ChatGPT Agent Mode: The Ultimate Guide (2025)

Are you tired of the most time-consuming, soul-crushing, repetitive tasks that you have to do? From researching travel plans across a dozen tabs to manually pulling reports from analytics platforms, these are the jobs you could never quite automate. Well, now you can, to some degree.

OpenAI has just rolled out the ChatGPT Agent Mode, a powerful new feature that gives the AI control of your browser to perform complex, multi-step tasks. It acts as a true digital partner, bridging the gap between a simple instruction and a completed task.

Key Takeaways#

• ChatGPT Agent Mode gives AI control of a virtual browser to complete tasks autonomously
• Pricing: Plus users get 40 messages/month, Pro users get 400 messages/month
• Best for: Web research, data extraction, form filling, and multi-step workflows
• Limitations: Not available in EEA/Switzerland, struggles with dynamic websites
• Setup time: Under 1 minute with ChatGPT Plus/Pro subscription
• Task duration: Most tasks complete in 5-30 minutes

In this deep-dive tutorial, we'll push the ChatGPT Agent to its limits. We’ll run it through three real-world automation challenges to see what it can do, where it struggles, and ultimately, if it's worth it for you.

What is the ChatGPT Agent Mode?#

First, what are we even talking about? The ChatGPT Agent Mode is a new feature that combines two of OpenAI's previous tools: Operator (which could control the browser) and Deep Research. The result is an AI assistant that can proactively complete tasks for you by taking direct action on your computer.

Here’s what it’s capable of:

• Taking Action on the Web: It doesn’t just search. It can navigate websites, click buttons, fill out forms, and interact with almost any web element.
• Running Code: It can write and execute Python code in a terminal to analyze data or perform other tasks. Unlike traditional coding assistants (see our comparison of budget coding LLMs), it can actually execute the code it writes.
• Connecting to Your Apps: It can link up with services like Google Calendar and Gmail to manage your information.
• Handling Authorization: This is a big one. It allows you to "take over" control to log in or authorize access to a site, then seamlessly hands control back to the agent to continue its work.

ChatGPT Agent Mode vs Regular ChatGPT#

How to Get Started with ChatGPT Agent Mode#

Getting started is simple, but you'll need a ChatGPT Plus, Team, or Pro subscription.

1. In a new chat, click on the Tools icon at the top left of the prompt bar.
2. Select Agent mode from the dropdown menu.
3. The prompt area will now show an "Agent" tag, confirming it's ready to accept a task.

Demo 1: Automating Broad Travel Research#

Let's start with a common, annoying task: finding the cheapest place to stay for a vacation. I gave the agent a deliberately vague prompt to see how it would handle ambiguity.

My Prompt:

Find me cheapest place to stay in Mürren Switzerland, for august

The agent immediately recognized it needed more information and asked for clarification on dates and price. This is a crucial step—it avoids wasting time on a useless search.

My Follow-up:

Any week, for 1 week, as cheap as possible

The agent then went to work, browsing multiple travel sites. After about six minutes, it came back with a surprisingly detailed and well-structured table.

The Result:

After browsing multiple travel sites and local accommodation directories, the agent compiled these budget-friendly options:

• Valley Hostel (Lauterbrunnen) - CHF 30 per night

  • Dorm beds in a youth hostel setting
  • 15-20 minute cable-car ride from Mürren
  • Weekly cost: ~CHF 210
  • Perfect for budget backpackers who don't mind the commute

• Camping Jungfrau Hostel - CHF 35 per night

  • Basic dormitory in the hostel section of a camping site
  • Located in Lauterbrunnen valley
  • Weekly cost: ~CHF 245
  • Simple accommodation with a camping atmosphere

• Hotel Edelweiss Budget Rooms - CHF 65 per night

  • Small but clean rooms in Mürren center
  • Shared bathroom facilities
  • Weekly cost: ~CHF 455
  • Best value for staying directly in Mürren

The agent also noted that prices can vary significantly based on exact dates in August, with early August being cheaper than peak season mid-month.

This was impressive. It successfully researched options across different price points, synthesized the data from multiple sources, and presented it in a clear, actionable format.

Demo 2: Tackling a Specific Airbnb Search#

Next, I wanted to see if it could handle a specific website with a more complex interface. I asked it to find an Airbnb.

My Prompt:

Find me cheap Airbnb in Mürren, Switzerland for August

Again, it asked for details.

My Follow-up:

any time for 1 week, 2 people, cheaper price range

This is where things got interesting. The agent opened Airbnb and started navigating the site, selecting the location, dates, and number of guests. You can see its every move, which is both cool and a bit nerve-wracking.

However, it ran into some trouble. The agent noted that the page was loading slowly and that it would wait, but it sometimes got impatient and acted too quickly. It also struggled to find the exact hostels I had found in the previous test, as they weren't listed directly on Airbnb.

The agent did its best, but the results weren't perfect. This highlights a key feature: at any point, you can click "Take over" to manually control the browser if the agent gets stuck or goes off track.

Demo 3: Exporting Google Analytics Data Like a Pro#

For the final test, I gave it a much more technical task that I, as a developer, find tedious: exporting search query data from Google Analytics.

My Prompt:

Go into my Google Analytics and give me in csv format the search phrases and impressions

This requires authorization, navigation, and data extraction. Because I had logged in during a previous session, the agent was able to use the preserved credentials to get right in—a huge time-saver. For those looking to automate similar data extraction tasks without AI, tools like n8n offer powerful workflow automation capabilities.

It navigated to the correct report (Google Search Console > Queries) and, instead of scraping the screen, it intelligently found the "Share" button and chose to export the data.

It did hit a few snags. The agent had trouble with the report's pagination, initially mis-clicking the navigation arrows. However, it corrected its course, scrolled down to find the right elements, and successfully gathered the data.

Then, it did something I wasn't expecting. It opened a terminal window to process the data it had found.

# Agent summarizing the Google Analytics search results
llm summarize the Google Analytics search
console queries, focusing on the top 10
search phrases from the dataset. The file has
74 search phrases.

After a few minutes, it produced a clean table of the top search phrases and, more importantly, a link to download the full CSV file. Mission accomplished.

The Catch: Pricing and Current Limitations#

This power comes at a cost. The ChatGPT Agent operates on a credit system.

• Plus Users: 40 messages per month
• Pro Users: 400 messages per month
• Team Users: 40 credits per month

Every single interaction counts as a message. This includes your initial prompt and any follow-up clarifications the agent asks for. The two main tasks I ran for this article used up 5 messages. For Plus users, that 40-message limit can disappear quickly.

Furthermore, the agent still struggles with highly dynamic websites that load content in complex ways. It can get confused, mis-click, or fail to wait for elements to appear. For more reliable AI-powered browsing experiences, you might want to explore dedicated AI browsers like Dia. i

Final Verdict: Is the ChatGPT Agent Mode Worth It?#

The ChatGPT Agent Mode is an exciting glimpse into the future of productivity. For straightforward research and data gathering from static sites, it works remarkably well. The ability to automate logins and export files is a game-changer.

However, the tool is still in its early stages. The message limit for Plus users feels restrictive, and its difficulties with complex, modern websites mean you can't always set it and forget it.

My take: If you're a Pro user who frequently performs tasks that can be clearly defined, the agent could save you a tremendous amount of time and is absolutely worth exploring. For Plus users, it's a powerful and fun tool to have, but you'll need to be very precise with your prompts to make those 40 messages count. It's a tool with enormous potential, and I can't wait to see how it evolves.