OpenAI's Prism Shuts Down on January 1, 2027: How to Keep Your Projects

OpenAI is shutting down Prism on January 1, 2027. Prism, its LaTeX workspace for scientists, launched in January 2026 on top of Crixet, a cloud LaTeX editor OpenAI bought. After the shutdown, OpenAI says, all Prism-related data is deleted and cannot be recovered. If you have papers, theses or notes in Prism, export them before the end of the year.

Export everything before January 1

From OpenAI’s own steps:

1. All projects at once: in Prism, open Settings, then Data Controls, choose Export all projects (zip), then Download zip.
2. One project: open the project’s title menu and choose Export (zip).
3. If an export fails: look in export-errors.json in the download, then export that project on its own. OpenAI asks you to write to support@openai.com if it still fails.

Keep the zip somewhere safe even after you move: it is the only copy of your Prism work once the service closes.

What the export leaves behind

The export holds your source: every .tex file, image and bibliography. OpenAI’s migration guide says what does not come with it: project history, inline comments, collaborator permissions, and the live Zotero connection. Wherever you go next, plan to invite your co-authors again and to keep the last compiled PDF of anything you need to cite as it stood.

Where to take your projects

• Codex is where OpenAI’s guide sends Prism users. It works on the exported files in a folder on your computer and can edit and build them, but it does not reproduce Prism’s shared real-time editor, and most multi-file projects need a TeX installation on your machine.
• Overleaf is the established online LaTeX editor. It imports one project zip at a time.
• LetX is a collaborative LaTeX editor in the browser, with real-time editing for unlimited collaborators, an AI assistant that reads your compile log, and 1000+ templates. It imports your whole Prism export in one step, and never uses your work to train AI.

Move every project into LetX in one step

1. Create a free LetX account, or sign in.
2. Choose New Project, then Import several projects.
3. Pick the zip Prism gave you. LetX looks inside, lists every project it finds, and lets you rename any of them before anything is created.
4. Press Import. Projects come in one after another, each with its folders as they were, and LetX chooses each project’s main file.

LetX usually detects projects that need XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX. If one needs a different engine, choose it in the menu beside the Recompile button, and if LetX picked the wrong main file, right-click the right file and choose Set as main document. Folders of chat history that came with the export are left out, because they are not part of the LaTeX.

After the move

• Invite your co-authors again. Collaborator settings do not come with the export. Everyone edits the same live document in LetX, with no limit on collaborators.
• Compile once and compare. Check the PDF against your last Prism build, especially pages with custom fonts.
• Moving from Overleaf too? The same import takes Overleaf’s download of several projects. See how to move all your Overleaf projects at once.