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Codex in ChatGPT desktop app for Linux is now in preview

469 points by allanrbo 2mo ago

torh 2mo ago
FYI; This link shows Codex based on your current OS. I get a norwegian landing page with a download link for Windows.
- Gareth321 2mo ago
  Same. I was quite confused. [This page](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/app https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/app) offers the Linux download link if anyone is interested.
WalterGR 2mo ago
From yesterday, with 26 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49264334 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49264334
villgax 2mo ago
people good w/ linux would not have been holding their breath for companies which keep intelligence for a premium & h0st@ge depending on policy
wltr 2mo ago
If that’s an Electron app, what’s the difference with running it in the browser?
- SillyUsername 2mo ago
  None that I can see - I already have it installed as a chrome app on my Mint desktop, and it seems identical.
  - martin- 2mo ago
    Does the Chrome app have access to your local files, like when you're working on a code project?
    - fg137 2mo ago
      Or running local commands or talking to an MCP server at a random domain unrestricted by content policy
- lwansbrough 2mo ago
  Access to your computer
  - JPLeRouzic 2mo ago
    That's why I won't download that tool.
    - Gareth321 2mo ago
      Honestly, you're missing out. The productivity gains I've had with these tools is unbelievable. I understand the risk though, so if you've got government sensitive data on your computer, or no backups, don't use the "full access" option. Babysit what it does instead.
      - dmortin 2mo ago
        Isn't it expensive, though? If you let it perform gui or web tasks for you using vision, I'd think it consumes lots of tokens.
        zorked 2mo ago
        I don't know about Chatgpt but I used Kimi (they have a Chinese-only plugin that does desktop control - works fine if you enable it even if you don't know Chinese). Observing how it works, it's mostly using the accessibility features of the user interfaces - it fetches a sort of DOM for the desktop applications. Only rarely it has to take a screenshot.
        Closi 2mo ago
        Depends how much you are using it - for a casual user the $20 tier gives you just about enough use for hobby projects etc. Or if you are doing full time development then you just need to pony up for the 20x tier if you want to use it. Running Codex locally removes so much friction and is so fast compared to either running it on the web (where it has to build environments online etc which consumes time) or compared to copy-pasting chatgpt that it's just a no-brainer.
- water-drummer 2mo ago
  Why do you need nodejs if you can run javascript in the browser?
  - shevy-java 2mo ago
    I can't answer that question, but I think you can do more with node than with default javascript, such as access to local files. This is something I wanted javascript to do for local use and people always said "you may not do this, your computer will be destroyed". So I just use ruby instead and am still annoyed that javascript is so crippled by default at all times.
pdhborges 2mo ago
For someone who has not tried these desktop apps: what is the the advantage versus cli codex with some MPCs and multiple folders each one with their context files?
- Pavilion2095 2mo ago
  It's easier to use for most people. I don't think CLI and GUI programs target the same audience.
- arminluschin 2mo ago
  You get GUI niceties: a nice presentation of the output like inline markdown rendering including tables and images in a nice font. Input supports drag & drop, and I can actually navigate the input field the way I am used to (pointing and clicking, using keyboard shortcuts to jump to beginning of words / sentences). Not sure what the most modern CLIs support, but for me just the ergonomics of a GUI text field alone are superior.
  - laurels-marts 2mo ago
    Codex CLI has support for keybindings tho last time I checked they were quite limited and you cannot replicate full universal text editing experience.
  - goolz 2mo ago
    I guess to each their own, as I find the GUIs to be clunky and a net negative to my workflow. Admittedly, I should give them another chance, and see how they have matured lately.
    - benji-york 2mo ago
      I'm a long-time CLI/TUI lover, but the Codex GUI has converted me for at least this use case. It has most of the positives of a TUI plus some that would be hard in a TUI.
- Gareth321 2mo ago
Artoooooor 2mo ago
About the damn time. Couldn't they vibe code the Linux version using the same very tool from the day one?
BodyCulture 2mo ago
This will make it much easier to trap people into installing it without any isolation just to their primary user account or even make it run with admin privileges by default. With the recent security related events we already see that it seems to be wide spread practice that many operators avoid the hassle of isolating their agents. It is just an incredible cultural experience to see how quick stupidity gets accepted as a behavioural default.
- usef- 2mo ago
  The Linux version seems to use bubblewrap + seccomp for a "workspace sandbox" automatically, in addition to the auto mode and/or user approval. A VM would be even better, but people could presumably run this in one if we manage to convince them of higher sandboxing in general ?
  - justincormack 2mo ago
    The cli does that already with codex on linux
  - bloak 2mo ago
    Bubblewrap gets a bit confused inside a Docker container. If anyone knows how to run Codex inside a Docker container on Linux without it constantly complaining about a broken bubblewrap, please tell.
    - embedding-shape 2mo ago
      > If anyone knows how to run Codex inside a Docker container on Linux without it constantly complaining about a broken bubblewrap, please tell. Why would you even use bubblewrap once it's running in a container? I've been running Codex in a container since it was publicly available, not even sure what you'd use bubblewrap for when you already separated codex from the rest of your filesystem?
      - ab71e5 2mo ago
manupati 2mo ago
Download it a few hours ago. I've been waiting a long time for linux and it is working fine in debian kvm via X11
cloudie78 2mo ago
Reminder to everyone, treat these as trojans. Run them isolated from the rest of your system. Give it a full desktop in a VM if you want to, just not direct access to your system.
- perching_aix 2mo ago
  They ship with their own sandboxing by default, and Codex specifically is open source.
  - badcafe23423435 2mo ago
    if it is open source why no exist any fork? why I can remove openai model default from instalation?
  - rawland 2mo ago
    I’d wait. Remember when Chromium downloaded and installed binary blobs. Also in the news: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/expanding-capabilities-to-combat-transnational-cyber-enabled-crime/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/expa... "The American private sector is the most innovative and technologically advanced in the world, and its scale, speed, and capacity secure a critical offensive cyber advantage for the United States."
  - wahnfrieden 2mo ago
    This app is NOT open source
  - embedding-shape 2mo ago
    > and Codex specifically is open source. Since we now have three "Codex"es, I think it's worth specifying you're talking about codex-cli/tui. Codex the hosted version and Codex the GUI are both fully proprietary I think (besides the codex-cli/tui parts they use, I'm guessing mainly the app-server stuff).
    - deleted 2mo ago
      [deleted]
shevy-java 2mo ago
Do people really use that? It seems horrible to turn your computer into a spydevice for AI slop spammers.
badcafe23423435 2mo ago
Why not create a separate account on Linux just for the agent? This security measure should also be enabled by default. Many packages REQUIRE the creation of an account, but agents do not. Interesting.
- TZubiri 2mo ago
  You can definitely do that, but it is your duty and it cannot be delegated. Also these things are supposed to help you, their idea is that you give it access and it's helpful proportional to the access you give it. A separate user works for some, especially when vibecoding, you whitelist accesses. But for general computer usage, an assistant that has access to your files and acts as a sort of OS needs your user access.
OsrsNeedsf2P 2mo ago
I'd love to see the stats on how many Linux users want this. Most Linux usage probably comes from WSL/SSH'ing into servers, where they would use the CLI instead of a GUI. Even for the people who run Linux on the desktop, most probably prefer the terminal anyways
