Critical design issue—ChatGPT username changes break published Sites URLs

Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jul 24, 2026 by poojavarshini

What issue are you seeing?

Hello Codex/ChatGPT Sites Team,
I’m reporting a serious issue with how ChatGPT Sites URLs are tied to a user’s ChatGPT username.
My original username is poojavarshini1995, and I cannot change it because my hackathon project depends on that username and its published URL.
While working on a birthday invitation, I temporarily changed my username to poojavarshini. The invitation was published and shared with guests using:
https://kalkith-celebrations.poojavarshini.chatgpt.site/
After restoring my original username, the invitation automatically moved to:
https://kalkith-celebrations.poojavarshini1995.chatgpt.site/
The link already shared with everyone now fails, and I cannot change my username again because doing so would affect my hackathon project.
This is poor and risky product design. A public website’s URL should not silently change or stop working simply because the account username changes. Users may have already shared these links publicly, printed them, submitted them for events, or connected them to important projects. There was no clear warning that changing my username would break every previously published site URL.
Please urgently provide a redirect from:
https://kalkith-celebrations.poojavarshini.chatgpt.site/
to:
https://kalkith-celebrations.poojavarshini1995.chatgpt.site/
I also strongly recommend fixing the underlying design by:
Making published site URLs independent of ChatGPT usernames.
Preserving old URLs as aliases after username changes.
Automatically redirecting old URLs to their new locations.
Showing a clear warning before a username change affects published sites.
Please escalate this to the Sites engineering team and help restore the already-shared invitation link.
Thank you,
Pooja Varshini

What steps can reproduce the bug?

Permanent site URLs: Every site should receive an immutable URL based on its site name or project ID, not the account username.

Automatic redirects: After a username changes, old URLs should automatically redirect to the new address using a permanent redirect.

Keep old usernames as aliases: Previously published domains should remain attached to the account so shared links continue working.

Grace period: Preserve old links for at least 90 days after a username change.

Clear warning: Before confirming a username change, display every published site that will be affected and clearly state that existing links may stop working.

Migration confirmation: Ask whether the user wants old URLs redirected, preserved as aliases, or removed.

Separate public website identity: Let users choose a stable publishing handle that is separate from their ChatGPT profile username.

Multiple project namespaces: Different projects—such as a hackathon and birthday invitation—should be able to use separate publishing identities under one account.

Redirect-management page: Provide a dashboard where users can map an old site address to a new one.

Custom domain or short-link support: Encourage users to set a stable domain before publishing and make it easy to connect one.

Link-history protection: ChatGPT Sites should retain a history of previously published addresses and prevent them from becoming dead links.

Recovery support: Support staff should have a way to manually restore or redirect an accidentally broken public URL.

What is the expected behavior?

Permanent site URLs: Every site should receive an immutable URL based on its site name or project ID, not the account username.

Additional information

Hello OpenAI Support, I have been seriously affected by this issue. I created and shared my child’s first-birthday invitation with all our family and friends using https://kalkith-celebrations.poojavarshini.chatgpt.site/, but after restoring my original ChatGPT username, the published address changed without an adequate warning and the link I had already sent to everyone stopped working. This has caused me considerable embarrassment and distress because guests are receiving a broken invitation link. I cannot change my username again because it is connected to an important hackathon project. Please urgently redirect the old invitation URL to the working site at https://kalkith-celebrations.poojavarshini1995.chatgpt.site/ and escalate this issue to the ChatGPT Sites/Codex engineering team. Published URLs should not break when a username changes; old addresses should remain active as aliases or automatically redirect to the new URL.

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