{"slug": "codex-app", "name": "Codex App", "category": "ai-coding", "category_name": "AI coding tools", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 12, "warners": 3, "score": 2.186, "rising": 1.35, "first": "2026-02-03", "latest": "2026-10-01", "why": "The desktop app is actually really good (esp on macos).", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 5, "compare": 0, "warn": 3}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "The desktop app is actually really good (esp on macos).", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://openai.com/codex", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Codex Desktop", "Codex App", "Codex app"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 788606608, "item_id": 49287913, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49287913", "by": "jrflo", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The desktop app is actually really good (esp on macos).", "excerpt": "The desktop app is actually really good (esp on macos). I used to be CLI only, but after trying it recently it's super convenient. Much easier to manage multiple projects simultaneously and it has a built in diff viewer, file browser/reader, terminal, side chat interface, etc.", "context": "", "use_case": "managing multiple coding projects", "switched_from": "Codex CLI", "story": "ChatGPT Desktop (Codex Desktop) for Linux"}, {"id": 788547360, "item_id": 49284210, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49284210", "by": "CuriouslyC", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The computer use is pretty sweet.", "excerpt": "I use it on my macbook. The computer use is pretty sweet. It can be controlled from your phone once paired, and it lets you actually see agents that it orchestrates in the threads. Also if you use MCP Apps, it can integrate those into threads.", "context": "", "use_case": "orchestrating coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "ChatGPT Desktop (Codex Desktop) for Linux"}, {"id": 783024386, "item_id": 48939024, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48939024", "by": "ramoz", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "so does the Codex app", "excerpt": "The friction of agents having to monitor CLI is just too annoying right now Thus, this is ultimately: 1. a harness problem (or harness orchestrator) 2. a protocol problem With 1. Claude Code does this very well - yet most OSS harness are not great or do naive subagent tasking making hard even for a parent to talk to the child. But we can then rely on harness orchestrators - Herdr does this very well, so does the Code", "context": "", "use_case": "agent orchestration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Agent-talk: Enabling coding agents to work together"}, {"id": 749890976, "item_id": 46868186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46868186", "by": "Bishonen88", "date": "2026-02-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Crazy free tier.", "excerpt": "Crazy free tier. I reckon I used ~2 weeks of the claude $20 subscription within an hour. Spawned like 12 semi big tasks and I still didn't see no warnings.", "context": "", "use_case": "AI coding tasks", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Codex App"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 798851730, "item_id": 49928233, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49928233", "by": "apatheticonion", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I have been rewriting Codex Desktop in Rust using native desktop APIs (gpui)", "excerpt": "Wish Pi (and Opencode, DeepSeek Harness, Claude, Claude Desktop, Codex Desktop) was written in a memory and performance efficient language. I love alternatives to the big players but why is everything written in TypeScript or Python and takes up a gigabyte of ram. I don't want to `npm install -g` something, just give me a single statically compiled binary that does the thing. AI lowers the barrier of entry to Rust to", "context": "former FaaS platform engineer", "use_case": "AI coding agent desktop app", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pi 1.0"}, {"id": 788608624, "item_id": 49288039, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49288039", "by": "adenta", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "if you use an API key to access OpenAI models in the Codex Desktop application, you can't access the faster inference.", "excerpt": "Imagine other people might like to know: if you use an API key to access OpenAI models in the Codex Desktop application, you can't access the faster inference. I patched my codex application with this code, I would hope such a change could be upstreamed: https://github.com/adenta/codex-fast-mode-patcher", "context": "", "use_case": "AI coding with API key", "switched_from": "", "story": "Codex Blocks Fast Mode with an API Key on Desktop"}, {"id": 782247312, "item_id": 48890457, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48890457", "by": "bayes-song", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The new Codex app displays Chat or Code sessions is an absolute disaster.", "excerpt": "The new Codex app displays Chat or Code sessions is an absolute disaster. I can't tell which project is which at all.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: The Codex App is replaced by ChatGPT"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["ai coding", "ai coding agent desktop app", "ai coding with api key", "managing multiple coding projects", "orchestrating coding agents", "pasting images to agents"], "compared": [{"slug": "codex", "name": "Codex", "co": 2, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "claude-code", "name": "Claude Code", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "pi", "name": "Pi", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "claude", "name": "Claude", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49281916", "title": "ChatGPT Desktop (Codex Desktop) for Linux", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49926069", "title": "Pi 1.0", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49288038", "title": "Codex Blocks Fast Mode with an API Key on Desktop", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49187256", "title": "Zed DeltaDB", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48936534", "title": "Agent-talk: Enabling coding agents to work together", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48890384", "title": "Tell HN: The Codex App is replaced by ChatGPT", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 3}, "2026-07": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 2, "warn": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"warn": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 798851730, "item_id": 49928233, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49928233", "by": "apatheticonion", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I have been rewriting Codex Desktop in Rust using native desktop APIs (gpui)", "excerpt": "Wish Pi (and Opencode, DeepSeek Harness, Claude, Claude Desktop, Codex Desktop) was written in a memory and performance efficient language. I love alternatives to the big players but why is everything written in TypeScript or Python and takes up a gigabyte of ram. I don't want to `npm install -g` something, just give me a single