# Chat (ChatGPT)

> One conversation thread in ChatGPT: everything you asked and everything it answered, saved on its own in your Recents.

**Category:** ChatGPT

**A chat is one thread of back-and-forth with ChatGPT.** Everything in it, your messages, files, and its replies, sits in that chat's [context window](/glossary#context-window). Start a new chat and that desk is clear again.

ChatGPT adds two layers on top. [Memory](/glossary#chatgpt-memory) can carry details about you from chat to chat, and a [project](/glossary#chatgpt-project) can give a group of chats the same files and instructions. In the desktop app, **Chat** is also the name of the quick back-and-forth mode, next to [Work](/glossary#chatgpt-work).

## At work

One topic per chat. When a long chat starts repeating itself, ask for a short handoff summary and continue in a fresh one.

## Often confused with

Work. A chat answers you message by message; Work takes on a whole multi-step task and hands back a finished file.

## Related terms

- Memory (ChatGPT)
- Project (ChatGPT)
- ChatGPT Work

## See it in a lesson

[First steps in ChatGPT](/en/learn/chatgpt/getting-started/first-steps-in-chatgpt)

## Further reading

- [Moving to the new ChatGPT desktop app](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001276-moving-to-the-new-chatgpt-desktop-app): Chat, Work, and Codex in one app.
- [Memory in ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8590148-memory-faq): What carries over between chats.
- [Prompting (ChatGPT Learn)](https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/prompting): When a chat is the right tool.

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Last updated: 14/10/2026  
Source: Rollo Academy glossary