- left-struck 2mo ago
  While it may not be the majority of Linux usage, there’s a pretty big uptake in Linux desktop these days, and there millions of people actively using Linux desktop distros
- TZubiri 2mo ago
  It'd be nice for sending prompts from phone, although it is a whole lot of bloat for just that feature. Par for the course for the AI era, in order to do a thing first you must import the universe.
  - telotortium 2mo ago
    That was already supported from your phone by using SSH, using the app server feature of the Codex CLI. The Codex desktop app is more for computer use, browser control, and the UI paradigm of GUI, which is overall just richer and better than a TUI, albeit more heavyweight.
    - TZubiri 2mo ago
      Do you have a link for those docs? I either missed that, or it seemed like a too complex feature. One of the issues with this new trend of vibecoding a million features, is that the (vibecoded) docs are labrynths of new features, and features that are deprecated or redundant with 2 month younger features.
      - telotortium 2mo ago
        It’s here: https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/remote-connections https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/remote-connections But I can’t tell from these docs if the ChatGPT desktop app needs to remain running on your macOS/Windows host as a proxy, or if you can directly SSH from your phone to your Linux box with just Codex CLI.
meerita 2mo ago
What's the benefit of working with this app, which eats insane amounts of memory, instead of Codex CLI?
- TZubiri 2mo ago
  I think you can connect your phone and talk to codex remotely, so you can run programming prompts while afk
  - someplaceguy 2mo ago
    You can do that with the Codex CLI/TUI as well.
- PunchTornado 2mo ago
  does the app eat more money that codex cli? I mean is there a difference in cost in asking via the app something vs the cli?
- ComputerPerson 2mo ago
  I'm only familiar with the Anthropic equivalent, but the cognitive load is different as opposed to necessarily better or worse. I have friends who prefer mousing around the UI. Tabs for long-running often-compacted sessions is a difference I've noticed in emergent UX.
  - meerita 2mo ago
    I use Claude Code CLI, Codex Cli. Both are really good, they don't eat memory like the GUI apps.
    - ComputerPerson 2mo ago
      I use the CLI, too, but I enjoy watchinng people use the desktop apps. It seems like the desktop apps may be a little bit better suited for human-in-the-loop work. If you're already switching back and forth between a mouse, having an IDE running may make more sense. The best feeling has to be in the CLI, in my oppinion. A low-stakes project where you can let ultracode runaway from you in the CLI is the most fun.
auggierose 2mo ago
Does this mean that ChatGPT Desktop will run now also on Intel Macs?
ddxv 2mo ago
I think these styles of apps will be popular for OpenAI and Anthropic as they help solve some of their moat issues. The deeper you integrate someone's files into their app, the harder it will be to switch AIs
- cyanydeez 2mo ago
  ok, but you know these things are marketed as super products; it's pretty easy for me to use a local model to scale up almost any project on github. Why would this be an effective moat beyond "I use codex too!!"
ksimukka 2mo ago
oh Electron, leave my ram alone.
0xB0D 2mo ago
Plague of AI slop. A senior engineer in an Open Source project told me "I haven't looked at code in months" In which case what TF is it you even do ?
TekMol 2mo ago
Does this mean it is possible to talk to Codex from ChatGPT on a mobile phone now? When I tried that with the Codex CLI version on a Linux VM, I did not get it to work. Possibly because OpenAI only supports connecting ChatGPT to a desktop installation of Codex?
- preek 2mo ago
  I have a codex cli instance on a Debian VM connected to ChatGPT on iOS via SSH. That works since.. about a month and has pretty good UX. Before, I used the shellfish terminal and tmux which also worked really good, but to be honest (even though I'm a big terminal fan), ChatGPT on iOS sometimes has a smoother UX than a terminal.
  - TekMol 2mo ago
    Are you sure ChatGPT on IOS connects directly to the VM? Or via a desktop as the middle man sitting somewhere? If you really only use ChatGPT on IOS and a VM and nothing else, then I would be curious how you set that up. I do not see a "connect to codex via ssh" in my ChatGPT app. I only see "Connect to a desktop". Oh HOLY MOLY! Now I see there is not only a "Remote" section in the app but also a "Connection" section where you can add an ssh connection. I need to try that. Thanks!
    - mbrock 2mo ago
      yes I use that exact feature constantly to use Codex on remote servers and it works great
      - TekMol 2mo ago
        You could just as well use any other coding agent via ChatGPT then, right?
    - preek 2mo ago
      You're welcome(; Also for future readers: Yes, I'm sure there's no desktop app in the middle. I have dedicated remote VMs that run agents. I don't have them running on the desktop, not even as a middle man.
linzhangrun 2mo ago
I tried it yesterday. The experience seems smoother than on Windows. I hope Computer Use will be added soon. Also, when will OpenAI fix the issue where Xhigh and Ultra are both translated as “极高” in Chinese? It’s been this way for quite some time. As far as I know, the proportion of Chinese employees at these Silicon Valley AI companies is quite high.
- szundi 2mo ago
  [dead]
- schafberg 2mo ago
  I think their backend data probably shows that very few Chinese users are using Codex through the official way, and the number of those who have switched to the Chinese interface is even smaller, so there’s not much incentive to fix this issue.
  - linzhangrun 2mo ago
    I don’t think GPT-5.6 would make such a basic mistake when reviewing CodeX itself.
  - djyde 2mo ago
    Because all Chinese users must use a VPN to access Codex.
- SweetSoftPillow 2mo ago
  You have "send feedback" button in the app. Something tells me that it's much better place to report issues with the app rather than comment section on unrelated website.
Havoc 2mo ago
Much prefer CLI because its easier to isolate
lucideer 2mo ago
The most remarkable things about this announcement: - Electron based app: Electron is a framework sold on the basis of enabling rapid cross-platform development at the cost of performance. - Frontier AI company: AI is sold on the basis of enabling rapid development - App was released in February & took 6 entire months to port to Linux
- sonu27 2mo ago
  6 months is way too long IMHO
- Muromec 2mo ago
  Corporate it is a scam pretending to be a job creation program to make sure people dont get funny ideas
- darkwater 2mo ago
  Exactly my thoughts! I was expecting a Rust app written from scratch available at least in Qt and GTK flavors , and maybe with a third and a fourth option. Don't they have agent swarms with infinite tokens?
  - concinds 2mo ago
    They replaced a pretty decent native Swift Mac app (with only some chronic state management bugs), weighing ~100MB ish, with the Codex app that most people don't need, made in Electron, which takes minimum 5GB+ including filesystem cruft. Today I ran into a memory leak that froze the app and made the Renderer process take 5GB, then 10GB of RAM. That was after I asked it to only touch 3 text files in its working directory, after which it sparked macOS permission prompts to access my Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and other apps' data. Thank god for the web platform and web apps.
    - jonizzle 2mo ago
      I hate the new app aswell but you can still get the old one called ChatGPT Classic. Just scroll down to the bottom of the download site.
varjag 2mo ago
Is there anything it can do that Codex CLI can't?
- indy 2mo ago
  it can consume more of your RAM
deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
VortexLain 2mo ago
Heads up: unlike Codex CLI, Codex Desktop is proprietary, and thus can't be audited for Claude Code style hidden anti-user behavior.
- fg137 2mo ago
  A real issue we have run into is that "computer use" features, which is absolutely a big no-no at our company, can be enabled with a single click, and we cannot configure that.
78787 2mo ago
[dead]
lrvick 2mo ago
Are there really daily driver Linux users that want to run a proprietary gui based LLM solution that Sam Altman gets to keylog AND have full remote code execution on their system? This feels like trolling. Meanwhile I am looking at a Crush client running beside neovim in a herdr session I am accessing via ssh to a machine in my garage with 4 local GPUs. I think we Linux users have got this without Sams help.
