OpenAI's ChatGPT/Codex desktop app is now on Linux

On Tuesday, OpenAI launched its ChatGPT desktop for Linux.

Now in preview, the app, which mixes ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work, and Codex, will run on Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04 LTS, Debian 13, and Fedora 43 and 44, with native .deb and .rpm packages for each the x64 and ARM64 architectures.

The ChatGPT desktop for Mac and Windows launched in July when OpenAI launched ChatGPT Work.

“Linux has been one of many most-requested platforms for the desktop app, and this launch extends ChatGPT and Codex throughout each main desktop working system,” an OpenAI spokesperson tells The New Stack.

“Linux has been one of many most-requested platforms for the desktop app.” — OpenAI.

Just like the ChatGPT desktop app on MacOS and Home windows, the Linux model will function OpenAI’s in-app browser and help for Chrome extensions.

One function that received’t be obtainable on Linux, although, is pc use outdoors of the in-app browser, as an OpenAI spokesperson confirmed to us.

“The Linux app helps the core ChatGPT and Codex expertise, together with Voice,” the spokesperson tells us. “The principle distinction is that native Laptop Use — the flexibility for ChatGPT to work together with desktop functions like OpenOffice or GIMP — isn’t obtainable at launch. This additionally impacts associated options, together with Appshots, Report & Replay, and voice requests involving desktop apps and browser. Different browser-based workflows, together with the Chrome extension, are supported.”

The app will likely be obtainable globally at launch.

From Codex to ChatGPT app

For the reason that new ChatGPT app launched, the corporate refined the app a bit, on condition that the earliest model clearly felt like a rebranded Codex app with ChatGPT Work and the common ChatGPT chat tagged on. In its present iteration, it’s simpler to modify between ChatGPT and Codex, however for informal customers, it’s possible nonetheless a little bit of a complicated expertise.

To be honest, Anthropic’s Claude app suffers from lots of the identical issues and discovering one of the best consumer expertise for working with agentic programs is clearly nonetheless a piece in progress.

Chat interfaces have confirmed to work effectively when customers need to ask a query and obtain a solution. They change into much less pure when an agent is working for an hour, all whereas coordinating a number of subtasks, ready for an approval, modifying recordsdata, and/or producing a number of artifacts. At that time, the product must behave as very like a venture dashboard as a messaging app.

Extra than a GUI for Codex

It’s price noting that Linux customers haven’t precisely lacked entry to OpenAI’s coding agent.

The Codex CLI already runs on Linux, as does the firm’s IDE extension, whereas Codex cloud provides one other method to delegate coding work with out putting in a desktop consumer.

What the desktop app provides is a visible workspace for coordinating that work. Customers can maintain a number of tasks and long-running duties in view, examine recordsdata and generated artifacts, evaluation code modifications, and transfer between native and cloud-based work. The app additionally brings OpenAI’s browser, plugins, and broader ChatGPT options into the identical interface.

For builders who dwell in a terminal, the brand new app received’t essentially substitute the CLI. The CLI stays the extra direct choice for inspecting a repository, working instructions, scripting repeatable duties, and integrating Codex into CI.

The desktop app is aimed at the coordination layer round these duties, notably when a number of brokers, repositories, or completely different sorts of work are concerned.

The truth that it additionally consists of help for ChatGPT Work for data work and the ChatGPT chat is a pleasant bonus, although.

Before joining The New Stack as its senior editor for AI, Frederic was the enterprise editor at TechCrunch, where he covered everything from the rise of the cloud and the earliest days of Kubernetes to the advent of quantum computing….