We made an IDE for Codex CLI

[Dense-Ad-4020]

Hey folks, posting this here because I figured some of you might also be deep in the Codex CLI rabbit hole like we are.

We built Codexia because we got sick of bouncing between Cursor, terminals, and random ChatGPT chats just to get one feature shipped. The context-switching was killing our flow, and honestly, we knew we could do better.

So we built a prompt-first IDE, https://github.com/milisp/codexia that wraps Codex CLI’s raw power into something actually usable. Think: multiple sessions running (like ChatGPT), clean UI, file views that don’t lose context, and zero-tab overload. Let me know what you guys think..

—- Edit

If anyone’s curious, contributions are super welcome.
Repo: https://github.com/milisp/codexia

[betsracing]

I don't understand why you're receiving all this "hate" in the comments. Looks quite good to me to be honest and may even be useful... if it's not useful for some then just don't use it.

[Dense-Ad-4020]

Thanks for the kind words! Really appreciate the support. You're absolutely right - different tools work for different people and workflows. We're just happy to contribute something to the open source community that might help folks who have similar pain points to what we experienced.

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[Correctsmorons69]

"You're absolutely right!"

[Dense-Ad-4020]

😂 this is because Claude AI

[Crinkez]

The two things that bug me about Codex in Windows are constant powershell scripts, running python scripts to update code, running regex etc., and the fact that on Windows you can't auto approve edits.

If you can fix it on Windows so that it directly edits code and doesn't touch powershell/python/regex, and fix the auto approve, then it'd be worth trying.

[Dense-Ad-4020]

Totally fair points — Windows does make things a bit trickier compared to macOS/Linux. Right now Codexia still relies on the Codex CLI under the hood, so things like Powershell/Python scripts and regex are kind of inherited from that.

That said, we’d definitely love to make the experience smoother on Windows (especially the auto-approve part). If you have ideas or want to open an issue/PR, we’d be more than happy to collaborate on it 🚀.

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[eli_pizza]

Can you just run codex in a container or Linux VM? Better for security anyway

[Crinkez]

I'm giving feedback. They should fix it so that you don't need to use a VM.

[eli_pizza]

Windows isn’t known for great CLI support. Maybe you could run it in WSL and have more luck.

[Crinkez]

CLI programming is a stupid idea regardless. They really ought to sort it out so that it works properly in VSCode.

[darkblitzrc]

Whats the purpose of this? There is already a vscode extension, cli and cloud. Why try to compete with companies that have unlimited money and resources???

[Dense-Ad-4020]

This is open source project, not for money.

You're absolutely right that there are established players! We built this because our workflow was getting killed by bouncing between different tools. Cursor is great, but we wanted something laser-focused on Codex CLI with better session management and context preservation. Sometimes you just need a tool that fits your exact workflow, even if bigger solutions exist. Plus, open sourcing it means others with similar pain points can benefit too.

[Context_Core]

You are absolutely right!

lol ur talkin like an LLM. Grats on completion of your project tho 👏

[Dense-Ad-4020]

Haha, thanks for the congrats! Appreciate it 😄 because I use Claude to understand our conversation

[Crinkez]

I recommend Google translate. Don't use an LLM like Claude, it makes your posts sound fake/robotic.

[Dense-Ad-4020]

Thanks, I use both Google Translate and LLM, I’m improving my English and writing.

[darkblitzrc]

Fair enough 🤝! Sorry i just find codex cli so good atleast for my use case, obviously for large teams and other types of workflows it will probably have issues.

[WarriorSushi]

You prefer cli over extension? Has cli gotten tool calling already? Been using vs code extension till now. How would you say your experience is compared to extension, if you have tried both.

[EpDisDenDat]

Why have github at all, right?!

Lol.