micheles 2mo ago
I am unable use non-CLI tools, so I don't care about this app. However, I have a question about codex CLI: currently I am using pi agent and I am happy with it, using codex CLI would give me some advantage?
- satvikpendem 2mo ago
  You're unable to use non CLI tools? How do you interact with the Internet then?
  - csymes 2mo ago
    Didn't you hear, it's the year of lynx
  - micheles 2mo ago
    I don't consider the browser a tool.
    - satvikpendem 2mo ago
      Of course it's a tool. So you just have selective definitions to fit into your notion of non-CLI.
runtime_lens 2mo ago
[flagged]
btibor91 2mo ago
More details here: https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/linux/linux-app https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/linux/linux-app
Kinrany 2mo ago
I wonder why operating systems aren't integrating with browsers more.
- alightsoul 2mo ago
  Chromebooks do this and people avoid them
- hx8 2mo ago
  Nothing executes more unverified untrusted code than a web browser will. You want some separation between it and everything else you have going on.
RinatNabiev 2mo ago
[dead]
23qsGa1 2mo ago
The testimonials at the bottom are all from AI companies. Linux users are kind of averse to trojans. You should call it Back Orifice For Linux. You don't even have to change the OpenAI logo!
healthycoder 2mo ago
Why is this written in electron?
- pjmlp 2mo ago
  Because apparently ChatGPT is not able to generate native apps, so desktop developers are safe. /s
- fassssst 2mo ago
  It has a full web browser in it
motbus3 2mo ago
If gpt is so great as they say, why aren't they using their own operating system yet? They have all the resources they need to prove a point
- hk__2 2mo ago
  Because it would be stupid to do so?
dankobgd 2mo ago
so instead of using a browser, now i can use an app that is a browser. makes total sense
tiberriver256 2mo ago
This is how I get ChatGPT on Windows to not absolutely suck. Can just install it in WSL now and it's got buttery smooth performance vs. the Windows version I blame AV hooks
- fassssst 2mo ago
  On Windows you definitely want to exclude your code directories from AV and use a dev drive
wewewedxfgdf 2mo ago
Why would they write this in electron instead of something closer to the metal I thought this is the whole point of AI.
- super256 2mo ago
  It's built on OWL, which is their own Chromium integration. It's not electron. Seems pretty solid for Mac, but idk about Windows and Linux. https://openai.com/index/building-chatgpt-atlas/ https://openai.com/index/building-chatgpt-atlas/
- jampekka 2mo ago
  Because electron gets shit done? Aside the memory usage, electron/browser based applications of any complexity tend to be better and develop a lot faster.
  - sdevonoes 2mo ago
    Users don’t like shit, though.
- justmedep 2mo ago
  More testing you still need good engineers for every native platform if you go native. We all know that AI in the hands of incompetent people is bad.
- luca-ctx 2mo ago
  I made something similar using Tauri but there were visual inconsistencies between platforms thanks to webkit. At the time I remember thinking I wish I had used electron to buy cross platform parity. And I experimented with gpui from zed, that was even harder to work with. Of course they could chase performance, but ultimately time to market is the #1 factor right now, and coding agents still aren't good enough to just immediately realize an entire GPUI app from scratch with nothing more than a figma design. Still requires a ton of oversight.
  - prmoustache 2mo ago
bloqs 2mo ago
Why would I use this over browser version or CLI
- yonatan8070 2mo ago
  Probably ecause OpenAI wants training data from PCs of people who are scared of CLIs as well
- cl3misch 2mo ago
  I prefer the CLI myself, but I could imagine: - nicer diff rendering, and directly mentioning parts of a diff - Latex rendering (pretty annoying in the CLI, you have to actively tell Codex it's running in a terminal and replace Latex syntax with UTF-8 glyphs)
- cmrdporcupine 2mo ago
  As others have said, there's all sorts of things an HTML renderer can do better than terminal: proper (not hacked) image handling on both input and output, rendering graphical results, graphs, better code highlighting and diffs, interactive elements, etc. But one thing that strikes me as especially important: a proper accessibility story with magnification, screen reader, TTS etc. All the stuff people are hacking into TUIs is honestly a bit silly, they're actually very inefficient for high fidelity UIs. Having worked in it and on it before while @ GOOG, the actual renderer in Chromium is an optimized thing of beauty. It really makes sense to leverage it. Appropriately. But all of the above could (should) be done as a locally hosted web page via the existing codex CLI launching a local web server... rather than shipping an electron binary with its own entire fork of Chromium.
mentos 2mo ago
I’ve got a long running chat in the Windows app that becomes completely unresponsive for minutes on end. Complete travesty.
hnmu4c5zar 2mo ago
[dead]
CurbStomper 2mo ago
[dead]
arthurfirst 2mo ago
If you are using linux and cannot use a console to code...
VCFundedGenYer 2mo ago
Nobody should be installing or using AI apps. Your browser is as far as they should go. Reminder that the macOS app went from "this is fairly well made" to "it downloads multiple gigabytes of random things and doesn't follow any design conventions nor standards" The Linux app will fail the same tests.
- eatsyourtacos 2mo ago
  Uhh.. you can't do what codex/claude can do from a browser. Are you this out of the loop?
  - eimrine 2mo ago
    Copying webpages with no advanced knowledge? I really can not do this in any other ais except google.
    - nsonha 2mo ago
      I doubt that you set up an useful cloud environment that you can just command with chatgpt on the web without an execution machine. So my guess is you being out of the /loop
ninkendo 2mo ago
Sitting at 2.2GB of combined resident RAM across 11 processes. I haven't done a single query yet.
- geodel 2mo ago
  But you might. And Codex is taking your threats seriously and stand prepared in case you breach protocol and start using your computer resources for your own nefarious purpose. These apps stands as last defense between users and legitimate owners of compute resources that is electron and pals.
- reaperducer 2mo ago
  Sitting at 2.2GB of combined resident RAM across 11 processes. I haven't done a single query yet. Surely they can just vibe is down to a reasonable footprint, right? Right?
- ChadNauseam 2mo ago
  Is this a linux issue? My Macbook has 16gb ram and running out has literally never been an issue for me. I'm using all of it + 10gb of swap and my computer feels snappy and fast. Chrome with 100+ tabs, discord, slack, codex, chatgpt, all running simultaneously with no issues. Sure, all other things being equal less RAM usage is better, but I can understand why reducing it isn't a priority for them.
  - alightsoul 2mo ago
    The OS doesn't matter here. The problem is that it's an electron app, hence it has high ram usage
  - ninkendo 2mo ago
    I didn’t say “I’m running into issues due to the ram usage”, I’m saying it uses a lot of ram. My computer also feels snappy and fast, it doesn’t change the fact that 2.2GB is a huge amount of bloat for it not having done anything yet and still sitting idle.
zhixingheyi2023 2mo ago
[flagged]
hn0tdqaek4 2mo ago
Not perfect but a good starting point
whalesalad 2mo ago
Glad to see a .rpm, Claude only publishes a .deb.
AdriaanvRossum 2mo ago
I find it almost funny how hostile the response is when a company actually goes through the effort of supporting Linux. Apparently shipping the Linux version is only step one, you also need to pick the right framework, use the right packaging, consume the right amount of RAM, and preferably rewrite it natively.
- givinguflac 2mo ago
  It’s almost like we Linux users are opinionated about software. Weird. /s
- lemagedurage 2mo ago
  A challenge of releasing tech on a platform of people that are picky about tech.
- krelian 2mo ago
  HN comment quality took a nosedive recently, You can predict the comments just based on the story, almost all of them cynical and snarky remarks. It used to be a place to come and learn from technical experts.
  - crims0n 2mo ago
    I don't have evidence for this, but I suspect a lot of it is Reddit refugees.
  - 2afTq 2mo ago
    The AI boosters have driven away all experts. They are either financially invested or mindless power users on the level of the proverbial MacOS fanboys. Experts related to real programming topics are gone or silent. AI experts have never even been here in the first place. It is all about Electron apps, prompts, agents and other bullshit.
