I attempted the brand new ChatGPT Desktop App for Linux – however I will persist with my browser for now

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• OpenAI’s ChatGPT Desktop App for Linux is an Electron-based program.
• The appliance is proprietary, not open supply.
• Frankly, it is not that spectacular. I will preserve utilizing ChatGPT within the browser.

OpenAI has launched a preview of its ChatGPT desktop utility for Linux. With this, OpenAI now has a local shopper on all main desktop working techniques and is putting its coding agent, Codex, alongside ChatGPT and its Work surroundings.

That is the excellent news. The dangerous information is that, for me at the very least, ChatGPT continues to be annoyingly inaccurate. Whereas I can cosplay a coder, with or with out AI, my actual use for AI is as a sophisticated search engine. Once I requested the ChatGPT app on my important Linux Mint desktop to offer me the technical specs for SpaceX and Nvidia’s forthcoming Starmind AI datacenter satellites — and supplied it with a hyperlink to the satellite tv for pc’s web site — I anticipated an correct reply. I did not get one. Starmind’s peak and wing-width, in response to SpaceX, are 30m and 75m, respectively; not, as ChatGPT would have it, 20m and 70m.

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(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s dad or mum firm, filed an April 2025 lawsuit in opposition to OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in coaching and working its AI techniques.)

Supported Linux distros 

Leaving apart ChatGPT’s lack of accuracy, this launch helps Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and 26.04 LTS, Debian 13, and Fedora 43 and 44 on each x86-64 and Arm64 machines. OpenAI is distributing the shopper as DEB and RPM packages. In follow, this implies you’ll be able to run on most Debian and Pink Hat-family Linux distributions, comparable to my very own Linux Mint. 

The discharge additionally arrives roughly a month after Anthropic launched a Linux desktop model of Claude. Anthropic’s shopper helps Ubuntu 22.04 or later and Debian 12 or later, giving it a considerably broader acknowledged baseline amongst Debian-derived techniques. 

Additionally: I examined the brand new Claude Desktop on Linux – here is the way it compares to rival apps

Arch Linux, NixOS, and different distros are left within the lurch for now. That is made some would-be customers very sad. Others need this system to be distributed in Flatpak or AppImage codecs. 

Nonetheless, in response to OpenAI, since “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,” I think about we’ll see different distros supported quickly. 

A developer-oriented desktop shopper

The Linux utility consolidates three OpenAI merchandise which have more and more overlapped. These are ChatGPT for general-purpose AI help, ChatGPT Work for delegated office duties, and Codex for software program improvement. In line with OpenAI’s Linux preview announcement, the desktop app is meant to function a workspace for initiatives, recordsdata, browser workflows, and Codex periods. For Linux builders, Codex is the headline characteristic.

That positioning issues in Linux, the place ChatGPT has been broadly accessible in a browser however the place builders have relied on working functions within the shell, API integrations, unofficial Electron wrappers, and editor extensions for extra native workflows. The brand new shopper might give OpenAI a extra direct foothold on developer desktops, as AI coding instruments turn into extra tightly built-in with native initiatives and improvement environments.

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For programmers, the headline options begin with the power to code native initiatives: Codex can study and modify recordsdata, run instructions, and work inside chosen challenge directories, with conduct constrained by your chosen permission modes. For an area challenge with a number of folders, the desktop app can present repositories and altered strains collectively for consolidated overview.

The broader desktop app characteristic set additionally consists of inline diff modifying and pull-request overview. Function availability could fluctuate within the Linux preview, so OpenAI has not printed an in depth Linux-versus-MacOS/Home windows parity desk. For the fullest-featured model of the appliance, you continue to want to make use of a Mac.

Lastly, whereas the app can use browser workflows, desktop integrations the place supported, and plugins, every linked service’s entry request should be reviewed and accredited individually.

As well as, regardless of working on Linux, the shopper itself is proprietary and closed-source. That may make it a non-starter for a lot of open-source builders. 

Additionally: Claude Code vs. Codex: Why I exploit each and the way to decide on one (for those who should)

At launch, the Linux shopper doesn’t, by default:

• Mechanically scan all native disks, folders, or functions.
• Management arbitrary Linux GUI functions by means of native pc use.
• Entry a web-based service merely as a result of you have got an account there. You need to give it a licensed browser connection, plugin/integration, uploaded knowledge, or an specific process/motion.
• Acquire root or administrator authority simply because it could possibly run instructions in a specific coding workspace.

Integration wins

I am not too trusting of letting any AI program entry my native and private packages. Nonetheless, for those who’re OK with that, go forward and combine ChatGPT Desktop App with Google Calendar, Gmail, Outlook, Groups, Slack, and Google Drive. As soon as that is executed, you’ll be able to then have it verify your linked messages, e-mail, calendar, paperwork, and challenge trackers. You may as well pull knowledge and duties out of your Claude workflow.

Armed with that data, it could possibly monitor modifications, put together updates, and draft replies. You may as well use it to create or coordinate a separate process for a particular challenge. 

