The hands-on playbook

From first click
to “I made this.”

Learn ChatGPT and Codex by doing.
Open the app. Try a task. Build something useful.

A guided first run for people who have never used either. Plain-language steps, working examples, and a place to practise.

Start with the app →Explore the lessons

No coding experience needed. Your first build stays on your computer.

Explore the desktop appIllustration
Recent practice
Workshop planningMy first checklist
ChatWork
What will you make?

A clear request starts here.

1
Choose your experience

The top-left menu switches between ChatGPT and Codex. Within ChatGPT, choose Chat or Work.

Click a highlighted control
Your first working checklistDescribe it. Open it. Test it.
↗
One app, different starting points

What do you want to do?

Choose an outcome to see where to begin.

Chat

Start with a conversation.

Ask a question, explore an idea, or work through a short draft. Try: explain a topic using an example I would recognise.

Try your first conversation →
Your learning path

One useful step
at a time.

Begin at the top, or jump to the task you need. Each lesson has something to try and a result to check.

0 of 8 lessons completeSaved in this browser. No account needed for the guide.
01Meet the appYou can open the app and choose the right starting point.5 minutes02Try a conversationYou have a short update you could use after checking its details.6 minutes03Your first Codex taskYou have a local checklist page with a working checkbox and reset button.12 minutes04Review and improveYou can give a precise correction and verify that it worked.6 minutes05Keep useful contextYou know the difference between a chat, a ChatGPT project, and a local folder.7 minutes06Try ChatGPT WorkYou can provide source data, request a file, and check the result.8 minutes07Skills and pluginsYou can distinguish reusable instructions from access to another service.7 minutes08Schedule a follow-upYou can create, inspect, and pause a scheduled task.5 minutes

The useful part is what you do next.

Bring one small task to the app. Describe the result, open what it produces, and make one improvement. That is the habit this playbook teaches.

Take the first step →
About this guide and its sources

This independent guide explains the desktop app using official OpenAI documentation. Interactive app diagrams are simplified illustrations, not screenshots of a live account. Example prompts and results are fictional practice material. No form here calls an AI model, installs a plugin, or schedules a task.

OpenAI: Desktop quickstart OpenAI: Chat, Work and Codex OpenAI: Prompting OpenAI: Projects and chats OpenAI: Work with files OpenAI: Skills and plugins OpenAI: Permissions OpenAI: Scheduled tasks OpenAI: Projects in ChatGPT