OpenAI has updated Codex, its coding agent for software development. In a new blogpost, the leading AI firm said that the new version is a more powerful tool and is designed for almost everything.
"We're releasing a major update to Codex, making it a more powerful partner for the more than 3 million developers who use it every week to accelerate work across the full software development lifecycle…,” OpenAI said on Thursday.
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The new version, a rival to Anthropic's Claude Code agentic system, can now work on your computer, use everyday tools, generate images, and even learn from past actions. The AI agent can be used for many purposes including building apps, testing interfaces, and speeding up coding tasks across projects and teams.
Codex for (almost) everything.
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) April 16, 2026
It can now use apps on your Mac, connect to more of your tools, create images, learn from previous actions, remember how you like to work, and take on ongoing and repeatable tasks. pic.twitter.com/UEEsYBDYfo
“The Codex app also now includes deeper support for developer workflows, like reviewing PRs, viewing multiple files & terminals, connecting to remote devboxes via SSH, and an in-app browser to make it faster to iterate on frontend designs, apps and games,” OpenAI explained.
New Features Explained
According to OpenAI, Codex app can use your computer like a person by seeing the screen, clicking, and typing with its own cursor. It can also run multiple tasks at the same time without disturbing your work in other apps. “For developers, this is helpful for iterating on frontend changes, testing apps, or working in apps that don't expose an API,” the AI firm said.
Codex also has an in-app browser. You can open web pages and give instructions by commenting directly on them. This makes it easier to design websites and games.
“Codex can now use gpt-image-1.5 to generate and iterate on images. Combined with screenshots and code, it is helpful for creating visuals for product concepts, frontend designs, mockups, and games inside the same workflow,” OpenAI explained its latest image generation capabilities.
Additionally, OpenAI is adding more than 90 plugins to Codex. They can help Codex work with platforms like Jira, GitLab, Microsoft apps, among others. The app now also supports handling GitHub review comments. “Together, these improvements make it faster to move across all the stages of the software development lifecycle between writing code, checking outputs, reviewing changes, and collaborating with the agent in one workspace,” OpenAI said.
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The new Codex updates are rolling out to desktop app users signed in with ChatGPT. Personalisation and memory features will come soon to Enterprise, Edu, EU, and UK users.
“Computer use is initially available on macOS, and will roll out to EU and UK users soon,” OpenAI said.
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