{"slug": "scoop-openai-starts-rolling-out-giftable-chatgpt-credits", "title": "Scoop: OpenAI starts rolling out giftable ChatGPT credits", "summary": "OpenAI has begun rolling out giftable ChatGPT credits, allowing personal ChatGPT users to buy prepaid credits for another person via one-time claim links, with entry points already shipped in its Windows app. The feature, documented in a new OpenAI Help Center article, lets eligible customers make a separate prepaid purchase and send a claim link, and RuntimeWire verified the rollout by reverse-engineering the Windows package (OpenAI.Codex_26.803.10989.0_x64) and finding a dedicated gift-credit module and remote controls named purchase_flow_enabled and desktop_beacon_enabled.", "body_md": "## Reporting record\n\n### Finding\n\nOpenAI 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.\n\n### How we verified\n\nMethods: reverse engineering, data analysis, public records.\n\nOpenAI 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.\n\nRuntimeWire 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.\nThe 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.\nFor 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.\n\nTested 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`.\n\n### Reproduction\n\nRuntimeWire independently reproduced the core finding.\n\nREPRODUCED WITH LIMITATIONS\n1. Inspect the Electron archive from the tested Windows package.\n2. Locate `gift-credits-entry-point-availability-BkG0LT6m.js`, `codex-home-announcements-DNS1iexT.js`, `profile-eeZS6pzc.js` and `usage-settings-DttykFrk.js`.\n3. Confirm the purchase route, remote controls and three UI entry points.\n4. In a copied installation, override the client-side home-banner display conditions and launch the clone.\n5. Confirm that the native banner appears.\nThe live checkout and redemption flow cannot be reproduced without an account included in OpenAI's server-controlled rollout.\n\n### File hashes\n\n```` text`\n\n`sha256:39c855f6a0db1cad89dc629edf2f9473b78a25b64fcb1445ece1022af6527755 app.asar`\n\n`sha256:f9336e347b6e9b65527d807f9aa86734e9f03b0b7cf12acfcecc23460f5d5aa6 app.zip`\n\n`sha256:3e8cd1a1ed5b1bbe3316131619aafb791e1149c1d0aef091ced8bc84a0545fe4 gift-credits-clean-screenshot.png`\n\n`sha256:fc0f9329ff834fb7a78e2bf873b956c4cf8b94631f414430b481fa83a56184c2 gift-credits-initial-screenshot.png`\n\n`````\n\n### Company response\n\nThe company was not contacted before publication.\n\nOpenAI has begun gradually rolling out a way for ChatGPT users to buy credits for someone else, adding a new payment and sharing system around the company's usage-based AI features.\n\nThe company describes the feature in a [new Help Center article](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001417-gifting-credits-in-chatgpt) that says eligible customers can make a separate prepaid purchase and receive a one-time claim link. The buyer can send the link by email or copy it into another private channel. Once redeemed, the credits are added to the recipient's personal ChatGPT balance.\n\nProduct researcher Tibor Blaho [flagged the live page on X](https://x.com/btibor91/status/2087462259501232608) early Wednesday. A RuntimeWire search found social reposts and discussion, but no coverage from a news publisher at the time of publication.\n\nThe rollout covers eligible personal accounts on ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus and Pro in supported locations and billing currencies. Purchases are available through ChatGPT on the web. Business and Enterprise workspaces cannot buy or receive the gifts.\n\nGift credits are a new purchase rather than a transfer from the buyer's balance. Existing balances remain non-transferable. Buyers choose an amount, can add an email address and message, and pay at checkout.\n\nThe recipient's email address does not secure the gift. OpenAI says anyone holding the complete claim link may be able to redeem it, even when the buyer entered a specific recipient. The recipient must use an eligible personal account with the same billing currency as the original purchase.\n\nEach link can be claimed once and expires after 30 days. OpenAI says an unclaimed purchase will then be refunded to the buyer's original payment method. Redeemed credits last 12 months.\n\nDespite the familiar mechanics, OpenAI's terms say the links and credits are not gift cards, prepaid cards, stored-value products, money or currency. They have no cash value and cannot be exchanged for money.\n\n### The Windows app was already prepared for the rollout\n\nRuntimeWire examined the application archive distributed with OpenAI's Windows package and found that the company had already shipped multiple gift-credit entry points behind remote controls.\n\nThe tested package identifies itself as `OpenAI.Codex_26.803.10989.0_x64`\n\n. Its bundled application reports version `26.803.81509`\n\nand Codex build `6415`\n\n.\n\nA dedicated module in the shipped code opens `https://chatgpt.com/gifts/credits`\n\n. It checks two remotely supplied values named `purchase_flow_enabled`\n\nand `desktop_beacon_enabled`\n\n, along with account and plan conditions.\n\nThe client contains at least three places to promote the feature: a home-screen banner, a button on the Codex profile page and a \"Gift credits\" control beside \"Buy credits\" in Usage and billing settings.\n\nThe home banner reads: \"Gift credits\" and \"Send a friend credits they can use for work or Codex tasks.\"\n\nRuntimeWire confirmed the UI by copying the installed app to a separate directory and overriding two client-side display conditions in the clone. The shipped banner then appeared in the Windows interface. The original Store-managed installation was left unchanged.\n\nThat test reproduced the native interface. OpenAI still controls purchase eligibility on its servers, and RuntimeWire did not complete a purchase or redemption.\n\n*Image caption: RuntimeWire surfaced OpenAI's shipped \"Gift credits\" banner by overriding two local display conditions in a copied Windows installation. Checkout remained controlled by OpenAI's account rollout.*\n\n### What recipients can use the credits for\n\nOpenAI says a recipient's included plan usage is consumed first. Supported activity can draw from the credit balance after the account reaches an included limit.\n\nA separate [OpenAI explanation of flexible credits](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12642688-using-credits-for-flexible-usage-in-chatgpt-freegopluspro) currently identifies Codex for Plus and Pro users and ChatGPT for Excel as supported uses. The company says the supported feature set can change and may vary by plan.\n\nThat leaves redemption eligibility wider than the uses OpenAI currently documents. Free and Go accounts can receive a gift during the rollout, according to the gifting page, but can spend it only on credit-based features supported for those accounts.\n\nThe feature gives OpenAI a new way to distribute paid agent usage without requiring someone to buy a recurring subscription for the recipient. A user can pay for a friend's work or coding tasks, send a link and let the recipient consume the balance after reaching whatever usage their plan already includes.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/scoop-openai-starts-rolling-out-giftable-chatgpt-credits", "canonical_source": "https://runtimewire.com/article/scoop-openai-starts-rolling-out-giftable-chatgpt-credits", "published_at": "2026-08-13 04:05:23+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-13 04:08:53.349094+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["OpenAI", "ChatGPT", "Codex", "RuntimeWire", "Tibor Blaho"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/scoop-openai-starts-rolling-out-giftable-chatgpt-credits", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/scoop-openai-starts-rolling-out-giftable-chatgpt-credits.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/scoop-openai-starts-rolling-out-giftable-chatgpt-credits.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/scoop-openai-starts-rolling-out-giftable-chatgpt-credits.jsonld"}}