- Preserve SYSTEMROOT, TEMP, and TMP when launching remote stdio MCP servers with explicitly configured remote environment variables, allowing Unix hosts to retain the Windows executor's startup…
- #51121: Backport Windows remote MCP environment preservation to 0.160.
OpenAI Codex by OpenAI
Pulse Score
82 / 100
Rank #1 of 157
Downloads, last 7 days
25.6M
up 5.7% vs previous week
Downloads, last 30 days
91.1M
up 21.2% vs previous 30 days
VS Code installs
15.2M
2.9 / 5 from 725 ratings
GitHub stars
128K
about +153 a day
Latest release
0.160.1
yesterday
Terminal-Bench 4.0
58.2%
#1 of 4 agents · GPT-6 Astra
Price
Free + $8/mo
checked Oct 6, 2026
Overview
OpenAI's coding agent, offered as an open-source terminal CLI, an IDE extension, a desktop app and a cloud agent that works on repositories. Users sign in with a ChatGPT account or use an OpenAI API key.
OpenAI Codex was downloaded 25.6M times from npm in the week ending Oct 4, 2026, up 5.7% on the week before and up 21.2% over the last 30 days compared with the 30 before. Its VS Code extension has 15.2M installs and average 2.9 out of 5 across 725 marketplace ratings. The GitHub repository has 128K stars, 6,652 of them added in the last 30 days. The latest stable release is 0.160.1, published Oct 5, 2026. On public GitHub, 281,186 pull requests were opened from branches with OpenAI Codex's default codex/ prefix in the week of Sep 28, 2026, and 89% of the pull requests from the four weeks before that were merged. On Terminal-Bench 4.0 its best listed result is 58.2% with GPT-6 Astra, ranking 1 of 4 agents on that board. It was mentioned in 1,782 Hacker News posts and comments over the last 30 days.
Recent developments
- 2026-03: OpenAI introduced Codex Security; Codex reported at more than 2 million weekly active users (per Wikipedia)
OpenAI Codex usage and attention over time
Download the raw daily series: openai-codex.csv
Install OpenAI Codex
| npm | npm install -g @openai/codex |
|---|---|
| Homebrew | brew install --cask codex |
| VS Code | code --install-extension openai.chatgpt |
These commands use the packages tracked on this page. The vendor may recommend a different installer; see the official documentation.
Key facts
| Maker | OpenAI |
|---|---|
| Type | Terminal agent + IDE extension + cloud agent |
| First released | April 2025 |
| License | Apache-2.0 |
| Interfaces | CLI, IDE extension, Desktop, Web, Mobile, SDK |
| Platforms | macOS, Linux, Windows |
| Models | OpenAI GPT models (GPT-6 family per current docs) via ChatGPT sign-in or an OpenAI API key |
| Local models | `--oss` mode with Ollama or LM Studio (docs) |
| Bring your own API key | Yes |
| Main language | Rust |
| Open issues and PRs | 20,779 |
| Open VSX downloads | 12,233,174 (includes updates) |
| Homebrew installs | 89,701 in 30 days · 873,760 in a year |
Pricing
Included in ChatGPT plans: Free $0, Go $8/month, Plus $20/month, Pro from $100/month ($100, $200 or $500 tiers), Business $20/user/month billed annually ($25 monthly), Enterprise and Edu by contact. API-key use is billed at API rates (no cloud features).
Source: official pricing page, checked Oct 6, 2026. Prices change often; confirm before you buy.
Pulse Score breakdown
Adoption98
Community88
Attention57
Momentum61
Each component is scored 0 to 100 from public signals; a dash means no data for it. Methodology.
What changed: recent OpenAI Codex releases
- Browse older tasks in the agent command center with a keyboard-accessible “Show more” action.
- Select transcript text and paste with middle-click in fullscreen mode on supported local Linux X11 terminals.
- Start sessions outside a project with workspace defaults when policy permits, and restore saved permissions when resuming.
- Added opt-in Guardian review capabilities to retrieve earlier user instructions and include context from agent handoffs. (#49036,
- Unsent queued messages now resume after reconnection once uncertain submissions are resolved, avoiding duplicate sends.
- The terminal UI now preserves server provider, reasoning-summary, and verbosity settings and shows the correct sessions in resume and fork history. (#49144, #49161,
- Eligible local sessions signed in with ChatGPT can now show optional reminders to complete account security setup.
- #49744 [0.159] Backport account security setup reminders for 0.159.3 @andrewgu-oai
- Suppressed console windows flashing on Windows when Codex launches background processes and sandboxed commands.
- #49385 [0.159] Backport Windows console suppression for 0.159.2 @andrewgu-oai
- Added GPT-6.1 Sol as the default model in the bundled catalog and Amazon Bedrock Mantle and Runtime catalogs. (#49323,
- #49323 [0.159] Prepare 0.159.1 release backports @andrewgu-oai
- #49342 [0.159] Backport GPT-6.1 Sol Bedrock catalogs @celia-oai
- Opt-in instantinterrupt lets new input steer Codex during model responses or long-running code-mode calls. (#48135,
- New sessions get a compact welcome screen and consistent headers, with occasional tips during and after turns. (#48513, #48562,
- The warnings viewer dismisses reviewed warnings when closed; press k to keep one for later. (#48205,
- You can scroll the transcript while deciding whether to implement a plan.