    - joquarky 2mo ago
      This started before AI. I'd pin it on the crypto gold rush attracting knuckle-dragging brogrammers into the industry. HR is charmed by them despite their lack of discipline.
yodamus 2mo ago
Does this mean it's a matter of time until I can deploy codex on my raspberry pi now?
- nateb2022 2mo ago
  Codex CLI should have been usable for a while now, and you could also sign in to your ChatGPT subscription using Opencode which runs perfectly fine on a Raspberry Pi.
miguel-muniz 2mo ago
Unrelated to this Linux release but I've been using the new ChatGPT desktop app since I annoying updated on accident, and I haven't had that great of an experience. I previously really enjoyed the Codex app. It was easy for me to understand and find what I needed. The conversation view provided the right amount of information without feeling too concise or full of jargon and the typographic hierarchy made it easy to skim. The project based workflow made sense for my needs. Ever since they combined all ChatGPT into one app though it has become a mess. It's trying to do too much in one. The settings menu is especially bloated, and I find the UI to be too complicated for the simple questions I'm asking outside of development work. I would rather just use the web interface for general use at this point. They've also been updating much of the UI to follow the same patterns as Claude, and I've not been impressed with the Claude desktop app. To me, they are taking multiple steps backwards. I hope they eventually find their way again.
- wuliwong 2mo ago
  My biggest gripe is now anytime I open a new session it hangs and I see the beachball spinner (mac) for a while before I can actually use the app again. It's pretty brutal.
u8 2mo ago
I don't think its asking too much of a $1T company to not make a shitty desktop app. Especially when that companies whole moat with developers is that their tools can do our jobs better and faster. The real reason they're using Electron is that some PM is comfortable with it and since nobody is reading the code, they use that comfort as a crutch to release most-likely working desktop app. When the creator of a project has infinite money, infinite labor, and infinite incentive to lock more devs into their platform via skill atrophy and the product is still shit, that's the human in the loop.
manishsharan 2mo ago
An often overlooked advantage of Electron based apps is they can convert any older version of laptop into a nice toaster oven. This is fantastic as I can toast or reheat my frozen waffles on the same machine which is also running a agentic loop on codex desktop to cook my software.
mococa 2mo ago
On macOS, the version made for Apple Silicon in Swift was abandoned (now it called ChatGPT-classic until they decide to kill it) to this garbage in Electron.
Beijinger 2mo ago
Not sure what I should see under the Link provided. Here is another one: https://community.openai.com/t/codex-in-chatgpt-desktop-app-for-linux-is-now-in-preview/1390027 https://community.openai.com/t/codex-in-chatgpt-desktop-app-... "The desktop app is designed as a workspace for managing projects, working with files, using browser workflows, and running Codex alongside ChatGPT." Not sure if I really understand this. And somehow I am worried about ChatGPT having access to my files and workflows. How much control do I have?
orsenthil 2mo ago
Congrats on supporting Linux. It makes the ecosystem more rich. Hope they will continue to maintain it and provide parity support.
corpusiq_io 2mo ago
[flagged]
fectjtfs 2mo ago
OpenAI: With AI, you can build really good apps, really quickly! Fire your devs! Also OpenAI: Aight look, Electron is the best that we can do at this point, take it or leave it. If this isn’t enough to convince you how little truth there is in everything these companies claim, then you have been brainwashed entirely already. Why aren’t we getting quality native apps on all platforms, released simultaneously, if these AI code monkeys are THAT good? Where are all these amazing experiences built with AI that these guys keep promising? I guess an Electron monstrosity is about as far as it can go. Learn from this, internet. (I know none of you will, but doesn’t hurt to call a bit of attention to it)
ljlolel 2mo ago
that’s why i made a clone of macos libraries to compile SwiftUI to linux to make something like this faster (for non Electron!)
johnnyApplePRNG 2mo ago
Meh... Codex messing around with the usage limits so much these past few months have convinced me to exit my $200/month burden and pick up Pi Coding Agent and Deepseek V4 Flash 0731. It's incredible what you can do with subagents that you design yourself. Liberating, really.
catigula 2mo ago
Everybody is irritated about electron, but that's not at all the problem. It's possible to write performant and optimized react code. They simply don't. I find the chatgpt app on Windows to be extremely laggy.
- quotemstr 2mo ago
  Electron is just another god damn GUI toolkit! What's the fundamental difference between it and, say, GTK4? It's just fucking widgets! My real problem with Electron is the multi-process render architecture, which I think is pointless for the "just a GUI toolkit" case of rendering only trusted content. I'm 100% fine with Slack, Spotify, whatever using Electron as their choice of GUI toolkits. These come and go. I'm miffed that they use multiple processes when there's no real security boundary between them just because there is a security boundary in the homologous scenario on the web.
jtrn 2mo ago
So much negativity... I like the desktop app and am looking forward to testing it out.
- moronicles 2mo ago
  Remote alone makes the desktop app worth it.
- danmaz74 2mo ago
  I've been using it to vibe code a personal application while I'm using a more "powerful" setup for my main agent assisted coding, and I have to say that it's been very good so far. I just wished that it was easier to hand off some tasks to codex web, like I tried to do today as I was starting a boat trip.
DefamationStati 2mo ago
Finally! My shitbox Surface 8 pro that's running Debian will be pleased.
pentagrama 2mo ago
Interesting to see the Linux version released. On Windows, though, my experience with the new ChatGPT app since Codex was folded into it hasn't been great. I'm a Codex user, and when it was still a standalone app it worked really well for me. Since it became part of the new ChatGPT app, the app feels noticeably slower and, at least on my machine, is currently using around 1.27 GB of RAM [1]. The old ChatGPT app, which has now been renamed "ChatGPT Classic", feels much faster and is using around 478 MB under the same conditions. I have a reasonably powerful PC, so the difference is pretty noticeable. I assume Classic will eventually be discontinued, but so far the transition to the new app on Windows hasn't been particularly good for me. [1] https://imgur.com/a/nQkneGL https://imgur.com/a/nQkneGL
- maipen 2mo ago
  Codex app was always unoptimized , but the competitores arent great either. However it’s still a an agent app, it gets the job done and has great tooling. Eventually the whole thing will probably be remade in a more performant way and be announced in a blog post as one shotted by gpt 6.x
- lxgr 2mo ago
  > The old ChatGPT app, which has now been renamed "ChatGPT Classic", feels much faster and is using around 478 MB under the same conditions. That's definitely better, but all things considered, this is still an absurd amount of memory for a text chat client, even if you account things like hardware composited high-definition UI surfaces etc. into it. The old app also had a habit of spinning at least one CPU core at 100% due to some runaway "shimmer" animation when an image wouldn't load or something... > my experience with the new ChatGPT app since Codex was folded into it hasn't been great. My main gripe beyond the performance issues is that OpenAI doesn't yet seem to know where they want to go with Codex and "ChatGPT Work", and is changing the paradigms daily, making it feel like there's no point in even trying to understand them. It's really unclear to me which conversations (and lately scheduled tasks) are local and which are cloud-based.
trashface 2mo ago
Does openai still require a biometric check to use any model more recent than GPT 4? If so, I imagine that will be an impediment for the typical person who runs linux.
proflead 2mo ago
Just in case you don't know how to set it up, here is the guide https://youtu.be/AfuHEdxktF8 https://youtu.be/AfuHEdxktF8
aitobox 2mo ago
[dead]

