OpenAI’s ChatGPT desktop app arrives on Linux with ChatGPT Work, Codex, native packages, an in-app browser, and one notable feature gap for developers.
Featured image credit: OpenAI.
On Tuesday, OpenAI launched its ChatGPT desktop for Linux.
Now in preview, the app, which combines 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 both the x64 and ARM64 architectures.
The ChatGPT desktop for Mac and Windows launched in July when OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Work.
“Linux has been one of the most-requested platforms for the desktop app, and this launch extends ChatGPT and Codex across every major desktop operating system,” an OpenAI spokesperson tells The New Stack.
“Linux has been one of the most-requested platforms for the desktop app.”
Like the ChatGPT desktop app on MacOS and Windows, the Linux version will feature OpenAI’s in-app browser and support for Chrome extensions.
One feature that won’t be available on Linux, though, is computer use outside of the in-app browser, as an OpenAI spokesperson confirmed to us.
“The Linux app supports the core ChatGPT and Codex experience, including Voice,” the spokesperson tells us. “The main difference is that native Computer Use — the ability for ChatGPT to interact with desktop applications like OpenOffice or GIMP — isn’t available at launch. This also affects related features, including Appshots, Record & Replay, and voice requests involving desktop apps and browser. Other browser-based workflows, including the Chrome extension, are supported.”
The app will be available globally at launch.
From Codex to ChatGPT app
Since the new ChatGPT app launched, the company refined the app a bit, given that the earliest version clearly felt like a rebranded Codex app with ChatGPT Work and the regular ChatGPT chat tagged on. In its current iteration, it’s easier to switch between ChatGPT and Codex, but for casual users, it’s likely still a bit of a confusing experience.
To be fair, Anthropic’s Claude app suffers from many of the same problems and finding the best user experience for working with agentic systems is clearly still a work in progress.
Chat interfaces have proven to work well when users want to ask a question and receive an answer. They become less natural when an agent is running for an hour, all while coordinating several subtasks, waiting for an approval, editing files, and/or producing multiple artifacts. At that point, the product needs to behave as much like a project dashboard as a messaging app.
More than a GUI for Codex
It’s worth noting that Linux users haven’t exactly lacked access to OpenAI’s coding agent.
The Codex CLI already runs on Linux, as does the company’s IDE extension, while Codex cloud offers another way to delegate coding work without installing a desktop client.
What the desktop app adds is a visual workspace for coordinating that work. Users can keep multiple projects and long-running tasks in view, inspect files and generated artifacts, review code changes, and move between local and cloud-based work. The app also brings OpenAI’s browser, plugins, and broader ChatGPT features into the same interface.
For developers who live in a terminal, the new app won’t necessarily replace the CLI. The CLI remains the more direct option for inspecting a repository, running commands, scripting repeatable tasks, and integrating Codex into CI.
The desktop app is aimed at the coordination layer around those tasks, particularly when several agents, repositories, or different kinds of work are involved.
The fact that it also includes support for ChatGPT Work for knowledge work and the ChatGPT chat is a nice bonus, though.
