OpenAI introduces Codex, its first full-fledged AI agent for coding
Ars Technica 2025-05-16
We've been expecting it for a while, and now it's here: OpenAI has introduced an agentic coding tool called Codex in research preview. The tool is meant to allow experienced developers to delegate rote and relatively simple programming tasks to an AI agent that will generate production-ready code and show its work along the way.
Codex is a unique interface (not to be confused with the Codex CLI tool introduced by OpenAI last month) that can be reached from the side bar in the ChatGPT web app. Users enter a prompt and then click either "code" to have it begin producing code, or "ask" to have it answer questions and advise.
Whenever it's given a task, that task is performed in a distinct container that is preloaded with the user's codebase and is meant to accurately reflect their development environment.