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ChatGPT Work: delegating the whole job

What ChatGPT Work is for, how to choose between local and cloud execution, which tasks are worth delegating to it, and how to write a prompt that reads like a work order rather than a wish.

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Platforms

  • ChatGPT desktop app
  • ChatGPT on the web
  • ChatGPT mobile (continuing a cloud chat)

What the official documentation says

  • ChatGPT Work is described as a way to delegate real work to ChatGPT; Chat is for an answer, explanation, brainstorm or short draft, Work is for completing a task with a clear outcome.

    Get started with ChatGPT Work

  • ChatGPT Work can use your files, plugins and approved tools to retrieve information, create finished files and run workflows.

    Get started with ChatGPT Work

  • In the desktop app the composer has a control labelled Work locally; if Cloud appears as an option, it keeps the task running after you close the app or turn off your computer, and lets you continue the chat from the web or mobile app.

    Get started with ChatGPT Work

  • Keep Work locally selected when the task needs files or apps on your computer.

    Get started with ChatGPT Work

  • Cloud is also useful for scheduled tasks that research or check websites over time, because their runs do not depend on your computer being awake.

    Get started with ChatGPT Work

  • Typing @ plus a plugin name in the prompt points ChatGPT at a specific tool; the plugins library is under Plugins in the left sidebar.

    Get started with ChatGPT Work

  • The documented prompting advice is to state the outcome you need, the sources or plugins to use, the constraints to follow, what good looks like, and when to stop for review or approval.

    Get started with ChatGPT Work

  • If a task pauses for a safety review, follow the notice and review any available findings before continuing.

    Get started with ChatGPT Work

Work is about delegation, not questions

The official one-line definition of ChatGPT Work is that it is a way to delegate real work to ChatGPT. The load-bearing word is delegate.

Compare it to the definition given for Chat: an answer, an explanation, a brainstorm, a short draft. The difference is not difficulty, it is the shape of the interaction. Chat produces a reply. Work produces something you can take away and use — a brief, a deck, an analysis, a recurring update, a workflow, a file.

That distinction determines how you should write the prompt, which is the rest of this page.

Local or cloud matters more than model choice

The composer in the desktop app carries a control labelled Work locally. When Cloud appears as an option for your account, the switch means:

  • Work locally — choose this when the task needs files or apps on your computer.
  • Cloud — choose this when the task should keep running after you close the app or turn off your computer, or when you want to continue that chat from the web or mobile.

The documentation adds one more case worth knowing: scheduled tasks that research or check websites over time belong in the cloud, because those runs should not depend on your computer being awake.

The most common failure with Work is getting this switch wrong — sending a task that needs your local repository to the cloud, or leaving a task that should outlive your evening pinned to your laptop. Settle this before anything else.

Write the prompt as a work order

The documented best practice is unusually concrete: tell ChatGPT the outcome you need, the sources or plugins to use, the constraints to follow, what good looks like, and when to stop for review or approval.

That last clause carries the most weight. The official before/after is instructive. Instead of "Make me a presentation about our customer research", the recommended version asks ChatGPT to review the attached interview notes and survey results, create an eight-slide presentation for the product leadership meeting, focus on the three most common customer problems, include supporting evidence, separate findings from recommendations, flag any claims that are not well supported, use @Google Drive for the source docs, and return a draft for review before treating it as final.

That prompt specifies audience, length, sources, structure, an honesty requirement (flag weak claims), and a stopping condition. It is long. It also collapses five rounds of iteration into one.

The documentation offers a companion habit: set boundaries explicitly — "use only these sources", "compare the top five options", "stop before sending anything".

Plugins are the input pipe

Work can use your files, plugins and approved tools to retrieve information. Plugins connect it to the systems your team actually runs on: Slack, Google Drive, SharePoint, email, calendars, CRMs, project trackers.

There are two layers to using them:

  1. Open Plugins in the left sidebar and install the ones relevant to your work.
  2. Type @ and the plugin name in the prompt to point ChatGPT at that tool.

Step 2 is optional — describe the task well and ChatGPT will choose tools itself. But when you already know which source is right, naming it removes a round of guessing.

When a task pauses, read before you retry

The documentation notes that a task can pause for a safety review. The correct response is to follow the notice and review any available findings before continuing.

Worth remembering as its own rule, because the reflex is to hit run again. The pause has a reason; read it.

The natural next step

If you finish a piece of work and think "I'll be doing this again next week", stop doing it by hand. Recurring updates are one of the three starting scenarios the official Work guide leads with — hand it to a scheduled task.

How to do it

  1. Switch to Work in the desktop app or on the web.
  2. Choose where it runs. Keep Work locally when the task needs files or apps on your computer; switch to Cloud, when offered, if the task should survive closing the app or you want to pick it up on mobile.
  3. Assemble the source material — attachments, files in the project, or services reached through plugins.
  4. Open Plugins in the left sidebar and install the ones relevant to this work.
  5. Write the prompt with five things in it: the outcome, the sources or plugins, the constraints, what good looks like, and where to stop for your review.
  6. Follow the run — answer its questions, redirect it if needed, approve the actions that need approving.
  7. Review the produced file, then accept it, request a revision, or turn the whole thing into a scheduled task.

On Windows

  1. ChatGPT Work behaves the same in the Windows desktop app as on macOS — the same Work locally / Cloud control sits on the composer.
  2. Keep Work locally selected when ChatGPT needs files from a folder on your machine, and confirm you have opened that project or folder in the app.
  3. If the task should keep running after you step away, prefer Cloud; the documentation is explicit that cloud runs do not depend on your computer staying awake.

On mobile

  1. The documentation states that choosing Cloud lets you continue the same chat from the web or the mobile app.
  2. So mobile is a relay rather than a starting point — begin the task on a computer with Cloud selected, then follow it, add instructions and review results from your phone.

Use cases

  • Turning a pile of interview notes and survey results into a deck for a leadership meeting.
  • Turning scattered notes and research into a comparison spreadsheet with scores, flagged risks and a recommendation.
  • Refreshing a meeting agenda every Monday from the week's new updates.

Common mistakes

  • Mismatching the execution control — choosing Cloud for a task that needs local files, or leaving Work locally selected for a task that should outlive your session. This is the single most common Work problem.
  • Treating Work like Chat and sending "make me a deck". The official example prompts are long precisely because they carry acceptance criteria.
  • Expecting ChatGPT to reach Slack or Google Drive without installing the plugin first.
  • Using Work to rephrase one sentence. The documentation points that kind of request at Chat.

FAQ

When should I use Work instead of Chat?
The documented test is about the shape of the task. Work fits tasks that use multiple sources, plugins, tools or steps; would take meaningful time by hand; produce an output you will review, edit or reuse; or need to be repeated, monitored or updated over time. Anything a single reply can settle belongs in Chat.
What actually changes between Work locally and Cloud?
Where the task runs and what it depends on. Cloud keeps the task running after you close the app or turn off your computer, and lets you continue that chat from the web or mobile. Work locally is the choice when the task needs files or apps on your computer. The documentation also singles out scheduled tasks that check websites over time as a good fit for cloud, precisely because they should not depend on your machine being awake.
How do I get it to use our Slack or Google Drive?
Through plugins. Open Plugins in the left sidebar, install the relevant ones, then type @ and the plugin name in your prompt to point ChatGPT at that specific tool.
My task paused. What now?
The documentation notes a task can pause for a safety review. Follow the notice shown and review any available findings before continuing, rather than simply retrying.

Official sources

These are the pages this tutorial is checked against. Follow them if you need the vendor's exact wording.

Source status