On Friday the 16th, OpenAI introduced Codex, a smart companion designed to support developers through every phase of building applications. Far from a simple autocomplete, Codex dives into your work, offering guidance on everything from syntax quirks to broader architectural decisions.
Dubbed by OpenAI as their “best coding assistant,” Codex can:
- Analyze your code in real time, answering questions about logic flow or pointing out areas where established practices could improve maintainability.
- Run selected snippets to verify behavior, then suggest tweaks to catch bugs before they become headaches.
- Juggle multiple projects simultaneously, letting you switch contexts—whether you’re on your desktop or tapping away on your phone.
Starting today, teams subscribed to ChatGPT Enterprise and Team plans (and soon Plus members) will have access to Codex. Whether you’re sketching out a quick script or architecting a large-scale system, this new offering promises to speed up development and help you write cleaner, more reliable code.
How Codex works
The AI agent adds a shortcut in the ChatGPT sidebar that opens a dedicated Codex workspace.
For starters, you pick one of your GitHub repositories for Codex to work on. Once connected, it immediately offers ideas—from answering questions about your code to running quick bug-detection checks.
During a live demo, OpenAI highlighted a few of Codex’s suggested tasks, such as:
- Explain a complex function in plain terms for someone unfamiliar with the project.
- Identify a key module, run targeted tests on it, and address any issues found.
One feature even showcases Codex’s independence: you can assign it a broad task, and it will break that down into smaller to-dos and tackle them in sequence.
For example, Codex can spot errors and then generate a list of fixes, whether that’s correcting typos or patching a logic bug.
At the top of the interface, there’s a command bar where you type in requests or questions.
If you ask Codex to locate mistakes in a specific function, it highlights the exact lines and offers concrete suggestions. You then choose whether you’d like Codex to apply the fixes automatically or just show you the steps.
