What is ChatGPT Work? What it does, where to find it and how usage works

ChatGPT Work is OpenAI’s agent for jobs that take more than a quick answer. You describe an outcome, such as researching a market and producing a report, and Work plans the steps, uses your connected apps and files, and returns finished documents, spreadsheets, presentations or even a website, checking in when it needs a decision. OpenAI introduced it on July 9, 2026 alongside a new ChatGPT desktop app. This guide explains what it does, where it runs, who can use it and how its usage works.

ChatGPT Chat, Work and Codex

ChatGPT now has three ways of working:

On the desktop app, you select ChatGPT or Codex from the top-left menu and use a toggle to move between Chat and Work. Chat and Work chats appear together in Recents. Codex keeps its own separate history.

What ChatGPT Work can do

According to OpenAI, Work can:

• Research and analyse information, and work across connected apps and files.
• Create finished deliverables: documents, spreadsheets, presentations, reports and Sites, which you can preview privately and then publish.
• Keep working on a schedule: Scheduled Tasks run once, repeat on a schedule or trigger, or monitor for changes.
• React to events: on eligible plans, event-triggered tasks can start when a supported event happens in a connected app, such as a new Gmail message, a new Slack channel message or GitHub pull request activity.
• Use skills and plugins, which bundle reusable instructions and connected apps for specific workflows.
• Work by voice: in the desktop app on macOS and Windows you can talk to Work, interrupt naturally and ask it to start or coordinate tasks. See our guide to ChatGPT Voice.

You stay in control: you can follow progress, answer questions, change direction and approve important actions as it works.

Where ChatGPT Work runs

• Web and mobile: Work runs in the cloud. Cloud Work chats sync across web, mobile and desktop.
• Desktop app (macOS and Windows): Chat, Work and Codex are combined in one app. Here Work can also use local files and desktop apps with your permission, and the built-in browser can gather information from the web. Local chats run on your computer, although messages and task context may still be stored in the cloud.

Work on web and mobile cannot directly access files on your computer.

Who can use ChatGPT Work

When OpenAI introduced Work on July 9, 2026, it said that on web and mobile it was rolling out to paid plans except Free and Go, with Pro, Enterprise and Edu users first, then Plus and Business. OpenAI’s help centre adds that Work is available on web and mobile for eligible paid plans, and in the desktop app when included for your plan and workspace. Its pricing page lists limited Work access on the desktop app for Free. Event-triggered tasks and Sites aren’t available on Free or Go, and public publishing of Sites wasn’t available in the EEA, Switzerland or the UK at launch.

For what each plan includes, see ChatGPT Go vs Plus.

How usage works

• Work follows the same usage structure as Codex: an allowance included in your plan, plus credits you can buy for more.
• Usage varies with the task, so a big research job costs more of your allowance than a small edit.
• GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, added on September 22, 2026, are available in Work for Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu, with Luna also on Free and Go in the desktop app; see our report on GPT-6 Sol and Luna.
• GPT-6.1 Sol, announced on September 29, 2026, is rolling out in Work and Codex starting with Pro users; see GPT-6.1 Sol. Dots, OpenAI’s always-on agents, can also start tasks in Work; see What are ChatGPT dots?.
• GPT-6 Astra can use your allowance faster than GPT-5.6 Sol. Pro ($100, $200 and $500) and Business Premium seats can use their full allowance for Astra; Plus and Business Standard seats include limited Astra usage, with optional credits after that.
• Connected Voice time is metered separately where flexible pricing applies, and tasks started by voice draw from the same shared pool as Work and Codex.

Our guide to ChatGPT models explains Astra, Sol, Terra and Luna.

How to get started

On web or mobile: open ChatGPT and select Work. On desktop: open the ChatGPT app, sign in, select ChatGPT from the top-left menu, and choose Work from the toggle at the top.

1. Start a new chat, or open a project so Work has its files and instructions.
2. Describe the outcome you want, and add any files, constraints and review criteria.
3. Follow progress, answer questions and approve important actions.
4. Review the result, then ask for changes or follow-up work in the same chat.

Admin controls

Workspace owners and admins can control Work in Workspace settings, Permissions and roles: Work Cloud lets members start and view cloud tasks, and Work Local lets them work locally in the desktop app. Codex Local is controlled separately.

ChatGPT Work vs other AI agents

For OpenAI’s coding agent, see our guide to the best AI coding assistants, and for the assistant overall, the ChatGPT profile.

Use it safely

Grant access only to the folders and connected apps a task needs, check documents and numbers before you share them, and keep approvals on for actions that send or delete things. As with any AI, Work can make mistakes.

Work also has a built-in browser in the ChatGPT desktop app, which took over from OpenAI’s Atlas browser. Read What happened to ChatGPT Atlas? and our guide to the best AI browsers for the details. For what each plan includes, see ChatGPT Pro explained and ChatGPT Go vs Plus. For how Work fits into the wider agent trend, read AI agents explained.