Learn 95% of ChatGPT Work in Under 20 Minutes
Jeff Su
480,737 views • 2 months ago Save 14 min 5 min read
Video Summary
ChatGPT Work transcends its chatbot origins by integrating with your existing tools, remembering your preferences and rules across tasks. This powerful upgrade, however, comes with a confusing product lineup from OpenAI, including a less capable web version and a more robust desktop application. The desktop version unlocks its full potential when paired with a Google Doc named agents.md, acting as a master rulebook.
This agents.md file dictates how ChatGPT Work should handle tasks, from formatting calendar events with specific emojis and reminders to renaming image files according to user-defined conventions. The system learns and adapts; by providing examples of desired outputs, users can teach ChatGPT Work their writing style, creating custom "skills" that streamline future content generation. This allows for a personalized AI system where tasks are automatically routed to relevant folders, ensuring consistent and efficient results, effectively breaking down complex work into manageable subfolders.
Short Highlights
- ChatGPT Work's Core Advantage: It remembers and applies your custom rules and preferences across tasks, unlike regular ChatGPT.
- Product Confusion: OpenAI offers multiple versions, with the desktop app recommended for non-technical users.
- The
agents.mdFile: This plain English document acts as the master rulebook for ChatGPT Work, dictating its behavior. - Automated Task Management: Rules can be set for renaming files, formatting calendar events, and more, ensuring consistent outputs.
- Learning Your Style: Create custom "skills" to teach ChatGPT Work your unique writing style for recurring tasks like newsletters.
- Organized Workspaces: Break down work into subfolders, with a routing map in
agents.mddirecting tasks to the appropriate areas. - Tool Integration: Connect ChatGPT Work to apps like Google Calendar, Notion, and Gmail, with rules governing their use.
Key Details
The Power of Remembering Rules [00:16]
- ChatGPT Work goes beyond answering questions; it actively performs tasks by connecting to your tools.
- Its key advantage is remembering rules and preferences, carrying them into future tasks.
- The more you teach it about your workflow, the more useful it becomes.
"The more you teach it about how you work, the more useful it becomes."
Navigating ChatGPT Work Versions [01:43]
- OpenAI's product lineup includes ChatGPT Chat, Codex for programmers, and two versions of ChatGPT Work.
- ChatGPT Work Web is less capable than the desktop version.
- ChatGPT Work Desktop is recommended for non-technical users due to its greater capabilities.
"The middle is where it gets confusing because there are two versions of ChatGPT Work."
The agents.md Master Rulebook [02:31]
- The desktop version requires a Google Doc named
agents.mdto unlock its full capabilities. - This document acts as a master rulebook, written in plain English, defining how ChatGPT Work operates.
- Sections include purpose, global rules, voice principles, and maintenance instructions.
"Think of this document as the master rulebook for ChatGPT Work, written entirely in plain English."
Automating File Renaming and Organization [04:21]
- Users can instruct ChatGPT Work to remember rules, such as renaming image files with short, descriptive names.
- This rule is automatically added to the
agents.mdfile under global rules. - By mounting a folder with
agents.md, ChatGPT Work reads the file before each task, ensuring consistent results."You can just tell ChatGPT Work, 'Remember this rule. Whenever I ask you to rename image files, use a short but descriptive name so I know what each image is without opening it.'"
Supercharging Plugins with Rules [06:39]
- Plugins connect ChatGPT Work to external tools like Notion, Gmail, and Slack.
- The
agents.mdfile is crucial for teaching ChatGPT Work how you prefer to use these connected apps. - Rules can be set for default meeting durations, formatting descriptions, and more, which are then automatically added to
agents.md."Teaching ChatGPT Work how you like to use that app is another thing entirely, and that's where the agents.md file comes in."
Organizing Rules with tool-conventions.md [08:35]
- As more apps are connected, the
agents.mdfile can become cluttered. - A pro tip is to create a separate
tool-conventions.mdfile for tool-specific rules. - This keeps the main
agents.mdfile lean and improves performance."So, here's a pro tip. We can tell ChatGPT Work, 'Create a tool-conventions.md file that will house all rules governing tools moving forward.'"
The Side Panel: Preview, Browse, and Chat [10:30]
- The side panel offers three functions: file preview/editing, an in-app browser, and a temporary side chat.
- The in-app browser allows users to interact with websites, annotate sections, and even implement changes if connected to the platform.
- Side chat provides a way to ask questions or explore tangents without interrupting the main task, leveraging existing context.
"First, it lets you preview and edit files, as you've seen already. Second, it's a fully functional browser, and we're going to get into the benefits of that in a bit."
Creating Custom Skills for Personalized Output [15:12]
- Skills allow users to create custom processes for ChatGPT Work, like structuring briefings from messy notes.
- Users can teach ChatGPT Work to sound like them by comparing drafts and identifying repeatable writing style differences.
- This process creates "skills" that can be run on future drafts, reducing the need for repeated explanations.
"What I'm about to do next will teach ChatGPT Work to sound like me for every newsletter moving forward."
Routing Work with Folders and the Routing Map [17:13]
- Users can add folders containing specific preferences (e.g., travel) to their workspace.
- A routing map entry in
agents.mddirects future requests related to that topic to the corresponding folder. - This breaks down work into smaller, manageable "workstations" for recurring tasks or life areas.
"Instead of maintaining one giant messy folder, the routing map lets us break our work into smaller subfolders, one for each recurring part of our job or life."
