Operator

Operator was OpenAI's browser agent, a research preview for Pro users in the US launched on Jan 23, 2025 at operator.chatgpt.com. On Jul 17, 2025 it was folded into ChatGPT as agent mode, and the Operator website is no longer accessible.

Operator no longer exists as its own product: on Jul 17, 2025 OpenAI "fully integrated" it into ChatGPT as ChatGPT agent, and the standalone site, operator.chatgpt.com, was shut down; OpenAI's help article now says "The Operator website is no longer accessible" (OpenAI Help Center). Operator, launched on Jan 23, 2025, was a research preview of "an agent that can go to the web to perform tasks for you", using its own browser to type, click and scroll. To do the same today, choose agent mode from the tools menu in ChatGPT or type /agent; see Agent Mode.

Quick facts

Status	Merged into ChatGPT agent Jul 17, 2025; site no longer accessible
Launched	Jan 23, 2025, research preview
Who could use it	Pro users in the US, at operator.chatgpt.com
Model	Computer-Using Agent (CUA), GPT-4o vision plus reasoning trained with reinforcement learning
Replaced by	Agent mode in ChatGPT

What did Operator do?

Operator ran in a remote browser of its own. It looked at web pages through screenshots and acted with every action a mouse and keyboard allow, so it could handle repetitive browser jobs such as filling out forms, ordering groceries and even making memes (OpenAI). A user described the task and could take control of the browser at any point, for example to sign in. OpenAI said its model set new state-of-the-art results on the WebArena and WebVoyager browser benchmarks at the time.

Operator was powered by the Computer-Using Agent (CUA), which combined GPT-4o's vision with advanced reasoning trained through reinforcement learning to work graphical interfaces: the buttons, menus and text fields people see on screen (OpenAI). In the OpenAI API, the computer-use-preview model shut down on Jul 23, 2026, and computer use has been generally available since GPT-5.4 (Mar 5, 2026).

From Operator to ChatGPT agent

OpenAI launched Operator only for Pro users in the US, planning to expand to Plus, Team and Enterprise and to bring its abilities into ChatGPT later (OpenAI). That happened on Jul 17, 2025, when ChatGPT agent arrived for Pro, Plus and Team users through the tools menu (OpenAI). At that launch Pro users got 400 agent messages a month and other paid users 40.

	Operator (Jan 2025)	Agent mode (Nov 6, 2026)
Where	Separate site, operator.chatgpt.com	Inside ChatGPT on web, iOS, Android, macOS and Windows
Plans	Pro, US only	Paid plans only
Limits	Not stated in the launch post	Plus 40 messages a month, Pro 400, Business and Enterprise 40
How to start	Open the site	Tools menu, or type /agent

Sources: OpenAI, OpenAI Help Center.

0:03 Agent mode in turn sits beside ChatGPT Work, released Jul 9, 2026 as "an agent for longer, more involved tasks". How to use agent mode step by step is on How to Use ChatGPT Agent Mode.

Frequently asked questions

Does OpenAI Operator still exist? No. OpenAI folded Operator into ChatGPT as agent mode on Jul 17, 2025, and the Operator website is no longer accessible.

What replaced Operator? ChatGPT agent mode replaced Operator. Choose it from the tools menu in ChatGPT or type /agent; it is available on paid plans.

When did Operator come out? OpenAI released Operator on Jan 23, 2025, as a research preview for Pro users in the US.

What model did Operator use? Operator ran on the Computer-Using Agent (CUA), which combined GPT-4o's vision with reasoning trained by reinforcement learning to use buttons, menus and text fields.

How many agent messages do I get in ChatGPT? As of Nov 6, 2026, OpenAI's help article lists 40 agent messages a month on Plus, 400 on Pro and 40 on Business and Enterprise; only requests you start count.