new to ServiceM8. What’s new is how much of ServiceM8 they can now reach. Over the past 12 months ServiceM8 opened up far more of its own data and workflows to custom development, giving developers more flexibility. Alongside that, ServiceM8 introduced a way to build more capable add-ons that run entirely on its own infrastructure, so a developer no longer needs to stand up and pay for a separate server.
None of that would mean much to most business owners on its own, because custom development has traditionally been slow and expensive. What changes the picture is ChatGPT. ServiceM8’s argument at the launch was simple: AI tools have cut the time and cost of building software, so it built a way to point that directly at customising your own account.
How do you build a private add-on with ChatGPT?
The flow ServiceM8 demonstrated at the launch is a short one:
- Open ChatGPT.
- Give it ServiceM8’s development toolkit and follow the initial setup steps.
- Describe the add-on you want, in plain English.
- ChatGPT builds it and deploys it as a private add-on directly into your own ServiceM8 account.
- Test it. If something needs to change, ask for the change in plain English and ChatGPT updates the add-on.
No exact setup time, pricing or plan requirement for using the toolkit was stated at the launch.
What did ServiceM8 show as examples?
Two add-ons were demonstrated live, both built the same way.
The first responded to a common request: assign every new job to the same staff member and allocation window automatically. Once built, the add-on applied that rule every time a job was created. When asked for a change, “add a settings page that lets me choose a default staff member,” ChatGPT updated the add-on to include one.
The second saved different job checklist templates for different job types. It also came with its own settings page for creating and managing the templates. From the job card, staff could choose a template, apply it, and the full checklist appeared on the job.
Both were shown running as ordinary parts of the account: usable from the job card, editable through their own settings, and, according to ServiceM8, requiring no separate servers or ongoing hosting cost.
What does “private” actually mean?
Private, in this context, is a specific and fairly narrow thing. A private add-on:
- Has no developer account to create.
- Has no public add-on listing to publish or maintain.
- Still appears in your account’s add-ons area like any other add-on.
- Can be disabled from there at any time.
- Runs on ServiceM8’s own infrastructure, so there’s no separate server or hosting bill to manage.
It’s built for one account, seen by one account, and controlled entirely from inside that account.
Where does this fit with the other AI announcements?
Private add-ons weren’t the only AI update at the launch. Two related changes are worth knowing about. First, ServiceM8 hosted websites and booking pages are now easier for AI agents to read, so when a customer’s AI agent goes looking for a trade, it can understand your services and submit a booking or enquiry directly. That’s the same shift covered in our piece on getting a website ready for AI agents, and you can run your own site through our free Agent Ready Check to see where it stands.
Second, ServiceM8 now works as an interactive app inside supported AI tools such as ChatGPT. Ask to see jobs needing attention and it shows a job list and job details right there in the conversation, with actions like preparing an email or updating a job status able to run directly in your account. That sits next to, but separately from, Office Agent, which is ServiceM8’s own AI assistant built into the app and online dashboard.
Where this shines, and where you still want a partner build
We’re a ServiceM8 Bronze Partner, so we’ll say this plainly rather than defensively: this is a genuinely good addition, and it will replace some jobs that used to need a developer. It’s also not a replacement for a proper build once the stakes go up.
| Good fit for a ChatGPT-built private add-on | Better as a partner build |
|---|---|
| A single, clear rule, like auto-assigning jobs | Anything that moves or calculates money |
| Sits entirely inside ServiceM8 | Talks to another system, like Xero, GoHighLevel or Google Ads |
| Easy to check by eye, job by job | Data you cannot afford to get wrong at scale |
| One person can test it in an afternoon | Needs testing across every staff member and device |
| Low cost if it’s wrong and you just switch it off | Ongoing support and monitoring, not a one-off build |
The two demo add-ons were both small, rule-based tools with an obvious right answer and low cost if something went wrong. That’s the sweet spot. Once an add-on needs to handle money correctly every time, sync cleanly with another platform, or behave the same way for every technician on every phone, it’s worth having someone scope, build and test it properly rather than iterating on it live.
Five add-on ideas a tradie could ask ChatGPT to build
- Flag any job over a set dollar value for manager review before it gets booked in.
- Auto-apply a standard set of line items to every job booked under a specific job category.
- Post a Staff Chat summary of the next day’s bookings automatically each afternoon.
- Warn a staff member if they try to mark a job complete with no photos attached to the diary.
- Auto-assign every job from a specific repeat client to the same technician each time.
A worked example of a bigger build
Not every idea stays small once you dig into it, and that’s where our own build sits. Web Blend is developing a ServiceM8 add-on that feeds Google Ads spend and lead source data into ServiceM8 and produces a monthly dashboard for the business owner: what was spent on Google Ads, how many leads came in, how many of those leads turned into quotes, how many became paying customers, and whether the month was actually profitable once staff and materials are accounted for. It’s in development as of September 2026 with no launch date yet. It touches ad spend, lead attribution and profit, so it’s exactly the kind of build we’d scope and test properly rather than hand to a plain-English prompt. If you want to see what we already do to connect Google Ads leads to ServiceM8 job outcomes today, that’s covered on our Google Ads conversion tracking page.
How to turn it on
There’s no separate signup for the private add-on builder itself, since it runs through ChatGPT using ServiceM8’s development toolkit. What you do need is ServiceM8 15 active on your account. ServiceM8 said the iOS and Android apps land in their app stores from 18 September 2026, and the online features are switched on from ServiceM8’s launch page: click the activation link there, and it reveals an “activate ServiceM8 15” option under Settings. Once that’s on, open ChatGPT, give it the toolkit, and start with something small and easy to check by eye before you build anything that touches money or another system.
If you’d rather have someone who builds ServiceM8 automations professionally take a small idea and turn it into something reliable, that’s what we do.