ChatGPT Work: OpenAI clarified the Cloud and Local versions and internet access
New analyses describe ChatGPT Work, an agentic tool from OpenAI released on 9 July 2025 at $20/month: it comes in Cloud (web) and Local (desktop app, formerly Codex) versions, with code execution in Work Cloud having internet access, unlike regular chat.
New technical analyses have clarified how the agentic tool ChatGPT Work from OpenAI actually works. The product exists in two versions: Work Cloud, available through the website chatgpt.com and mobile apps, and Work Local, a desktop app that is a reworked version of Codex and runs directly on the user’s computer. According to an independent analysis, code execution in Work Cloud has internet access, unlike regular ChatGPT chat – it can install packages, clone repositories from GitHub and communicate with any web services, while the chat environment blocks such access. The exact product release date is 9 July 2025.
ChatGPT Work is an agentic tool intended for professionals outside the IT sector – accountants, investors, doctors and others whose work takes place primarily at a computer. It is a modified version of Codex that allows multistep tasks to be completed autonomously without user intervention, with access to email, Slack, Notion, Figma and other applications. It is available starting at the lowest subscription tier, costing $20 per month; free users and users on the $8 per month plan do not have access to it.
According to OpenAI, the goal is to give a broader range of users the same experience that software developers currently have with tools such as Codex – allowing AI to not only answer questions but also complete entire projects on its own. According to an internal study by OpenAI, 98 % of its employees used Codex in June, but only 17 % of business subscribers and less than 1 % of individual subscribers did so, showing the difference between use inside and outside the company. In the market for industry-specific agentic tools, ChatGPT Work competes with specialized products such as Harvey for legal services or Clay for sales.
Why it matters
For individual professionals outside IT, this offers a real opportunity to delegate multistep tasks to an AI agent connected to email, Slack or Notion for as little as $20 per month – but also a risk that the agent will use sensitive data from connected accounts while completing a task, as even the lead engineer for the desktop app at OpenAI acknowledges, having given the tool access to his private Slack. For companies, it signals that OpenAI is targeting nontechnical departments as well as developers, increasing pressure on specialized competitors such as Harvey or Clay while also showing that adoption of similar tools outside OpenAI itself remains low.
What was added since the original report
Verified updates
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ChatGPT Work exists in two versions: Cloud (web-based through chatgpt.com) and Local (desktop app, formerly Codex); Code execution in Work Cloud has internet access, while Chat does not have this capability; Exact release date: 9 July 2025; The Local version is a redesigned Codex app for nontechnical users; Offers Sol/Luna/Terra models with reasoning levels from Light to Ultra; separate token limits for Work vs Chat
- ChatGPT Work exists in two versions: Cloud (web-based through chatgpt.com) and Local (desktop app, formerly Codex)
- Code execution in Work Cloud has internet access, while Chat does not have this capability
- Exact release date: 9 July 2025
- The Local version is a redesigned Codex app for nontechnical users
- Offers Sol/Luna/Terra models with reasoning levels from Light to Ultra; separate token limits for Work vs Chat
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ChatGPT Work is an autonomous agentic tool for professionals outside the IT sector; Available for $20 per month at the lowest subscription tier; Has access to and control over email, Slack, Notion, Figma and other applications; Handles multistep tasks without user intervention
- ChatGPT Work is an autonomous agentic tool for professionals outside the IT sector
- Available for $20 per month at the lowest subscription tier
- Has access to and control over email, Slack, Notion, Figma and other applications
- Handles multistep tasks without user intervention
Two audiences, two different impacts
What this means
For individuals
A user with a subscription costing $20 per month or more can connect ChatGPT Work to email, Slack, Notion or Figma and let it independently complete multistep tasks, including code execution with internet access – but this means handing control over sensitive personal and work data to the model.
For a business
Low adoption of agentic tools outside software engineering (17 % of business subscribers compared with 98 % of OpenAI employees) shows that the transition to AI agents in nontechnical departments is only just beginning, leaving companies with a choice between the general-purpose tool ChatGPT Work and specialized competitors such as Harvey or Clay.
ProductivityCheck the original
Event sources
confirmed by 2 independent sources · 3 publishers, 2 independent. We count feeds from the same owner only once.