Codex CLI
openai/codexReviewed by AI
What it does
Codex CLI is a coding assistant made by OpenAI. You type requests in a terminal, and it reads your project files, edits code and runs commands on your computer. There are also editor extensions (VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf) and a desktop app you start with `codex app`. It is aimed at people who write software. To use it you sign in with a paid ChatGPT plan (Plus, Pro, Business, Edu or Enterprise) or set up an OpenAI API key. It installs on Windows with one PowerShell command, on Mac or Linux with one shell command, or through npm or Homebrew.
How easy it is to install
B · installer plus one simple step · Windows
- Windows B
- macOS B
- Linux B
B on all three: one command installs a ready binary (a PowerShell line on Windows, a shell line on Mac and Linux) and then you sign in with ChatGPT, which is the extra step. You can instead download the binary straight from the releases, where the files are named by platform (for example `codex-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.exe`); Node.js is only needed if you pick the npm route.
Numbers on GitHub
- Stars
- 132,500on Oct 31, 2026
- Downloads
- 55,012,6231,928,744 this week
- Growth
- +1,470stars in 5 days
Stars over time
Facts
- Runs on
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- You need to install
- Nothing extra
- To build from source
- Node.js
- Disk space
- 355 MB–1.0 GB · from the installer
- Accounts or keys
- OpenAI API (optional instead of signing in with ChatGPT)
- Cost
- Free, API costs extra · The program is free (Apache-2.0), but it needs a paid ChatGPT plan (Plus, Pro, Business, Edu or Enterprise) or a paid OpenAI API key.
- License
- Apache-2.0 (Permissive)
- Can replace
- Cursor, Copilot, Claude Code
- Last update
- Oct 31, 2026
Risk signals (5)
- AttentionInstall command runs a script from the internet
Install command pipes a remote script into a shell: curl -fsSL https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.sh | sh
automatic check
- Attentionirm pipe iex
README.md: the Windows install runs a remote script directly in PowerShell with the execution policy turned off: powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.ps1 | iex"
AI review
- Attentionagent edits files and runs commands on your computer
The repository describes itself as a "Lightweight coding agent that runs in your terminal" and the README says Codex "runs locally on your computer"; the agent reads your project, changes files and runs commands, so a wrong instruction or a prompt hidden in a file it reads can change or delete your work.
AI review
- Infodownloads outside github
README.md: "The standalone installers download from `https://releases.openai.com/codex` by default and fall back to GitHub Releases", so the files you get are not the ones published on GitHub unless you set CODEX_INSTALLER_USE_RELEASES_OPENAI_COM to false.
AI review
- Infopre 1 0 with very fast release churn and a big issue backlog
Created on 2025-04-13, the project is on version rust-v0.166.0 with 1200 GitHub releases (two of the latest three are alpha builds from 2026-10-28 and 2026-10-29) and 25,736 open issues.
AI review
Evidence is shown in its original language.
What Radar could not check
- What the install scripts at chatgpt.com actually download and change on the computer at the time you run them.
- How much use each ChatGPT plan allows before hitting limits, and the real cost when using an API key.
- Which commands and file changes the agent makes on its own, and how well its sandbox limits them on each system.
- Real disk use after install (the checks estimate 355 to 1064 MB from release files).
- Whether the desktop app (`codex app`) and the editor extensions behave like the terminal version.