OpenAI adds opt-in Computer History for ChatGPT and Codex on Mac

OpenAI shipped Computer History on August 13, an opt-in feature for ChatGPT and Codex on macOS that builds a searchable timeline of a user's activity across selected apps and sites. It replaces Chronicle, the earlier research preview that built the same kind of memory from periodic screenshots.

Computer History skips screen capture entirely. According to OpenAI, it reads interaction events exposed through macOS's accessibility APIs: clicks, typed text, keyboard shortcuts, and app switches. Those events sit on the Mac for up to 48 hours, then get processed on OpenAI's servers into plain-text memory files that stay local until a user deletes them. OpenAI says the events aren't used for model training and the feature excludes screenshots, screen recordings, microphone input, system audio, and private browsing.

The feature is off by default. It's currently limited to ChatGPT Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans, and Business or Enterprise admins have to grant access before members can turn it on themselves. It isn't available yet in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or the UK.

For a developer running Codex sessions, the practical pitch is an agent that can recall what file was open or what command ran earlier in the day without a screenshot-based memory system in the loop. Whether accessibility-event logging turns out to be less invasive than screenshots in practice will depend on how much of that captured interaction data a user can actually see and prune, something worth checking directly in the settings once the feature is live on your account rather than taking on faith.