OpenAI Releases a Major Update to Codex

Codex is OpenAI’s agentic experience for software developers and it’s getting a major update today that makes it useful throughout the workday and not just in a code editor. Key among its upgrades is a new background computer use capability.

“Codex can now operate your computer alongside you, work with more of the tools and apps you use every day, generate images, remember your preferences, learn from previous actions, and take on ongoing and repeatable work,” the OpenAI announcement explains. “The Codex app also now includes deeper support for developer workflows, like reviewing PRs, viewing multiple files and terminals, connecting to remote dev boxes via SSH, and an in-app browser to make it faster to iterate on frontend designs, apps, and games.”

Key new features include:

Background computer use. Pushing Codex beyond coding, OpenAI has added background computer use capabilities, allowing Codex to use all your apps while seeing, clicking, and typing with its own cursor. It can use multiple agents simultaneously without interfering with your work, and for developers, it can help with making front-end changes, testing, and working with apps that don’t expose an interface that AI understands.

Web integration. Codex can also work with the web using a new in-app browser that lets you comment on webpages to provide context and agent instructions. Today, this is most useful for front-end and game development, but OpenAI says it will expand this capability to other use cases.

Image generation. Codex can now use the gpt-image-1.5 model to generate and iterate on images. This feature is useful for creating product concepts, front-end designs, mockups, games, and other visuals inside a workflow.

Over 90 additional plugins. Codex now supports over 90 additional plugins—combinations of skills, app integrations, and MCP servers—including Atlassian Rovo, CircleCI, CodeRabbit, GitLab Issues, Microsoft Suite, Neon by Databricks, Remotion, Render, and Superpowers.

Improved GitHub support. Codex now supports addressing GitHub review comments, running multiple terminal tabs, and connecting to remote dev boxes over SSH in alpha.

Other improvements. You can now open PDFs, spreadsheets, slides, and docs directly in the sidebar. There are improvements to automation and scheduling. And there’s a new memory feature, in preview, for helping Codex remember context from previous sessions.

These updates are rolling out today to Codex for desktop users who sign in with ChatGPT. But personalization features (like context-aware suggestions and memory) will roll out to Enterprise, Edu, and EU and UK users soon. And computer use is initially available on macOS, and it will roll out to EU and UK users soon, OpenAI says.