OpenAI to Merge ChatGPT Chat and Work Tabs Into One Screen

OpenAI plans to fold the ChatGPT Chat and Work tabs into a single screen, and it told users about the change in an email first reported by TechCrunch on Monday. The same email carries a second change that could matter more to heavy users: ChatGPT and Codex will soon pull from one shared pool of usage.

Right now the ChatGPT desktop app is split into two sections, ChatGPT and Codex. Inside ChatGPT sit two tabs. Chat is the familiar conversation window. Work is the agent mode OpenAI introduced in July, built on Codex and aimed at office tasks like turning documents and spreadsheets into finished output. You can read more about how OpenAI's AI tools are evolving on our AI news page.

One window for talking and doing

According to the email quoted by TechCrunch, OpenAI wants people to go from a rough idea to a finished job without switching tabs. The company wrote that the merged view "will enable you to move from exploring an idea to having ChatGPT carry it through, all in one place."

The examples OpenAI gave are practical ones. Users will be able to bring in files and plugins, then ask ChatGPT to build a website, make a presentation or carry out tasks on the web while they review and steer the work. That is roughly what Work does today, so the change is mostly about removing the wall between casual chat and agent tasks.

The rollout will be slow. OpenAI said the merged experience will go to select users for feedback before a wide release, and it has not given a date for everyone else.

Codex is not part of the merge. OpenAI said Codex "will remain a separate experience in the ChatGPT desktop app," so developers keep their own coding space.

If you rely on saved context, it is worth checking how ChatGPT memory works and whether your custom instructions still behave the same once the new screen reaches your account.

Your Codex habit now eats into the same budget

The bigger shift is about limits. Per TechCrunch, OpenAI said ChatGPT and Codex will draw tokens from the same allowance pool after the transition. OpenAI said most people will not notice, but that some users, depending on how much they use and which models they pick, may have to wait for resets more often.

The New Stack, which covered the usage change separately, reported that the shared pool starts in December and that OpenAI has not said how large it will be. That leaves paying subscribers who split their time between coding in Codex and long chats in ChatGPT with an open question: will one activity now crowd out the other?

For people who pay mainly for coding, the practical move is to watch the remaining allowance and reset times once the change lands, rather than assume nothing has changed. If the numbers no longer add up for you, our guide on how to cancel a ChatGPT subscription walks through the steps.

A familiar move in the AI app race

OpenAI is not first here. TechCrunch noted that Anthropic merged Claude's chat and Cowork functions into one screen in September. Both companies are betting that people do not want to pick a mode before they start typing.

The timing also fits a broader push to get paying customers to use agents, not just ask questions, a theme that has run through OpenAI's recent revenue story with Microsoft. A single window lowers the barrier to trying agent tasks. A shared budget means each of those tasks now has a visible cost against everything else you do.

OpenAI has not said when the merged tabs will reach all users, so for now most people will keep seeing Chat and Work side by side.