OpenAI adds AI pets to its Codex coding tool

AI companions are quietly becoming prominent throughout the industry, and OpenAI is now joining the trend. The company has launched Codex Pets, an optional animated companion included in its AI coding tool.

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Like most AI companions, it’s not doing any heavy lifting. But Codex Pets holds its own as a floating overlay that offers project status updates in real time, so you don’t need to switch tabs. Users can monitor active threads and track whether a codec is running, waiting on input, or ready for review, all without leaving what they are working on.

Getting started is straightforward. Go to Settings, select Appearance, then select Pets to choose from the built-in options. Once activated, the floating overlay can be turned on or off by typing /pet in Composer, using Wake Pet or Tuck Away Pet in Settings > Appearance, or by pressing Cmd+K on Mac or Ctrl+K on Windows.

The feature comes with eight built-in variations – including a cat and dog – but the more interesting game is the custom pet creator. Users can directly prompt the codex to generate their own companion, then share it online. A quick scroll through the homepage shows that the community has already got to work. Current creations include Goku, Patrick Star, Microsoft’s long-retired Clippy, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and – naturally – a ghost.


Disclosure: Mashable’s parent company Ziff Davis filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in the training and operation of its AI systems.

Subject
Artificial Intelligence OpenAI



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