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Take into account, nonetheless, for those who do this, ChatGPT will get entry to all of your uncovered knowledge. Particularly, something you sort, paste, add, or intentionally add as context is distributed to ChatGPT for processing. By default on client accounts, conversations will  be used to enhance OpenAI’s fashions except you flip off Settings > Information Controls > “Enhance the mannequin for everybody.” That setting applies account-wide. Chats stay in your historical past however should not used for mannequin coaching, OpenAI says.

All that’s motive sufficient for me to keep away from this sort of performance regardless of how helpful it could sound.

Oh, and for now anyway, OpenAI says native “pc use” — controlling different Linux desktop functions — is at present unavailable on this preview. That is positive by me. It does, nonetheless, offer you entry to a wide range of different companies through plugins, comparable to Figma, GitHub, and Adobe. 

Smart Linux setup

If you are going to use the desktop app on your private or necessary knowledge, I like to recommend taking the next steps to make use of it as safely as doable. 

• Hold “Enhance the mannequin for everybody” off, except you need chats used for mannequin enchancment.
• Use non permanent chats for particularly delicate one-off queries, recognizing the acknowledged 30-day deletion window.
• Give it a devoted, slim challenge listing. Do NOT give it entry to  ~/, your whole paperwork tree, or a listing holding credentials and supply recordsdata.
• Go away Codex on Ask for approval. Don’t allow Full entry except a process really requires it.
• Use a separate browser profile with solely the service accounts required for an agent process. Keep away from working it whereas password managers, personal e-mail, banking, or confidential supply materials are open.

I would add that it is best to take these steps no matter what working system you are utilizing. Positive, it is simpler to make use of AI with out taking precautions, nevertheless it’s not secure. 

Hassle in Linux ChatGPT land

This new app nonetheless has a protracted option to go. For instance, I discovered that my ChatGPT shell jobs would not present up on the desktop app’s challenge listing. That is a reasonably main stopper proper there. It wasn’t simply me. I noticed others reporting the identical drawback. You would see terminal periods as standalone chats, however even when the working listing and Git department have been preserved, they actually weren’t built-in. 

I additionally found that even when sitting idle with no work to do, the ChatGPT app used over a gigabyte of RAM. Including insult to harm, I found this system leaked reminiscence. After only some hours of very mild work, my PC, with 16 GB of RAM, was working out of reminiscence. As soon as my pc began calling on digital reminiscence, it slowed to an unusable crawl. 

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That is not too stunning since. After slightly digging, I discovered it was an Electron app. These are desktop software program packages written with internet applied sciences like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They mix the Chromium browser engine for the person interface and Node.js for system entry, permitting a single codebase to run on Home windows, MacOS, and Linux. That is positive so far as it goes, however Electron packages are typically terribly gradual and memory-inefficient in comparison with native working system functions. 

Early Wayland points emerge

I have not seen it myself, however preliminary group suggestions factors to the acquainted challenges of transport a desktop utility throughout Linux’s different show servers.

The Wayland window supervisor is a specific ache level. One Fedora 44 KDE Plasma person reported that Japanese enter utilizing Fcitx 5 didn’t work within the ChatGPT message composer when launching the appliance usually. The person mentioned the difficulty may very well be addressed by beginning the app with Chromium/Wayland flags, together with `–ozone-platform=wayland` and `–enable-wayland-ime`. This allows the shopper to stay on Wayland quite than falling again to XWayland. Different discussion board contributors reported comparable conduct with Korean Fcitx5 enter and raised considerations about X11 fallback and scaling on high-resolution Wayland desktops. 

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You may’t say ChatGPT did not warn you. The appliance’s web page now says, “Native Wayland help is experimental and can proceed to enhance. In a Wayland session, the app makes use of XWayland when accessible. To explicitly choose native Wayland, totally stop the app and launch it from a terminal.”

All this underscores the distinction between supporting just a few distributions on paper and integrating cleanly with Linux’s big selection of compositors, enter strategies, and workflows.

Shared issues

Considering of workflows, my ZDNET colleague David Gewritz not too long ago identified that the newest model of ChatGPT Desktop on the Mac is now lacking two options he discovered very helpful. These are the power to take screenshots from throughout the app and instantly drop them into chat, and “Work with,” which helps you to feed ChatGPT the contents of your present window from apps comparable to Notion, Notes, and TextEdit. They don’t seem to be within the Linux model both.

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Behind the scenes, Gewritz additionally discovered that you just’re usually channeled into higher-token-priced service ranges. You do not have to pay for these, however for those who do not, your efficiency will decelerate. The day of low-cost AI is completed. 

Strategic significance

The Linux shopper offers OpenAI a local path to the Linux builders who create the majority of AI infrastructure and AI packages. The app’s central characteristic is just not merely a ChatGPT window indifferent from a browser. It is the combination of Codex and work-oriented agent options right into a desktop workspace.

Actually, I have not been impressed. I am certain it should get higher, though for an organization with OpenAI’s billions, I am shocked they got here up with such a half-baked Electron utility. Certainly, they may do higher. Within the meantime, once I use ChatGPT, I will preserve utilizing it with my browser.