What is OpenAI Agent Mode?
ChatGPT Agent Mode was a ChatGPT feature for carrying out multi-step tasks—not an API model or endpoint for your own application. OpenAI described it as using a virtual computer to navigate websites, work with uploaded files, run code, analyze information, and create editable slideshows and spreadsheets. OpenAI’s launch post now labels itself outdated and points readers to ChatGPT Work for current agentic work. (OpenAI’s Agent Mode announcement)
What did Agent Mode do—and what controls applied?
The original feature combined research and action. OpenAI said it could navigate websites, prompt users to sign in securely when needed, run code, conduct analysis, and produce editable slideshows and spreadsheets. OpenAI also said it requested permission before consequential actions and let users interrupt, take over the browser, or stop a task. These describe the former Agent Mode; they should not be assumed to describe every current Work task or tool. (OpenAI’s Agent Mode announcement)
Practical advice: Review results and requests for approval, especially before allowing consequential actions. The controls available depend on the product and workflow.
ChatGPT Work vs. building an agent with an OpenAI API
These are different routes to agentic work:
| Choose | When it fits | What you are taking on |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Work | You want to delegate a longer task in ChatGPT and receive a finished deliverable, without building an application. | Work runs within ChatGPT and its available tools and connections. Its cloud browser is available on paid ChatGPT plans in supported regions, excluding Free and Go; availability may vary during rollout or depend on workspace permissions. The browser can work on supported public and signed-in websites, and pauses when it needs your input, sign-in, or confirmation. (Cloud browser availability and guidance) |
| Responses API directly | You are building an application and want to manage the model-call loop, tool dispatch, and state handling yourself. | Your application owns more of the orchestration and integration work. OpenAI’s Agents SDK documentation describes direct use of the Responses API as an option when you want to own the loop. (Agents SDK documentation) |
| OpenAI Agents SDK | You are building an application and want a runtime to manage agent turns, tool execution, guardrails, handoffs, or sessions. | You still build and operate the application and its integrations. For OpenAI models, the SDK uses the Responses API by default; the SDK adds orchestration rather than turning ChatGPT Agent Mode into an API. (Agents SDK documentation) |
The SDK documents tools, guardrails, handoffs, sessions, human-in-the-loop mechanisms, and tracing as building blocks. That gives developers options for shaping a workflow, but evaluating and maintaining the application remains part of the API path. (OpenAI Agents SDK)
Which path should you choose?
- You want to complete a task in ChatGPT: Consider ChatGPT Work if it is available in your account. For cloud-browser tasks, check the current availability and workflow guidance: it is limited to supported websites and may require your input, sign-in, or confirmation.
- You need an agent inside your own product or repeatable business process: Evaluate the Responses API or Agents SDK. Choose the API directly if you want to own orchestration; choose the SDK if its managed runtime features match your needs. Neither choice automatically reproduces ChatGPT’s feature set. (OpenAI Agents SDK)
- You are unsure whether an API build is warranted: Write down the task, required systems and permissions, frequency, and human-approval needs. If the task can be done in ChatGPT without custom integration, try that route first. If it must run inside your software or use application-specific tools and controls, prototype the API route and test it against representative cases.
Example: For a one-off request to research vendors and draft a comparison, ChatGPT Work may fit if its available tools and data sources meet the need. For a customer-support workflow that must retrieve order data from your own system and apply your application’s authorization rules, evaluate an API implementation and design those integrations and checks yourself. These are selection examples, not guarantees of a particular result.
Bottom line: “OpenAI Agent Mode” usually refers to the former ChatGPT feature. OpenAI now points readers to ChatGPT Work for current agentic work; developers building their own agent should evaluate the Responses API or Agents SDK instead. Choose based on whether you want to delegate within ChatGPT or build and operate an application-specific workflow.
Sources
Introducing ChatGPT agent — OpenAI