469 points by allanrbo 2mo ago

torh 2mo ago

FYI; This link shows Codex based on your current OS. I get a norwegian landing page with a download link for Windows.

Gareth321 2mo ago
Same. I was quite confused. [This page](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/app https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/app) offers the Linux download link if anyone is interested.

WalterGR 2mo ago

From yesterday, with 26 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49264334 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49264334

villgax 2mo ago

people good w/ linux would not have been holding their breath for companies which keep intelligence for a premium & h0st@ge depending on policy

wltr 2mo ago

If that’s an Electron app, what’s the difference with running it in the browser?

SillyUsername 2mo ago
None that I can see - I already have it installed as a chrome app on my Mint desktop, and it seems identical.
- martin- 2mo ago
  Does the Chrome app have access to your local files, like when you're working on a code project?
  - fg137 2mo ago
    Or running local commands or talking to an MCP server at a random domain unrestricted by content policy
lwansbrough 2mo ago
Access to your computer
- JPLeRouzic 2mo ago
  That's why I won't download that tool.
  - Gareth321 2mo ago
    Honestly, you're missing out. The productivity gains I've had with these tools is unbelievable. I understand the risk though, so if you've got government sensitive data on your computer, or no backups, don't use the "full access" option. Babysit what it does instead.
    - dmortin 2mo ago
      Isn't it expensive, though? If you let it perform gui or web tasks for you using vision, I'd think it consumes lots of tokens.
      - zorked 2mo ago
        I don't know about Chatgpt but I used Kimi (they have a Chinese-only plugin that does desktop control - works fine if you enable it even if you don't know Chinese). Observing how it works, it's mostly using the accessibility features of the user interfaces - it fetches a sort of DOM for the desktop applications. Only rarely it has to take a screenshot.
      - Closi 2mo ago
        Depends how much you are using it - for a casual user the $20 tier gives you just about enough use for hobby projects etc. Or if you are doing full time development then you just need to pony up for the 20x tier if you want to use it. Running Codex locally removes so much friction and is so fast compared to either running it on the web (where it has to build environments online etc which consumes time) or compared to copy-pasting chatgpt that it's just a no-brainer.
water-drummer 2mo ago
Why do you need nodejs if you can run javascript in the browser?
- shevy-java 2mo ago
  I can't answer that question, but I think you can do more with node than with default javascript, such as access to local files. This is something I wanted javascript to do for local use and people always said "you may not do this, your computer will be destroyed". So I just use ruby instead and am still annoyed that javascript is so crippled by default at all times.

pdhborges 2mo ago

For someone who has not tried these desktop apps: what is the the advantage versus cli codex with some MPCs and multiple folders each one with their context files?

Pavilion2095 2mo ago
It's easier to use for most people. I don't think CLI and GUI programs target the same audience.
arminluschin 2mo ago
You get GUI niceties: a nice presentation of the output like inline markdown rendering including tables and images in a nice font. Input supports drag & drop, and I can actually navigate the input field the way I am used to (pointing and clicking, using keyboard shortcuts to jump to beginning of words / sentences). Not sure what the most modern CLIs support, but for me just the ergonomics of a GUI text field alone are superior.
- laurels-marts 2mo ago
  Codex CLI has support for keybindings tho last time I checked they were quite limited and you cannot replicate full universal text editing experience.
- goolz 2mo ago
  I guess to each their own, as I find the GUIs to be clunky and a net negative to my workflow. Admittedly, I should give them another chance, and see how they have matured lately.
  - benji-york 2mo ago
    I'm a long-time CLI/TUI lover, but the Codex GUI has converted me for at least this use case. It has most of the positives of a TUI plus some that would be hard in a TUI.
Gareth321 2mo ago

Artoooooor 2mo ago

About the damn time. Couldn't they vibe code the Linux version using the same very tool from the day one?

BodyCulture 2mo ago

This will make it much easier to trap people into installing it without any isolation just to their primary user account or even make it run with admin privileges by default. With the recent security related events we already see that it seems to be wide spread practice that many operators avoid the hassle of isolating their agents. It is just an incredible cultural experience to see how quick stupidity gets accepted as a behavioural default.

usef- 2mo ago
The Linux version seems to use bubblewrap + seccomp for a "workspace sandbox" automatically, in addition to the auto mode and/or user approval. A VM would be even better, but people could presumably run this in one if we manage to convince them of higher sandboxing in general ?
- justincormack 2mo ago
  The cli does that already with codex on linux
- bloak 2mo ago
  Bubblewrap gets a bit confused inside a Docker container. If anyone knows how to run Codex inside a Docker container on Linux without it constantly complaining about a broken bubblewrap, please tell.
  - embedding-shape 2mo ago
    > If anyone knows how to run Codex inside a Docker container on Linux without it constantly complaining about a broken bubblewrap, please tell. Why would you even use bubblewrap once it's running in a container? I've been running Codex in a container since it was publicly available, not even sure what you'd use bubblewrap for when you already separated codex from the rest of your filesystem?
    - ab71e5 2mo ago

manupati 2mo ago

Download it a few hours ago. I've been waiting a long time for linux and it is working fine in debian kvm via X11

cloudie78 2mo ago

Reminder to everyone, treat these as trojans. Run them isolated from the rest of your system. Give it a full desktop in a VM if you want to, just not direct access to your system.

perching_aix 2mo ago
They ship with their own sandboxing by default, and Codex specifically is open source.
- badcafe23423435 2mo ago
  if it is open source why no exist any fork? why I can remove openai model default from instalation?
- rawland 2mo ago
  I’d wait. Remember when Chromium downloaded and installed binary blobs. Also in the news: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/expanding-capabilities-to-combat-transnational-cyber-enabled-crime/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/08/expa... "The American private sector is the most innovative and technologically advanced in the world, and its scale, speed, and capacity secure a critical offensive cyber advantage for the United States."
- wahnfrieden 2mo ago
  This app is NOT open source
- embedding-shape 2mo ago
  > and Codex specifically is open source. Since we now have three "Codex"es, I think it's worth specifying you're talking about codex-cli/tui. Codex the hosted version and Codex the GUI are both fully proprietary I think (besides the codex-cli/tui parts they use, I'm guessing mainly the app-server stuff).
  - deleted 2mo ago
    [deleted]

shevy-java 2mo ago

Do people really use that? It seems horrible to turn your computer into a spydevice for AI slop spammers.

badcafe23423435 2mo ago

Why not create a separate account on Linux just for the agent? This security measure should also be enabled by default. Many packages REQUIRE the creation of an account, but agents do not. Interesting.

TZubiri 2mo ago
You can definitely do that, but it is your duty and it cannot be delegated. Also these things are supposed to help you, their idea is that you give it access and it's helpful proportional to the access you give it. A separate user works for some, especially when vibecoding, you whitelist accesses. But for general computer usage, an assistant that has access to your files and acts as a sort of OS needs your user access.

