OpenAI's Codex gets AI 'pets' to help you vibe code
What's the story
OpenAI has introduced a new feature called "AI pets" for its Codex coding tool. These virtual companions appear as floating overlays on your screen, providing progress updates while you work on other tasks in different windows. The pets can indicate when a prompt has finished running or when the agent requires input from the user.
Customization options
Custom pet creations inspired by popular culture
The new feature comes with eight built-in pets, including popular ones like cats and dogs. Users can also create their own unique pets by prompting Codex. These custom creations can be shared on an online platform, with some popular creations including characters from popular franchises such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pokémon, and Dragon Ball Z.
Nostalgic icons
Icon options include Trump, Modi, and Mr. Clippy
Along with the aforementioned characters, users can also find icons inspired by famous personalities such as US President Donald Trump and what appears to be the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The feature even includes a Mr. Clippy icon, a throwback to Microsoft's early 2000s Office assistant. This nostalgic addition is one of the most popular picks among the community of Codex users.
Tool capabilities
Codex launched last year to assist with coding tasks
Codex, an AI coding agent from OpenAI, was launched in 2025. It is designed to help with software engineering tasks like writing code and fixing bugs. The tool is already estimated to have millions of users and can assist people without technical skills in building software tools. The new AI pets feature is currently available on the Windows and macOS versions of Codex.
User guide
How to use the new AI pets feature?
To try out the new feature, users need to head over to Settings, then Appearance, and select Pets. From there, they can either choose a built-in pet or create custom ones from their local Codex environment. To toggle the pet on and off, users just have to type /pet into the composer and use Wake Pet or Tuck Away Pet in Settings > Appearance.