OpenAI has launched the ChatGPT desktop app for Linux, announced on X on August 11. The app is a preview build that brings ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work, and Codex together in one native desktop app, and it is available worldwide from day one.
Linux was the last major desktop platform without an official ChatGPT app after macOS and Windows. OpenAI says Linux has been one of its most-requested platforms, and this launch finally puts the desktop app on all three.
What the Linux app can do
This is the same workspace-style app OpenAI ships on other desktops, not a wrapped-up website. You can organize chats into projects, work with local files without uploading them anywhere first, and use browser workflows inside the app. Codex is built in too, so it can run directly in your local repos, and ChatGPT Work handles multi-step tasks across apps for those on work plans.
The app is free to use with an OpenAI account, though some features still depend on your plan.
Supported distros and how to get it
OpenAI has tested the app on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and 26.04 LTS, Debian 13, and Fedora 43 and 44. Distros built on those bases should generally work as well, so most popular Ubuntu and Fedora flavors are covered.
You can grab it from OpenAI’s download page as a .deb or .rpm package, with both x64 and ARM64 builds available. The installer also adds an OpenAI repository to your system, so future updates arrive through your regular package manager instead of manual downloads.
It is still a preview, so expect rough edges
OpenAI is clear that this is a preview, and early feedback backs that up. Users in the community thread have already flagged issues like broken Japanese input on Fedora KDE under Wayland, and OpenAI warns that feature integrations may not work reliably yet. If you depend on ChatGPT for real work, the browser version is still the safer option for now.
The app is also closed source, which will not sit well with everyone on Linux. But OpenAI is not alone here anymore either. Anthropic brought its Claude desktop app to Linux about a month ago, so the two biggest AI chatbots now treat Linux as a platform worth shipping for rather than an afterthought.