OsrsNeedsf2P 2mo ago

I'd love to see the stats on how many Linux users want this. Most Linux usage probably comes from WSL/SSH'ing into servers, where they would use the CLI instead of a GUI. Even for the people who run Linux on the desktop, most probably prefer the terminal anyways

left-struck 2mo ago
While it may not be the majority of Linux usage, there’s a pretty big uptake in Linux desktop these days, and there millions of people actively using Linux desktop distros
TZubiri 2mo ago
It'd be nice for sending prompts from phone, although it is a whole lot of bloat for just that feature. Par for the course for the AI era, in order to do a thing first you must import the universe.
- telotortium 2mo ago
  That was already supported from your phone by using SSH, using the app server feature of the Codex CLI. The Codex desktop app is more for computer use, browser control, and the UI paradigm of GUI, which is overall just richer and better than a TUI, albeit more heavyweight.
  - TZubiri 2mo ago
    Do you have a link for those docs? I either missed that, or it seemed like a too complex feature. One of the issues with this new trend of vibecoding a million features, is that the (vibecoded) docs are labrynths of new features, and features that are deprecated or redundant with 2 month younger features.
    - telotortium 2mo ago
      It’s here: https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/remote-connections https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/remote-connections But I can’t tell from these docs if the ChatGPT desktop app needs to remain running on your macOS/Windows host as a proxy, or if you can directly SSH from your phone to your Linux box with just Codex CLI.

meerita 2mo ago

What's the benefit of working with this app, which eats insane amounts of memory, instead of Codex CLI?

TZubiri 2mo ago
I think you can connect your phone and talk to codex remotely, so you can run programming prompts while afk
- someplaceguy 2mo ago
  You can do that with the Codex CLI/TUI as well.
PunchTornado 2mo ago
does the app eat more money that codex cli? I mean is there a difference in cost in asking via the app something vs the cli?
ComputerPerson 2mo ago
I'm only familiar with the Anthropic equivalent, but the cognitive load is different as opposed to necessarily better or worse. I have friends who prefer mousing around the UI. Tabs for long-running often-compacted sessions is a difference I've noticed in emergent UX.
- meerita 2mo ago
  I use Claude Code CLI, Codex Cli. Both are really good, they don't eat memory like the GUI apps.
  - ComputerPerson 2mo ago
    I use the CLI, too, but I enjoy watchinng people use the desktop apps. It seems like the desktop apps may be a little bit better suited for human-in-the-loop work. If you're already switching back and forth between a mouse, having an IDE running may make more sense. The best feeling has to be in the CLI, in my oppinion. A low-stakes project where you can let ultracode runaway from you in the CLI is the most fun.

auggierose 2mo ago

Does this mean that ChatGPT Desktop will run now also on Intel Macs?

ddxv 2mo ago

I think these styles of apps will be popular for OpenAI and Anthropic as they help solve some of their moat issues. The deeper you integrate someone's files into their app, the harder it will be to switch AIs

cyanydeez 2mo ago
ok, but you know these things are marketed as super products; it's pretty easy for me to use a local model to scale up almost any project on github. Why would this be an effective moat beyond "I use codex too!!"

ksimukka 2mo ago

oh Electron, leave my ram alone.

0xB0D 2mo ago

Plague of AI slop. A senior engineer in an Open Source project told me "I haven't looked at code in months" In which case what TF is it you even do ?

TekMol 2mo ago

Does this mean it is possible to talk to Codex from ChatGPT on a mobile phone now? When I tried that with the Codex CLI version on a Linux VM, I did not get it to work. Possibly because OpenAI only supports connecting ChatGPT to a desktop installation of Codex?

preek 2mo ago
I have a codex cli instance on a Debian VM connected to ChatGPT on iOS via SSH. That works since.. about a month and has pretty good UX. Before, I used the shellfish terminal and tmux which also worked really good, but to be honest (even though I'm a big terminal fan), ChatGPT on iOS sometimes has a smoother UX than a terminal.
- TekMol 2mo ago
  Are you sure ChatGPT on IOS connects directly to the VM? Or via a desktop as the middle man sitting somewhere? If you really only use ChatGPT on IOS and a VM and nothing else, then I would be curious how you set that up. I do not see a "connect to codex via ssh" in my ChatGPT app. I only see "Connect to a desktop". Oh HOLY MOLY! Now I see there is not only a "Remote" section in the app but also a "Connection" section where you can add an ssh connection. I need to try that. Thanks!
  - mbrock 2mo ago
    yes I use that exact feature constantly to use Codex on remote servers and it works great
    - TekMol 2mo ago
      You could just as well use any other coding agent via ChatGPT then, right?
  - preek 2mo ago
    You're welcome(; Also for future readers: Yes, I'm sure there's no desktop app in the middle. I have dedicated remote VMs that run agents. I don't have them running on the desktop, not even as a middle man.

linzhangrun 2mo ago

I tried it yesterday. The experience seems smoother than on Windows. I hope Computer Use will be added soon. Also, when will OpenAI fix the issue where Xhigh and Ultra are both translated as “极高” in Chinese? It’s been this way for quite some time. As far as I know, the proportion of Chinese employees at these Silicon Valley AI companies is quite high.

szundi 2mo ago
[dead]
schafberg 2mo ago
I think their backend data probably shows that very few Chinese users are using Codex through the official way, and the number of those who have switched to the Chinese interface is even smaller, so there’s not much incentive to fix this issue.
- linzhangrun 2mo ago
  I don’t think GPT-5.6 would make such a basic mistake when reviewing CodeX itself.
- djyde 2mo ago
  Because all Chinese users must use a VPN to access Codex.
SweetSoftPillow 2mo ago
You have "send feedback" button in the app. Something tells me that it's much better place to report issues with the app rather than comment section on unrelated website.

Havoc 2mo ago

Much prefer CLI because its easier to isolate

lucideer 2mo ago

The most remarkable things about this announcement: - Electron based app: Electron is a framework sold on the basis of enabling rapid cross-platform development at the cost of performance. - Frontier AI company: AI is sold on the basis of enabling rapid development - App was released in February & took 6 entire months to port to Linux

sonu27 2mo ago
6 months is way too long IMHO
Muromec 2mo ago
Corporate it is a scam pretending to be a job creation program to make sure people dont get funny ideas
darkwater 2mo ago
Exactly my thoughts! I was expecting a Rust app written from scratch available at least in Qt and GTK flavors , and maybe with a third and a fourth option. Don't they have agent swarms with infinite tokens?
- concinds 2mo ago
  They replaced a pretty decent native Swift Mac app (with only some chronic state management bugs), weighing ~100MB ish, with the Codex app that most people don't need, made in Electron, which takes minimum 5GB+ including filesystem cruft. Today I ran into a memory leak that froze the app and made the Renderer process take 5GB, then 10GB of RAM. That was after I asked it to only touch 3 text files in its working directory, after which it sparked macOS permission prompts to access my Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and other apps' data. Thank god for the web platform and web apps.
  - jonizzle 2mo ago
    I hate the new app aswell but you can still get the old one called ChatGPT Classic. Just scroll down to the bottom of the download site.

varjag 2mo ago

Is there anything it can do that Codex CLI can't?

indy 2mo ago
it can consume more of your RAM

deleted 2mo ago

[deleted]

VortexLain 2mo ago

Heads up: unlike Codex CLI, Codex Desktop is proprietary, and thus can't be audited for Claude Code style hidden anti-user behavior.

fg137 2mo ago
A real issue we have run into is that "computer use" features, which is absolutely a big no-no at our company, can be enabled with a single click, and we cannot configure that.

