OpenAI starts rolling out giftable ChatGPT credits
The one-time claim links let users buy prepaid usage for someone else. OpenAI's Windows app already contains gated entry points for the purchase flow.
By Ryan Merket · Published · Updated
RUNTIMEWIRE INVESTIGATION — Scoop
Original reporting by RuntimeWire, based on reverse engineering, data analysis, public records.
Why it matters
Gift credits would give OpenAI a new way to seed paid use of Work and Codex while extending ChatGPT beyond flat subscriptions into metered agent spending.
Reporting record
Finding
OpenAI is gradually rolling out a way for personal ChatGPT users to buy credits for another person, with one-time claim links and gated gift-credit entry points already shipped in its Windows app.
How we verified
Methods: reverse engineering, data analysis, public records.
OpenAI published a live Help Center article describing the purchase, delivery, redemption, expiration and refund rules for gifted ChatGPT credits. RuntimeWire separately examined the Electron archive shipped with OpenAI's Windows app and found a dedicated gift-credit module, a direct purchase route at https://chatgpt.com/gifts/credits, remote controls named purchase_flow_enabled and desktop_beacon_enabled, and UI entry points for the home screen, profile and Usage settings. A cloned installation rendered the shipped "Gift credits" banner after two local display conditions were overridden. No purchase or redemption was completed because checkout eligibility remained controlled by OpenAI's rollout.
RuntimeWire captured OpenAI's public gifting documentation on August 12, 2026, then searched for independent coverage and found the original X post by product researcher Tibor Blaho but no article from a news publisher at the time of publication.
The Windows application bundle was preserved and hashed before inspection. RuntimeWire extracted its Electron app.asar, reviewed the minified JavaScript assets and traced the gift-credit entry points to a shared availability module. That module opens https://chatgpt.com/gifts/credits, limits the UI to eligible personal-account structures and reads separate remote values for the purchase flow and desktop banner.
For visual confirmation, the installed application was copied to a user-writable directory. Two target conditions were verified to occur exactly once before the copied archive was changed. The original Microsoft Store installation was left untouched. Launching the cloned build displayed OpenAI's shipped banner with the text "Gift credits" and "Send a friend credits they can use for work or Codex tasks." This reproduced the client UI only; it did not establish that the account could complete checkout.
Tested versions:
- Windows package:
OpenAI.Codex_26.803.10989.0_x64 - Bundled application version:
26.803.81509 - Codex build:
6415 - Product name:
Codex - Build flavor:
prod
Reproduction
RuntimeWire independently reproduced the core finding.
REPRODUCED WITH LIMITATIONS
- Inspect the Electron archive from the tested Windows package.
- Locate
gift-credits-entry-point-availability-BkG0LT6m.js,codex-home-announcements-DNS1iexT.js,profile-eeZS6pzc.jsandusage-settings-DttykFrk.js. - Confirm the purchase route, remote controls and three UI entry points.
- In a copied installation, override the client-side home-banner display conditions and launch the clone.
- Confirm that the native banner appears.
The live checkout and redemption flow cannot be reproduced without an account included in OpenAI's server-controlled rollout.
File hashes
sha256:39c855f6a0db1cad89dc629edf2f9473b78a25b64fcb1445ece1022af6527755 app.asar
Company response
The company was not contacted before publication.
The one-time claim links let users buy prepaid usage for someone else. OpenAI's Windows app already contains gated entry points for the purchase flow.
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