OpenAI’s big Codex update is a direct shot at Anthropic’s Claude Code | The Verge
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Codex can now use your macOS apps on its own.
AINewsTechOpenAI’s big Codex update is a direct shot at Anthropic’s Claude CodeCodex can now use your macOS apps on its own.Codex can now use your macOS apps on its own.by Robert HartApr 16, 2026, 5:00 PM UTCLinkShareGiftCodex can control apps on your desktop like Tic Tac Toe. Image: OpenAIRobert Hart is a London-based reporter at The Verge covering all things AI and a Senior Tarbell Fellow. Previously, he wrote about health, science and tech for Forbes.OpenAI is beefing up its agentic coding and development system Codex with a suite of updates that let it use your computer, generate images, and remember from past experiences.Codex will now be able to operate desktop apps on your computer, OpenAI says in a blog post announcing the update. It can work in the background, meaning it won’t interfere with your own work in other apps, and multiple agents can work in parallel. For developers, OpenAI says “this is helpful for testing and iterating on frontend changes, testing apps, or working in apps that don’t expose an API.”The feature will start rolling out to Codex desktop app users signed in with ChatGPT today and will initially be limited to macOS. OpenAI did not indicate a timeline for when use will expand to other operating systems. EU users will also have to wait, it said, adding that the update will roll out to users there “soon.”Codex is also getting the ability to generate and iterate on images with gpt-image-1.5, new plug-ins for tools like GitLab, Atlassian Rovo, and...