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How to add a paywall upgrade prompt with ChatGPT Codex without a developer

A soft paywall with ChatGPT Codex: when a free user reaches a paid feature, a modal explains the upgrade and links to your pricing page — targeted by plan, measured, and editable without a release.

Time
● 20 minutes
Price
14-day free trial, no card
Who does it
You and Codex

Example: an upgrade prompt with ChatGPT Codex

A task board maintained with Codex. Free users clicking Automations (data-tour="automations") on /board get a modal “Automations save 3 hours a week — on Business” with a link to plans.

What Clew does and doesn’t do. Clew shows the upgrade prompt — a modal with your text and a link to your own pricing or checkout page — to the users your rules select. It doesn’t take payments, doesn’t manage subscriptions and doesn’t hide or lock content: your app decides who has access, your billing provider charges the card.

This format is part of the Pro plan. Every new account starts with a 14-day free trial with all formats and audience rules, no card required. When the trial ends nothing is deleted and published items keep showing; the Free plan keeps tours and tooltips free.

How to add the paywall prompt with ChatGPT Codex, step by step

  1. Step 01

    Copy your Clew snippet

    Create a free account (or sign in), add your site and open Admin → Overview. Click the line in the “No signal from the widget yet.” card to copy it — it carries your real site key instead of the placeholder.

    <!-- Clew: replace PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEY with the site key from Admin > Overview -->
    <script src="https://tryclew.io/widget/PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEY.js" async></script>
    Clew admin Overview with the embed line and a masked site key (paywall upgrade prompt with ChatGPT Codex)
    Step 1 · schematic illustration
  2. Step 02

    Connect the repository to Codex

    In ChatGPT open Codex and connect the GitHub repository of your app (or run the Codex CLI in the project folder). A regular ChatGPT chat or canvas only shows code — it doesn’t change your repository.

    An AI coding agent workspace connected to a repository (paywall upgrade prompt with ChatGPT Codex)
    Step 2 · schematic illustration
  3. Step 03

    Start a task with the prompt

    Replace PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEY with your key and start a Codex task with the prompt below.

    Add the Clew onboarding widget to this app.
    
    Insert this exact tag once so it loads on every page, including after client-side route changes:
    <script src="https://tryclew.io/widget/PASTE_YOUR_SITE_KEY.js" async></script>
    
    Find the root HTML file or root layout of this repository (index.html for Vite, app/layout.tsx with next/script for Next.js App Router, nuxt.config.ts app.head.script for Nuxt, the base template for server-rendered apps) and add the tag there.
    
    After the signed-in user is loaded, and whenever the subscription changes, call Clew.identify({ plan: <the user's current plan id as a string, e.g. "free"> }). If the widget may not have loaded yet, first define the queue stub: window.TutorKit = window.TutorKit || { q: [], identify: function (p) { this.q.push(["identify", p]); } }; then call window.TutorKit.identify(...). Add a data-tour attribute to the buttons of paid features (for example data-tour="export"). Do not add any payment, gating or paywall logic of your own and do not change what the buttons do.
    
    Rules:
    - Use the script URL exactly as given. Do not download it, bundle it or install an npm package.
    - If the project sets a Content-Security-Policy, allow https://tryclew.io in script-src and connect-src.
    - Change nothing else and show me the diff.
    AI task input with the Clew prompt (paywall upgrade prompt with ChatGPT Codex)
    Step 3 · schematic illustration
  4. Step 04

    Review the pull request and merge

    Codex returns the change as a diff you can open as a pull request. Check that it touches the root file and the small additions only, merge, and let your hosting deploy.

    Pull request diff with one script line added (paywall upgrade prompt with ChatGPT Codex)
    Step 4 · schematic illustration
  5. Step 05

    Write the upgrade prompt

    In Clew open Flows → + New flow and choose Modal window. One step: a title with the benefit (“Export to CSV is on Pro”), one sentence of value, and in Link text / Link URL the button and your pricing or checkout URL.

    An upgrade prompt modal over a web app, with a benefit headline and a link button to the pricing page (paywall upgrade prompt with ChatGPT Codex)
    Step 5 · schematic illustration
  6. Step 06

    Choose where, when and for whom it shows

    In the same editor, set Where to show (page URL), When to show, Audience targeting and Frequency. These are the settings of the example above:

    SettingValue
    FormatModal window
    Where to show (page URL)Section by prefix /board
    When to showOn click on an element: [data-tour="automations"]
    Audience targetingProperty plan equals free
    FrequencyEvery visit
    Clew tour editor with the format, page URL rule, trigger and audience rule fields (paywall upgrade prompt with ChatGPT Codex)
    Step 6 · schematic illustration
  7. Step 07

    Publish and check it on the live site

    Set Status to Published and save. Open the page in a private window — Clew remembers who has already seen a “once” item, so your usual browser may skip it. Views, completions and drop-offs appear in the tour stats.

    Clew admin Overview with the green “Widget is live” card (paywall upgrade prompt with ChatGPT Codex)
    Step 7 · schematic illustration

Pitfalls: paywall upgrade prompt with ChatGPT Codex

Nothing changes until the PR is merged

Codex works in a cloud copy of the repository. Until you merge and deploy, the paywall upgrade prompt can’t appear on your site.

Canvas code is a draft

If you paste code from a ChatGPT chat by hand, you are the developer: check the file and the placement yourself, or use Codex so the change is reviewed as a diff.

The prompt doesn’t replace access checks

If the paid feature is reachable for free users in your app, the modal appears but the feature still works behind it. Check that the server side enforces the plan; the prompt is only the message.

Update the property after upgrading

Properties live in the browser until the app sends a new value. Call Clew.identify({ plan: "pro" }) after a successful upgrade, or the new customer keeps seeing the prompt.

Questions and answers

What does Codex change in the code?

The line, the plan identify call and the attribute — nothing about payments or access.

Can I do it in the ChatGPT app without Codex?

Only if you paste the result into your code yourself. Codex is the part of ChatGPT that edits a real repository.

Does Clew take the payment?

No. The button links to your own pricing page or checkout; Clew never handles cards, subscriptions or access.

Is the paywall prompt free?

It needs the modal format and an audience rule, both in Pro. The 14-day trial includes them, no card.

One line on your site — then tours, tooltips and checklists without releases.

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