78787 2mo ago

[dead]

lrvick 2mo ago

Are there really daily driver Linux users that want to run a proprietary gui based LLM solution that Sam Altman gets to keylog AND have full remote code execution on their system? This feels like trolling. Meanwhile I am looking at a Crush client running beside neovim in a herdr session I am accessing via ssh to a machine in my garage with 4 local GPUs. I think we Linux users have got this without Sams help.

micheles 2mo ago

I am unable use non-CLI tools, so I don't care about this app. However, I have a question about codex CLI: currently I am using pi agent and I am happy with it, using codex CLI would give me some advantage?

satvikpendem 2mo ago
You're unable to use non CLI tools? How do you interact with the Internet then?
- csymes 2mo ago
  Didn't you hear, it's the year of lynx
- micheles 2mo ago
  I don't consider the browser a tool.
  - satvikpendem 2mo ago
    Of course it's a tool. So you just have selective definitions to fit into your notion of non-CLI.

runtime_lens 2mo ago

[flagged]

btibor91 2mo ago

More details here: https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/linux/linux-app https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/linux/linux-app

Kinrany 2mo ago

I wonder why operating systems aren't integrating with browsers more.

alightsoul 2mo ago
Chromebooks do this and people avoid them
hx8 2mo ago
Nothing executes more unverified untrusted code than a web browser will. You want some separation between it and everything else you have going on.

RinatNabiev 2mo ago

[dead]

23qsGa1 2mo ago

The testimonials at the bottom are all from AI companies. Linux users are kind of averse to trojans. You should call it Back Orifice For Linux. You don't even have to change the OpenAI logo!

healthycoder 2mo ago

Why is this written in electron?

pjmlp 2mo ago
Because apparently ChatGPT is not able to generate native apps, so desktop developers are safe. /s
fassssst 2mo ago
It has a full web browser in it

motbus3 2mo ago

If gpt is so great as they say, why aren't they using their own operating system yet? They have all the resources they need to prove a point

hk__2 2mo ago
Because it would be stupid to do so?

dankobgd 2mo ago

so instead of using a browser, now i can use an app that is a browser. makes total sense

tiberriver256 2mo ago

This is how I get ChatGPT on Windows to not absolutely suck. Can just install it in WSL now and it's got buttery smooth performance vs. the Windows version I blame AV hooks

fassssst 2mo ago
On Windows you definitely want to exclude your code directories from AV and use a dev drive

wewewedxfgdf 2mo ago

Why would they write this in electron instead of something closer to the metal I thought this is the whole point of AI.

super256 2mo ago
It's built on OWL, which is their own Chromium integration. It's not electron. Seems pretty solid for Mac, but idk about Windows and Linux. https://openai.com/index/building-chatgpt-atlas/ https://openai.com/index/building-chatgpt-atlas/
jampekka 2mo ago
Because electron gets shit done? Aside the memory usage, electron/browser based applications of any complexity tend to be better and develop a lot faster.
- sdevonoes 2mo ago
  Users don’t like shit, though.
justmedep 2mo ago
More testing you still need good engineers for every native platform if you go native. We all know that AI in the hands of incompetent people is bad.
luca-ctx 2mo ago
I made something similar using Tauri but there were visual inconsistencies between platforms thanks to webkit. At the time I remember thinking I wish I had used electron to buy cross platform parity. And I experimented with gpui from zed, that was even harder to work with. Of course they could chase performance, but ultimately time to market is the #1 factor right now, and coding agents still aren't good enough to just immediately realize an entire GPUI app from scratch with nothing more than a figma design. Still requires a ton of oversight.
- prmoustache 2mo ago

bloqs 2mo ago

Why would I use this over browser version or CLI

yonatan8070 2mo ago
Probably ecause OpenAI wants training data from PCs of people who are scared of CLIs as well
cl3misch 2mo ago
I prefer the CLI myself, but I could imagine: - nicer diff rendering, and directly mentioning parts of a diff - Latex rendering (pretty annoying in the CLI, you have to actively tell Codex it's running in a terminal and replace Latex syntax with UTF-8 glyphs)
cmrdporcupine 2mo ago
As others have said, there's all sorts of things an HTML renderer can do better than terminal: proper (not hacked) image handling on both input and output, rendering graphical results, graphs, better code highlighting and diffs, interactive elements, etc. But one thing that strikes me as especially important: a proper accessibility story with magnification, screen reader, TTS etc. All the stuff people are hacking into TUIs is honestly a bit silly, they're actually very inefficient for high fidelity UIs. Having worked in it and on it before while @ GOOG, the actual renderer in Chromium is an optimized thing of beauty. It really makes sense to leverage it. Appropriately. But all of the above could (should) be done as a locally hosted web page via the existing codex CLI launching a local web server... rather than shipping an electron binary with its own entire fork of Chromium.

mentos 2mo ago

I’ve got a long running chat in the Windows app that becomes completely unresponsive for minutes on end. Complete travesty.

hnmu4c5zar 2mo ago

[dead]

CurbStomper 2mo ago

[dead]

arthurfirst 2mo ago

If you are using linux and cannot use a console to code...

VCFundedGenYer 2mo ago

Nobody should be installing or using AI apps. Your browser is as far as they should go. Reminder that the macOS app went from "this is fairly well made" to "it downloads multiple gigabytes of random things and doesn't follow any design conventions nor standards" The Linux app will fail the same tests.

eatsyourtacos 2mo ago
Uhh.. you can't do what codex/claude can do from a browser. Are you this out of the loop?
- eimrine 2mo ago
  Copying webpages with no advanced knowledge? I really can not do this in any other ais except google.
  - nsonha 2mo ago
    I doubt that you set up an useful cloud environment that you can just command with chatgpt on the web without an execution machine. So my guess is you being out of the /loop

ninkendo 2mo ago

Sitting at 2.2GB of combined resident RAM across 11 processes. I haven't done a single query yet.

geodel 2mo ago
But you might. And Codex is taking your threats seriously and stand prepared in case you breach protocol and start using your computer resources for your own nefarious purpose. These apps stands as last defense between users and legitimate owners of compute resources that is electron and pals.
reaperducer 2mo ago
Sitting at 2.2GB of combined resident RAM across 11 processes. I haven't done a single query yet. Surely they can just vibe is down to a reasonable footprint, right? Right?
ChadNauseam 2mo ago
Is this a linux issue? My Macbook has 16gb ram and running out has literally never been an issue for me. I'm using all of it + 10gb of swap and my computer feels snappy and fast. Chrome with 100+ tabs, discord, slack, codex, chatgpt, all running simultaneously with no issues. Sure, all other things being equal less RAM usage is better, but I can understand why reducing it isn't a priority for them.
- alightsoul 2mo ago
  The OS doesn't matter here. The problem is that it's an electron app, hence it has high ram usage
- ninkendo 2mo ago
  I didn’t say “I’m running into issues due to the ram usage”, I’m saying it uses a lot of ram. My computer also feels snappy and fast, it doesn’t change the fact that 2.2GB is a huge amount of bloat for it not having done anything yet and still sitting idle.

zhixingheyi2023 2mo ago

[flagged]

hn0tdqaek4 2mo ago

Not perfect but a good starting point

whalesalad 2mo ago

Glad to see a .rpm, Claude only publishes a .deb.

AdriaanvRossum 2mo ago

I find it almost funny how hostile the response is when a company actually goes through the effort of supporting Linux. Apparently shipping the Linux version is only step one, you also need to pick the right framework, use the right packaging, consume the right amount of RAM, and preferably rewrite it natively.

givinguflac 2mo ago
It’s almost like we Linux users are opinionated about software. Weird. /s
lemagedurage 2mo ago
A challenge of releasing tech on a platform of people that are picky about tech.
krelian 2mo ago
HN comment quality took a nosedive recently, You can predict the comments just based on the story, almost all of them cynical and snarky remarks. It used to be a place to come and learn from technical experts.
- crims0n 2mo ago
  I don't have evidence for this, but I suspect a lot of it is Reddit refugees.
- 2afTq 2mo ago
  The AI boosters have driven away all experts. They are either financially invested or mindless power users on the level of the proverbial MacOS fanboys. Experts related to real programming topics are gone or silent. AI experts have never even been here in the first place. It is all about Electron apps, prompts, agents and other bullshit.
  - joquarky 2mo ago
    This started before AI. I'd pin it on the crypto gold rush attracting knuckle-dragging brogrammers into the industry. HR is charmed by them despite their lack of discipline.

yodamus 2mo ago

Does this mean it's a matter of time until I can deploy codex on my raspberry pi now?

nateb2022 2mo ago
Codex CLI should have been usable for a while now, and you could also sign in to your ChatGPT subscription using Opencode which runs perfectly fine on a Raspberry Pi.

miguel-muniz 2mo ago

Unrelated to this Linux release but I've been using the new ChatGPT desktop app since I annoying updated on accident, and I haven't had that great of an experience. I previously really enjoyed the Codex app. It was easy for me to understand and find what I needed. The conversation view provided the right amount of information without feeling too concise or full of jargon and the typographic hierarchy made it easy to skim. The project based workflow made sense for my needs. Ever since they combined all ChatGPT into one app though it has become a mess. It's trying to do too much in one. The settings menu is especially bloated, and I find the UI to be too complicated for the simple questions I'm asking outside of development work. I would rather just use the web interface for general use at this point. They've also been updating much of the UI to follow the same patterns as Claude, and I've not been impressed with the Claude desktop app. To me, they are taking multiple steps backwards. I hope they eventually find their way again.

wuliwong 2mo ago
My biggest gripe is now anytime I open a new session it hangs and I see the beachball spinner (mac) for a while before I can actually use the app again. It's pretty brutal.

u8 2mo ago

I don't think its asking too much of a $1T company to not make a shitty desktop app. Especially when that companies whole moat with developers is that their tools can do our jobs better and faster. The real reason they're using Electron is that some PM is comfortable with it and since nobody is reading the code, they use that comfort as a crutch to release most-likely working desktop app. When the creator of a project has infinite money, infinite labor, and infinite incentive to lock more devs into their platform via skill atrophy and the product is still shit, that's the human in the loop.

manishsharan 2mo ago

An often overlooked advantage of Electron based apps is they can convert any older version of laptop into a nice toaster oven. This is fantastic as I can toast or reheat my frozen waffles on the same machine which is also running a agentic loop on codex desktop to cook my software.

mococa 2mo ago

On macOS, the version made for Apple Silicon in Swift was abandoned (now it called ChatGPT-classic until they decide to kill it) to this garbage in Electron.

Beijinger 2mo ago

Not sure what I should see under the Link provided. Here is another one: https://community.openai.com/t/codex-in-chatgpt-desktop-app-for-linux-is-now-in-preview/1390027 https://community.openai.com/t/codex-in-chatgpt-desktop-app-... "The desktop app is designed as a workspace for managing projects, working with files, using browser workflows, and running Codex alongside ChatGPT." Not sure if I really understand this. And somehow I am worried about ChatGPT having access to my files and workflows. How much control do I have?

orsenthil 2mo ago

Congrats on supporting Linux. It makes the ecosystem more rich. Hope they will continue to maintain it and provide parity support.

corpusiq_io 2mo ago

[flagged]

fectjtfs 2mo ago

OpenAI: With AI, you can build really good apps, really quickly! Fire your devs! Also OpenAI: Aight look, Electron is the best that we can do at this point, take it or leave it. If this isn’t enough to convince you how little truth there is in everything these companies claim, then you have been brainwashed entirely already. Why aren’t we getting quality native apps on all platforms, released simultaneously, if these AI code monkeys are THAT good? Where are all these amazing experiences built with AI that these guys keep promising? I guess an Electron monstrosity is about as far as it can go. Learn from this, internet. (I know none of you will, but doesn’t hurt to call a bit of attention to it)

ljlolel 2mo ago

that’s why i made a clone of macos libraries to compile SwiftUI to linux to make something like this faster (for non Electron!)

johnnyApplePRNG 2mo ago

Meh... Codex messing around with the usage limits so much these past few months have convinced me to exit my $200/month burden and pick up Pi Coding Agent and Deepseek V4 Flash 0731. It's incredible what you can do with subagents that you design yourself. Liberating, really.

catigula 2mo ago

Everybody is irritated about electron, but that's not at all the problem. It's possible to write performant and optimized react code. They simply don't. I find the chatgpt app on Windows to be extremely laggy.

quotemstr 2mo ago
Electron is just another god damn GUI toolkit! What's the fundamental difference between it and, say, GTK4? It's just fucking widgets! My real problem with Electron is the multi-process render architecture, which I think is pointless for the "just a GUI toolkit" case of rendering only trusted content. I'm 100% fine with Slack, Spotify, whatever using Electron as their choice of GUI toolkits. These come and go. I'm miffed that they use multiple processes when there's no real security boundary between them just because there is a security boundary in the homologous scenario on the web.

jtrn 2mo ago

So much negativity... I like the desktop app and am looking forward to testing it out.

moronicles 2mo ago
Remote alone makes the desktop app worth it.
danmaz74 2mo ago
I've been using it to vibe code a personal application while I'm using a more "powerful" setup for my main agent assisted coding, and I have to say that it's been very good so far. I just wished that it was easier to hand off some tasks to codex web, like I tried to do today as I was starting a boat trip.

DefamationStati 2mo ago

Finally! My shitbox Surface 8 pro that's running Debian will be pleased.

pentagrama 2mo ago

Interesting to see the Linux version released. On Windows, though, my experience with the new ChatGPT app since Codex was folded into it hasn't been great. I'm a Codex user, and when it was still a standalone app it worked really well for me. Since it became part of the new ChatGPT app, the app feels noticeably slower and, at least on my machine, is currently using around 1.27 GB of RAM [1]. The old ChatGPT app, which has now been renamed "ChatGPT Classic", feels much faster and is using around 478 MB under the same conditions. I have a reasonably powerful PC, so the difference is pretty noticeable. I assume Classic will eventually be discontinued, but so far the transition to the new app on Windows hasn't been particularly good for me. [1] https://imgur.com/a/nQkneGL https://imgur.com/a/nQkneGL

maipen 2mo ago
Codex app was always unoptimized , but the competitores arent great either. However it’s still a an agent app, it gets the job done and has great tooling. Eventually the whole thing will probably be remade in a more performant way and be announced in a blog post as one shotted by gpt 6.x
lxgr 2mo ago
> The old ChatGPT app, which has now been renamed "ChatGPT Classic", feels much faster and is using around 478 MB under the same conditions. That's definitely better, but all things considered, this is still an absurd amount of memory for a text chat client, even if you account things like hardware composited high-definition UI surfaces etc. into it. The old app also had a habit of spinning at least one CPU core at 100% due to some runaway "shimmer" animation when an image wouldn't load or something... > my experience with the new ChatGPT app since Codex was folded into it hasn't been great. My main gripe beyond the performance issues is that OpenAI doesn't yet seem to know where they want to go with Codex and "ChatGPT Work", and is changing the paradigms daily, making it feel like there's no point in even trying to understand them. It's really unclear to me which conversations (and lately scheduled tasks) are local and which are cloud-based.

trashface 2mo ago

Does openai still require a biometric check to use any model more recent than GPT 4? If so, I imagine that will be an impediment for the typical person who runs linux.

proflead 2mo ago

Just in case you don't know how to set it up, here is the guide https://youtu.be/AfuHEdxktF8 https://youtu.be/AfuHEdxktF8

aitobox 2mo ago

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