- Native Mermaid rendering supports more flowchart edges, labels, and node groups. (#48814,
- App-server clients can paginate thread history from a specific item.
OpenAI Codex benchmark results
| Benchmark | Model | Effort | Tasks solved | Cost of run | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 | GPT-6 Astra | max | 58.2% ± 2.8 | $3,267 | #1 of 4 |
| GPT-6 Astra | xhigh | 57.9% ± 2.7 | $2,351 | ||
| GPT-6 Astra | high | 57.9% ± 3.0 | $2,269 | ||
| GPT-6 Astra | medium | 54.2% ± 2.7 | $1,915 | ||
| Terminal-Bench 3.0 | GPT-5.6 Sol | max | 34.6% ± 3.1 | $3,951 | #2 of 6 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | max | 20.8% ± 2.7 | $2,485 | ||
| GPT-5.6 Luna | max | 14.3% ± 2.5 | $1,598 | ||
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | GPT-6 Astra | high | 87.4% ± 1.8 | $774 | #1 of 6 |
| GPT-6 Astra | medium | 87.0% ± 1.9 | $619 | ||
| GPT-6 Astra | low | 86.7% ± 1.8 | $463 | ||
| GPT-6 Astra | max | 86.7% ± 1.4 | $1,070 | ||
| Terminal-Bench 2.0 | GPT-5.5 · v0.121.0 | — | 82.2% ± 2.2 | — | #4 of 43 |
| GPT-5.2 · v0.73.0 | — | 62.9% ± 3.0 | — | ||
| GPT-5.1-Codex-Max · v0.63.0 | — | 60.5% ± 2.7 | — | ||
| GPT-5 · v0.53.0 | — | 49.6% ± 2.9 | — |
Up to four best runs per board. Scores are not comparable between Terminal-Bench versions. Source: Terminal-Bench (tbench.ai).
Pull requests by OpenAI Codex on GitHub
In the week of Sep 28, 2026, 281,186 pull requests matching OpenAI Codex's signature (head:codex/) were opened in public repositories; 89% of those opened in the four weeks before were merged. A branch prefix identifies the tool; the pull request itself is usually opened under the developer's own account.
OpenAI Codex alternatives
| # | Agent | Pulse | Downloads 7d | 7d | 30d | VS Code installs | Stars | Latest release | Price | Last 90 days | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 |
Claude CodeAnthropic |
80 | 14.8M | up 11.6% | down 36.4% | 27.1M | 150K+161/day | 2.1.290yesterday | $20/mo | ||
| 5 |
PiEarendil Inc. (created by Mario Zechner) |
75 | 5.2M | up 29.8% | up 52.1% | — | 113K+378/day | 1.0.4yesterday | Free (OSS) | ||
| 7 |
OpenCodeAnomaly (SST team) |
73 | 3.3M | up 22.0% | up 6.1% | 1.2M | 212K+200/day | 1.18.346d ago | Free + $10/mo | ||
| 24 |
Gemini CLIGoogle |
57 | 453K | up 4.7% | up 1.8% | 1.1M | 107K+24/day | 0.62.07d ago | Varies | ||
| 26 |
Oh My PiStencil Labs (Can Bölük) |
56 | 241K | up 11.4% | up 53.9% | — | 34.4K+111/day | 18.6.12d ago | Free (OSS) | ||
| 34 |
ClineCline Bot Inc. |
52 | 95K | up 10.1% | down 37.2% | 5.5M | 69.9K+63/day | 0.0.434d ago | Free + $9.99/mo | ||
| No agents match that filter. | |||||||||||
Head to head: OpenAI Codex vs Claude Code · OpenAI Codex vs Cursor · OpenAI Codex vs OpenCode · OpenAI Codex vs Google Antigravity · OpenAI Codex vs GitHub Copilot · OpenAI Codex vs Pi · OpenAI Codex vs Gemini CLI
Guides that cover OpenAI Codex
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OpenAI Codex FAQ
How much does OpenAI Codex cost?
Included in ChatGPT plans: Free $0, Go $8/month, Plus $20/month, Pro from $100/month ($100, $200 or $500 tiers), Business $20/user/month billed annually ($25 monthly), Enterprise and Edu by contact. API-key use is billed at API rates (no cloud features).
Is OpenAI Codex open source?
Yes. OpenAI Codex is open source, released under the Apache-2.0 license.
How popular is OpenAI Codex?
OpenAI Codex was downloaded 25.6M times from npm in the week ending Oct 4, 2026, up 5.7% on the week before and up 21.2% over the last 30 days compared with the 30 before. Its VS Code extension has 15.2M installs and average 2.9 out of 5 across 725 marketplace ratings. The GitHub repository has 128K stars, 6,652 of them added in the last 30 days.
What is the latest version of OpenAI Codex?
The latest stable release we track is 0.160.1, published on Oct 5, 2026.
What are the alternatives to OpenAI Codex?
The closest alternatives in the same category by Pulse Score are Claude Code, Pi, OpenCode, Gemini CLI.
Where these numbers come from
npm: @openai/codex. GitHub: openai/codex. VS Code Marketplace: openai.chatgpt. Homebrew: codex. Wikipedia: OpenAI Codex. See data sources for how each one is collected.
Product facts and pricing were checked against: learn.chatgpt.com, registry.npmjs.org, formulae.brew.sh, marketplace.visualstudio.com, open-vsx.org, github.com, en.wikipedia.org, community.openai.com.