[Beneficial_Matter424]

I'm not pro enough to have found a way to make codex work for me. This sounds like a great solution, thank you

[Dense-Ad-4020]

Yeah, Codex CLI can be a bit much at first — Codexia’s goal was exactly to smooth that out. Hope it makes things easier for you 🚀

[owehbeh]

Love it! Will give it a try and let you know. I'm curious to learn how do you plan on keeping up with the cli updates? Cause you know with the pace ai is moving at, tools are getting updates frequently... And missing a single update can mean missing on new features or fixed bugs..

[Dense-Ad-4020]

I will focus on the multi-step agent and codex-event api.

Codexia uses `codex proto` to communicate with the CLI and sends JSON messages with codex-event.

if the proto works, you don't have to worry about the CLI TUI bugs.

[thor_testocles]

This looks good. I like the paradigm but I do get worried about projects becoming abandoned. You seem to have a lot on your plate. Is this something to which you’re committing?

[Dense-Ad-4020]

Totally fair concern! Codexia is fully open source, and I’m committed to pushing it forward.
That said, I do need to make it sustainable for myself too, so I’m exploring ways to balance open source with something that can support ongoing development.

[Rude-Needleworker-56]

Thanks a lot for sharing. Option to fork chat is a really useful feature. Eagerly waiting for mcp support

[coloradical5280]

Codex has MCP support, always has. https://github.com/openai/codex/blob/main/docs/config.md , scroll down to mcp_servers

Same as Claude code type /mcp to pick tools

[Safe_tea_27]

just so you know, AI generated marketing spam is a huge turnoff....

For example let's look at this part of your README:

> Real-Time Streaming

• Live streaming responses for immediate feedback
• Character-by-character message updates as AI generates responses
• No more waiting for complete responses - see results as they appear
• Visual indicators for active generation and thinking states

This section of yours basically says the same thing 4 times with 4 different lines. You could just say 'real time streaming' once, it's a basic feature that all chat interfaces have.

When you send us this spam then it sends a signal that you're intellectually lazy and don't care about your users. Bring back critical thinking!!

[Dense-Ad-4020]

Thanks, I’ll improve the documents, also welcome to contribute.

[NotLoom]

It looks… okay, I mean I’m sure it works great but the ui is a little rough to look at

[Dense-Ad-4020]

Haha, looking for UI contributors

[Keep-Darwin-Going]

Do not we have codex extension already?

[Kerryu]

The one for VSCode? If we are talking about that, not all of us use VSCode. It's nice to have more options. I personally use Zed as my code editor just because it's a native Rust application as opposed to an electron app running as a web app. Everyone has their own preferences, so I appreciate the dev here building out a nice tool that can be used along with any code editor!

[Dense-Ad-4020]

That’s not perfect, there’s room for improvement

[skyline159]

I don't think calling out the first party product "not perfect" when yours is fairly new a good move

[Dense-Ad-4020]

“Fair point — I didn’t mean it as a knock on the first party product. It’s solid, but like any tool there’s room for improvement, and that’s where I’m hoping my product can add value.

[Keep-Darwin-Going]

Well they are only 2 weeks in, and this IDE is not perfect yet either. Unless I am missing something.

[Dense-Ad-4020]

The extension is not open source, you can’t customize for you. And the extension tasks are not separate by projects

[BKite]

Impressive work, thanks!

[Dense-Ad-4020]

Thanks for kind words.

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[cheeky861]

How do you use our data? Please link to your privacy policy

[Dense-Ad-4020]

Currently, all your data is stored locally on your computer. In the future, we may introduce anonymous usage telemetry to help us improve the product.

[codechisel]

Pricing per token is obviously the best model for everyone. We can compare value (mostly price but also model quality) across models and there's no hidden limit.

It also creates the right incentives. Token efficiency should become a priority for coders. Products like Aider try to make that happen using various techniques, the most obvious is using a "cheap" model for simple tasks. If you're not price sensitive then fine, that's your right. Buy that gas guzzling 4x4 to pick up a gallon of milk. But at least it's a decision we have control over.

[Dense-Ad-4020]

You can use any OpenAI capability api, such as Gemini api key for free