--- title: "What is ChatGPT Work? " description: "ChatGPT Work is basically Codex, OpenAI's coding tool, for regular people. You give it a goal and any necessary context, and it keeps going until it's done. Here's how it works." image: "https://images.ctfassets.net/lzny33ho1g45/6wixL0Zhh0sxoQg8yH9K7J/e060e14023f0502b3794eb20ce01c11d/Hero__App_tips.jpg" --- # What is ChatGPT Work?  ChatGPT Work is basically Codex, OpenAI's coding tool, for regular people. You give it a goal and any necessary context, and it keeps going until it's done. Here's how it works. ChatGPT isn't really a chatbot anymore. Now, the focus is on agents, which is why the ChatGPT app suddenly looks very different. It's been rebuilt around a feature called [ChatGPT Work](https://openai.com/chatgpt-work/). ChatGPT Work is basically Codex, OpenAI's [coding tool](https://zapier.com/blog/ai-coding-tools/), for regular people. It uses the same agentic foundation but in a friendlier package. You don't have to worry about git, the terminal, or actual code—unless you want to.  The idea is that ChatGPT Work can operate on its own for an extended period of time. You give it a goal and any necessary context, and it keeps going until it's done. It can connect to your apps, read your files, and generate documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and emails. There's still a bit of chatbot involved, but it's much less back-and-forth than the regular old ChatGPT is.  That's the gist, but let's dig into why this matters and how to use ChatGPT Work.  **Table of contents:** - [What is ChatGPT Work?](#what) - [How to use ChatGPT Work](#how) - [ChatGPT Work vs. Codex vs. Chat](#vs) - [ChatGPT Work pricing](#pricing) - [ChatGPT Work use cases](#use-cases) - [ChatGPT Work limitations](#limitations) ## What is ChatGPT Work? ChatGPT Work is an [agentic AI](https://zapier.com/blog/agentic-ai/) mode for ChatGPT. It can act on files and apps, work toward a goal for hours, and otherwise take action (rather than just answering questions through a chat interface). You tell it what you want, and it goes off and does it. If it needs more information or runs into difficulty, it will tell you. (It also has a _Plan_ mode that comes up with a strategy for you to approve before getting to work.) Confusingly, there are two versions of ChatGPT Work that are actually quite different, which makes things, as Simon Willison puts it, "[spectacularly unintuitive](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/27/an-opinionated-guide-to-which-ai-to-use-to-do-stuff/)." - **ChatGPT Work in the desktop app** can operate on your local files and folders, as well as take control of your computer. This makes it like a more user-friendly version of Codex. - **ChatGPT Work in the mobile and web apps** can still act on files, but it's running on OpenAI's servers, so it can only connect to supported apps and services. There's a browser, but it can't log in to any website or complete any kind of payments. It's still handy, but it's not quite the same as having full access to your computer. A key part of ChatGPT Work is that it can interface directly with third-party services like Gmail, Google Drive, Notion, Slack, GitHub, and about 1,500 other tools through its plugins. That number grows to (with a single install) when you connect it with Zapier. You can tell it to find info in a Google Doc and add it to a draft email, or combine data from two spreadsheets into a presentation. How well it does all these things can vary a little, but we're past the point where it's just a tech demo.  ChatGPT Work works especially well with other ChatGPT features like [projects](https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-use-chatgpt/#projects) and [scheduled tasks](https://zapier.com/blog/chatgpt-scheduled-tasks/). With a project, all the chats have access to all the project files, context, and specific instructions. You don't have to keep uploading your written style guide or the latest marketing report. Similarly, ChatGPT Work can operate on a schedule, which is handy for creating daily briefings, weekly reports, and otherwise having it combine multiple data sources at regular intervals.  ## How to use ChatGPT Work ChatGPT Work is a natural extension of ChatGPT, so it's not too confusing to just start working with. I'm going to demo the basics with the web app, but the mobile app and desktop app are similar enough to use. In any case, the web app is the best place to start because giving ChatGPT Work access to your computer comes with a few risks that you need to understand before letting it rip.  ### 1. Open ChatGPT Work Head to the ChatGPT web app, and log in. Once you're in, click the **Work** toggle.  The text box will change a little compared to _Chat_ mode, as you're now able to select a project and plugins. You can also select the model and effort.  ### 2. Give ChatGPT Work a job Tell ChatGPT Work what you want it to do. If you've already connected any plugins, they'll be available here. Otherwise, you can add them here by clicking _Plugins _(more on that in a bit). Some examples of the things you can ask ChatGPT Work to do: - Find information in documents, spreadsheets, communications, and the web, then take that information and turn it into a report, statistics, or something else actionable. - Check your emails, Slack, or other communication tools for new messages, and update your agenda or write replies. - Block off your calendar based on your task list in Asana or any other productivity tool. And those are just the basics. If you're using ChatGPT Work through the desktop app, it can also: - Operate on your local files, doing things like sorting a folder full of screenshots or summarizing a lengthy insurance policy. - Control your computer directly, so you can have it navigate websites and otherwise interact with your apps and the web. On desktop, you also have to set ChatGPT's access permission. By default, it will stop and ask you any time it's going to run a command outside the workspace or connect to the internet. While this gets very annoying, it's what keeps your files and data as safe as possible. The other two levels of permission (_Approve for Me_ and _Full Access_) give it more autonomy but massively increase the chance of something going wrong. Spend a bit of time playing around with Work with the safety guardrails fully up before you shout YOLO and give it access to everything.  ### 3. Let ChatGPT Work run ChatGPT Work isn't intended to respond quickly—it's meant to work autonomously. Once you give it a job, click away and go about the rest of your work. It'll keep doing its thing in the background and ping you when it's done.  As you use agentic tools more, you're likely to find that they can work on their own for well over an hour without issue. I've had Codex run coding tasks that have taken over six hours with great success.  ### 4. Connect it to your other apps ChatGPT Work is at its best when it's working across all your different apps and tools. This is especially true if you work for a company that uses ChatGPT for Business (that's the actual product name), as it can pull in information from all the various organizational tools. [ChatGPT plugins](https://zapier.com/blog/chatgpt-connectors/) give you 1,500 apps to work with—you can search and browse to find the ones you want. But there's definitely some fluff in there; developers can create dozens of individual plugins as opposed to one unified one, which ends up inflating the plugin count for ChatGPT. In any case, if the app you need isn't there, you can add a [custom MCP server](https://zapier.com/blog/best-mcp-servers/).  If you [connect ChatGPT with Zapier](https://zapier.com/mcp), you increase coverage to unique apps, so anyone at your organization can work with the apps they need. Not only does that mean there will be no gaps in coverage, but it also means you can manage access in one governed location. Instead of installing thousands of native connectors, you install one—and then manage everything from there. Plus, with Zapier, you're not locked into ChatGPT. If someone on your team wants to switch to Claude, or Gemini, or whatever model is most useful for a given task next month, Zapier works across all of them. ChatGPT plugins only work in ChatGPT. ## ChatGPT Work vs. Codex vs. Chat Codex is OpenAI's excellent coding tool. It proved so popular—[even with knowledge workers](https://openai.com/index/codex-for-knowledge-work/)—that the company rebuilt the ChatGPT app to include it. (The old app is still available as ChatGPT Classic, but who knows how long that will last.)  But as a coding tool, Codex isn't the most user-friendly app. There's a built-in terminal, it defaults to using git version control conventions, and it's kind of just code-focused. If you're using it to sort your photos or retrieve information from some files, you don't care what bash commands it runs. ChatGPT Work (on your desktop) is more or less Codex with the tech stuff removed. If you create a document, it doesn't tell you how many lines it's written or provide ways for you to review the PR. The differences are subtle because it can still do all the same things, but it's a lot more approachable. Local projects stay local; you can't pick them up on another ChatGPT instance.  ChatGPT Work (on the web and phone) is similar, but it's running on OpenAI's servers. You lose the power to work with your own file system, but you can't brick your own computer—swings and roundabouts. It's the version of ChatGPT Work most people should try first. You can also use it from the desktop app; just select a remote project.  ## ChatGPT Work pricing ChatGPT Work is available on every ChatGPT plan, though the free plan and $8/month [ChatGPT Go](https://zapier.com/blog/chatgpt-go/) plan both have limited ChatGPT Work access.  If you want to use it regularly, you need to jump up to the $20/month [Plus](https://zapier.com/blog/chatgpt-plus/) plan, and heavy users may need the $100/month [Pro](https://zapier.com/blog/chatgpt-pro/) plan. Businesses need the ChatGPT for Business plan, starting at $25/user/month.  ## ChatGPT Work use cases ChatGPT Work is an incredibly powerful tool. Set it up right, and it can do real work for you. Here are just a few things you might do with it. - **Create automated daily briefings**. I know, a daily briefing is such a done idea. The difference is that ChatGPT Work can pull in from meaningful sources, not just a handful of RSS feeds. You can hook it up to your SEO tools, GitHub, Slack, and other tools if you connect it to Zapier. Scheduling is really powerful across the board. - **Create, edit, fact-check, and outline documents**. You can use it to turn spreadsheets into written documents, documents into presentations, combine different drafts, and more. - **Analyze data**. Give ChatGPT Work a spreadsheet, and it can crunch the numbers for you, or pull the most important information from a lengthy legal document. (I just used it to figure out a few issues with my home insurance policy.) - **T****urn outputs into a public website**. You can create an interactive web app or dashboard from any ChatGPT Work chat. - **Turn raw notes, transcripts, articles, and drafts into something useful**. It can take dozens of badly formatted pieces of data and turn them into a more useful report. (I've given it all my workouts, sleep, and other health data from the last five years; the analysis was pretty fun.) Of course, if you have a real job, you're probably already thinking of a dozen small tasks you could use Work to automate or speed up. Give it a try.  ## ChatGPT Work limitations While I'm a big fan of ChatGPT Work, it's not without its issues. Here are some of my bigger gripes: - The desktop/local, web, and mobile split is confusing. One set of tasks persist across all your sessions while another doesn't. - ChatGPT Work for the web is the safest implementation, though it doesn't always work. Its browser can get blocked as a bot, and you can't actually log in to things, which really limits what you can do. - Third-party integrations vary in quality. Not all of them give ChatGPT the same level of access or control. I'd recommend using Zapier, so you can control everything from one spot. - ChatGPT Work is pretty poor at design. It's impressive that it can create slides and documents, but definitely treat them as drafts. And the biggest problem of all: security. The more access you give AI tools to your critical data (and especially your critical files), the more chance there is that something can go wrong. Attacks like prompt injection can theoretically leak your credentials or important information—or it could just nuke all your photos.  The safest way to use ChatGPT Work is through the web app, and by only giving it access to the files it needs when it needs them. The least safe way is on your computer with full access to your whole system. Unless you understand the risks and have regular backups, you really shouldn't go with the last option.  When you use [Zapier](https://zapier.com) with ChatGPT Work, you add a governed layer. You can select exactly which apps you want to allow ChatGPT to access, and which actions you want to allow it to run. Your credentials are never exposed to the model, and when you change your mind, you can revoke access all from one place. **Related reading:** - [How to use ChatGPT](https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-use-chatgpt/) - [The best ChatGPT alternatives](https://zapier.com/blog/chatgpt-alternatives/) - [Codex vs. Claude Code](https://zapier.com/blog/codex-vs-claude-code/)