Linux has long been the odd one out in OpenAI's desktop story. macOS got the ChatGPT app first, Windows followed, and Linux users were left with browser tabs and community workarounds. That changes now: OpenAI has launched the ChatGPT desktop app for Linux in preview, and it ships the full unified experience , ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work, and Codex , in a single install.

What's actually in the box

This isn't a stripped-down port. Back in July 2026, OpenAI merged the standalone Codex app into a new unified ChatGPT desktop app for macOS and Windows, keeping Codex as a dedicated coding experience alongside Chat and Work. The Linux preview brings that same unified app to the platform. ChatGPT Work is a new agentic experience designed to handle work across apps, files, and workflows , it can gather data from different sources and create artifacts like spreadsheets, slide decks, documents, and web apps.

Codex task card showing implementation details, file exploration count, and change statistics

The desktop app includes ChatGPT Work and ChatGPT Codex, which share plug-ins. Codex mode surfaces more technical details that Work abstracts away from the user. Think of Work as the high-level agent for non-engineering tasks, and Codex as the mode where you see diffs, file trees, and PR review panels.

Supported distros and how to install

The preview targets the most widely used enterprise and developer distributions. Supported systems are: