ChatGPT’s Chat and Work tabs merge in December – and your usage allowance will be shared with Codex

OpenAI is folding the ChatGPT chat and work tabs into a single experience starting in December, a move aimed at simplifying a desktop app that has grown crowded with overlapping sections. The change, first spelled out in an email to users and a support note on OpenAI’s website, also reshapes how paid plans count usage.

The reporting from ZDNET and TechCrunch agrees on the core facts. Neither source gives an exact December date, and both describe the rollout as staged rather than immediate.

Why OpenAI is merging the ChatGPT chat and work tabs

The current layout is, by TechCrunch’s account, confusing. The ChatGPT desktop app has separate ChatGPT and Codex sections, and inside the ChatGPT section sit separate Chat and Work tabs. With that many options, TechCrunch notes, it is easy to lose track of where a project lives.

OpenAI’s email frames the merger as a way to take an idea from exploration to execution without switching contexts. “You can bring in your files and plugins and ask ChatGPT to build a website, create a presentation, or do things for you on the web, while reviewing and guiding its work,” the company told users. In effect, the agentic abilities now housed in Work will move into the main ChatGPT experience.

Codex, OpenAI’s coding product, is not part of the merger. The email says it will remain a separate experience inside the desktop app.

A shared usage pool for ChatGPT and Codex

The more consequential change for heavy users may be the billing mechanics. Starting in December, usage allowances on Plus, Pro and Business plans will be shared across ChatGPT and Codex. Both products will draw from the same pool of tokens, the units of information a model processes and generates.

OpenAI says how quickly someone burns through that pool depends on the model and the task. More advanced models and more complex jobs generally consume more. One carve-out: instant chat will not draw from the allowance.

The company expects little disruption. Most customers, it says, won’t be affected, though depending on usage and model choice, some people may find themselves waiting for resets more often than they do now. “We’re preparing carefully for this transition to help prevent disruption to your workflows,” OpenAI said.

A gradual rollout, and a rival that moved first

The merged experience will not reach everyone at once. According to the email, it will first go to select users who can give feedback before a wider release. OpenAI has not said, in the material reported, how long that testing phase will last or when all users will see the change.

The timing follows a similar step by competitor Anthropic, which in September combined the chat and Cowork functions of its Claude assistant into one screen. Both companies appear to be converging on the same idea: that a single interface should handle conversation and autonomous task work, rather than forcing users to choose a mode up front.

What to expect

For most people, the practical takeaways are straightforward:

• The ChatGPT chat and work tabs will become one experience, beginning in December with select users.
• Codex stays separate in the desktop app, but shares a token allowance with ChatGPT on Plus, Pro and Business plans.
• Instant chat doesn’t count against that allowance.
• Power users running advanced models on complex tasks are the likeliest to notice more frequent waits for resets.

Details that remain unclear include the exact rollout date, the specific allowance sizes and how the new pooling will feel in day-to-day use. Those answers will likely emerge once the feedback phase begins. ZDNET disclosed that its parent company, Ziff Davis, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025 alleging copyright infringement.