statically compiled binary that does the thing. AI lowers the barrier of entry to Rust to", "context": "former FaaS platform engineer", "use_case": "AI coding agent desktop app", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pi 1.0"}, {"id": 788608624, "item_id": 49288039, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49288039", "by": "adenta", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "if you use an API key to access OpenAI models in the Codex Desktop application, you can't access the faster inference.", "excerpt": "Imagine other people might like to know: if you use an API key to access OpenAI models in the Codex Desktop application, you can't access the faster inference. I patched my codex application with this code, I would hope such a change could be upstreamed: https://github.com/adenta/codex-fast-mode-patcher", "context": "", "use_case": "AI coding with API key", "switched_from": "", "story": "Codex Blocks Fast Mode with an API Key on Desktop"}, {"id": 788606608, "item_id": 49287913, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49287913", "by": "jrflo", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The desktop app is actually really good (esp on macos).", "excerpt": "The desktop app is actually really good (esp on macos). I used to be CLI only, but after trying it recently it's super convenient. Much easier to manage multiple projects simultaneously and it has a built in diff viewer, file browser/reader, terminal, side chat interface, etc.", "context": "", "use_case": "managing multiple coding projects", "switched_from": "Codex CLI", "story": "ChatGPT Desktop (Codex Desktop) for Linux"}, {"id": 788547360, "item_id": 49284210, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49284210", "by": "CuriouslyC", "date": "2026-08-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The computer use is pretty sweet.", "excerpt": "I use it on my macbook. The computer use is pretty sweet. It can be controlled from your phone once paired, and it lets you actually see agents that it orchestrates in the threads. Also if you use MCP Apps, it can integrate those into threads.", "context": "", "use_case": "orchestrating coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "ChatGPT Desktop (Codex Desktop) for Linux"}, {"id": 787016546, "item_id": 49188534, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49188534", "by": "manmal", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I\u2018m using pi and the Codex app more for that.", "excerpt": "I use it constantly but haven\u2019t felt the need to paste an image yet. I guess I\u2018m using pi and the Codex app more for that.", "context": "", "use_case": "pasting images to agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Zed DeltaDB"}, {"id": 783024386, "item_id": 48939024, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48939024", "by": "ramoz", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "so does the Codex app", "excerpt": "The friction of agents having to monitor CLI is just too annoying right now Thus, this is ultimately: 1. a harness problem (or harness orchestrator) 2. a protocol problem With 1. Claude Code does this very well - yet most OSS harness are not great or do naive subagent tasking making hard even for a parent to talk to the child. But we can then rely on harness orchestrators - Herdr does this very well, so does the Code", "context": "", "use_case": "agent orchestration", "switched_from": "", "story": "Agent-talk: Enabling coding agents to work together"}, {"id": 782247312, "item_id": 48890457, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48890457", "by": "bayes-song", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The new Codex app displays Chat or Code sessions is an absolute disaster.", "excerpt": "The new Codex app displays Chat or Code sessions is an absolute disaster. I can't tell which project is which at all.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tell HN: The Codex App is replaced by ChatGPT"}, {"id": 777398593, "item_id": 48587412, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48587412", "by": "nullbio", "date": "2026-06-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Especially with Codex App now, why do I need OpenClaw?", "excerpt": "I still don't understand the point of these. I use AI basically 12 hours a day, and still haven't found a use case for it that isn't solved easily with existing tools, bash scripts, cron jobs, etc. Especially with Codex App now, why do I need OpenClaw? I don't need to be able to call my AI agent on the phone... That's a gimmick.", "context": "", "use_case": "AI assistance", "switched_from": "", "story": "Migrate from OpenClaw"}, {"id": 776886625, "item_id": 48555414, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48555414", "by": "nerdsniper", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "OpenAI subscription through their Codex App", "excerpt": "I seem to get a lot more tokens for my $ with the $200 plan from Anthropic or OpenAI than I do from the $200 plan from Cursor. Lately I use Cursor with DeepSeek API, and OpenAI subscription through their Codex App.", "context": "", "use_case": "coding", "switched_from": "", "story": "SpaceX Is Buying Cursor"}, {"id": 775981168, "item_id": 48498823, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48498823", "by": "inventor7777", "date": "2026-06-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "For all my daily use + Codex Desktop and some local AIs in Ollama/LM Studio", "excerpt": "5-10 sessions?! Wow, not sure how you keep track of those. For all my daily use + Codex Desktop and some local AIs in Ollama/LM Studio (which power my Home Assistant Voice Assistants) I have an Mac Studio M4 Max with 48GB of RAM (Which I bought early last year IIRC) It's a complete beast and runs GPT-OSS 20B at over 100 tok/sec. The GUI never slows down, and I run Sequoia still, so it is always smooth and polished. I", "context": "", "use_case": "AI coding", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What computer are you using for AI coding tools?"}, {"id": 761885715, "item_id": 47617857, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47617857", "by": "niyazpk", "date": "2026-04-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Time is split between Codex App (40%), Claude App (30%)", "excerpt": "2024: I used to split time between IntelliJ IDEA (10% - for Java) and VSCode (90% - for everything else). 2025: Stopped writing so much Java, so used VSCode exclusively for Python, TS etc, with Claude Code or Cline. 2026: Time is split between Codex App (40%), Claude App (30%) and VSCode with Claude Code (30%). Some other thoughts: * Overall I feel like opening an IDE in the traditional sense is coming to an end. * T", "context": "", "use_case": "AI coding", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What is your dev set up like?"}, {"id": 749890976, "item_id": 46868186, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46868186", "by": "Bishonen88", "date": "2026-02-03", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Crazy free tier.", "excerpt": "Crazy free tier. I reckon I used ~2 weeks of the claude $20 subscription within an hour. Spawned like 12 semi big tasks and I still didn't see no warnings.", "context": "", "use_case": "AI coding tasks", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Codex App"}]}