# GPT-6 Astra Computer Use in SharePoint: I Let It Build a Site

> GPT-6 Astra planned a supplier management site with me, then built the list, library, 15 site columns and four content types through computer use in SharePoint.

- URL: https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/ai-computer-use-sharepoint/
- Author: Daniel Anderson, Microsoft MVP (https://www.danielanderson.io/)
- Published: 2026-09-22
- Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6gbUJi3p6A

## Key takeaways

- GPT-6 Astra in ChatGPT Work built a working SharePoint information architecture through computer use: in my test, a suppliers register, a supplier documents library, 15 site columns and four content types.
- The planning was the most useful part. It asked questions before designing, proposed a central supplier record I hadn't asked for, and dropped a duplicate category field in favour of content types.
- The build took 34 minutes and 48 seconds of clicking through SharePoint's settings pages, so it's slower than a script and you need to be comfortable leaving it running.
- Verdict: worth using for one-off site builds where you've agreed the design first and can inspect the result, with the agent signed in as an account that only owns that site.

GPT-6 Astra can build a SharePoint site's information architecture for you through computer use. In my test it took an agreed design for a supplier management site and created a suppliers register, a document library linked to it, 15 reusable site columns and four content types with proper inheritance, all by clicking through SharePoint in a browser. It took nearly 35 minutes, and the most useful part was the design conversation we had before it touched SharePoint.

Someone asked me whether computer use could build or work with SharePoint, so I gave it a full site to build. GPT-6 Astra is OpenAI's model for business work, available in ChatGPT Work, Codex and the API. With computer use it clicks through SharePoint as whichever account is signed in, so access was the first thing I had to sort out.

## What did I test, and on what setup?

I started with a blank SharePoint team site called Supplier Portal, created with the defaults. In ChatGPT Work I had a project called Jerry, set up as a SharePoint consultant, with GPT-6 Astra selected and the high setting on.

The brief described a facilities team that receives supplier agreements, insurance certificates and onboarding documents, stores them in folders, and relies on an operations coordinator opening files one at a time. I wrote it around outcomes: find documents by supplier, identify documents that need reviewing or updating, see documents approaching expiry, and know who's responsible for following up. I told it to ask me questions first and not to build anything until I'd reviewed the design.

## How good was the planning?

Better than I expected. Its first question was whether each supplier needed a central record for service category, contact details and an internal relationship owner. I hadn't asked for that, and it's an improvement. It then asked about access (internal only, suppliers don't need it, one default owner per supplier) and what should count as needing attention.

The draft it came back with was a suppliers list acting as the master record, a supplier documents library linked to it by a lookup column, and site columns for supplier, document category, review status, follow-up owner, review date and expiry date. It cited Microsoft support pages as it went. Then it recommended content types for agreements, insurance and onboarding documents, and pointed out that a separate document category column would be holding the same classification twice, so it dropped that column from the design. If you want the background on why this structure is what makes a library usable for people and for Copilot, I've covered it in [why SharePoint needs an information architecture before AI](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/sharepoint-information-architecture-before-ai/).

## What did computer use actually build?

Before the build I had to sort out access. I was signed in to SharePoint as Frankie, a demo account, but ChatGPT would connect as me, so I shared the site with my own account at full control and added it to the owners group. The ChatGPT desktop app's built-in browser keeps its own browser state rather than using your Chrome sign-ins, so you sign in there when it asks.

I gave it the site URL and asked it to build the whole design with every site column and content type scoped to this site only. It needed one retry to open the in-app browser, then worked on its own. After 34 minutes and 48 seconds it reported a suppliers register, a supplier documents library, 15 reusable site columns and four content types.

I checked each piece myself:

1. **The suppliers list** had the fields, choice options and required fields from the design. I added a supplier in the cleaning and maintenance category with an Active status and it saved without trouble.
2. **The content types** sat in a Supplier Management group in site settings. Supplier Document inherited from Document, and Agreement, Insurance and Onboarding Document inherited from Supplier Document. All three showed under New in the library.
3. **The library** flagged my uploaded document as missing required information until I picked a supplier from the lookup, set Frankie as follow-up owner and set a review status. The lookup worked first time.
4. **The views** were there too, including awaiting review, change required and current documents grouped by supplier, which map back to the outcomes in my brief.

## What didn't work as well?

Every piece I checked worked, so the drawbacks are about speed and access. Thirty-five minutes is a long wait for two lists' worth of structure, and a PnP PowerShell script or site template applies the same thing in far less time once it's written. Because it drives the same settings pages you would, it's only as fast as those pages load. I also had to grant my account full control on the site before it could do anything, and I wouldn't want that step skipped or done carelessly in a real tenant.

I've tried browser agents on SharePoint before. Perplexity's Comet browser bulk-set the document status on eight documents in quick edit and deleted a folder from a natural language instruction, and Claude in Chrome filtered libraries and learnt to create a library in [my Claude in Chrome test on SharePoint](https://www.danielanderson.io/articles/claude-chrome-extension-sharepoint/). Both were short tasks inside one library. This was the first time I'd handed an agent a full site build.

Video: Perplexity's Comet browser bulk-updating document status in a SharePoint library from one instruction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckWjPEshHZU

## My verdict: agree the design with it, then let it build

I'd use this, with conditions.

The value is in the conversation before the build. The agent's questions improved my brief, and it made sound information architecture calls on content types and lookups. I didn't test asking it to just "build a supplier site" with no review, and I wouldn't, because whatever it built would be a structure nobody had checked against how the team works. Write the brief as outcomes, ask for questions first, and don't let it touch SharePoint until you've read the design.

For the build, give it an account that owns that one site and nothing else. Computer use acts with whatever that account can do, so a global admin session is the wrong place to run it. Scope the site columns and content types to the site, as I did, so a mistake stays on that site instead of turning up in other sites' column pickers. Then inspect the result the way I did: open the settings, check inheritance, add a real record and upload a real file.

I'd still script anything you'll build more than once, and keep computer use for the one-off site where writing a PnP script would take longer than the 35-minute build.

## Frequently asked questions

**Does GPT-6 Astra computer use work in SharePoint Online?**
It did in my test. It drove SharePoint through the built-in browser in the ChatGPT desktop app, which runs on macOS and Windows and opens with Ctrl+Shift+B on Windows. It asks before using a new website unless you've already allowed that host. In Enterprise workspaces access is off by default, and admins can restrict which websites and apps it can reach and require confirmation before consequential actions.

**Can computer use create SharePoint content types and site columns?**
Yes. In my test it created 15 site columns and four content types, with three of them inheriting from a parent Supplier Document content type, and added them to the library. I asked for them to be scoped to the site, and they appeared under a Supplier Management group in site settings.

**Is computer use faster than building the site myself?**
Not in my test. The build took 34 minutes and 48 seconds. The time it saves is in planning and in not having to be at the keyboard, and you still need to check the result.