Codex Pets
Codex Pets are optional animated companions in the Codex app that help users monitor active Codex work through a lightweight floating overlay.
Codex Pets help users understand a visible layer of the Codex app experience: how agent activity can be represented, customized, and compared with similar companion features.
OpenAI Developers documents Codex pets inside Codex app Appearance settings, including built-in pets, custom pet refresh from the local Codex home, the /pet command, Wake Pet and Tuck Away Pet commands, overlay status, and the hatch-pet skill.
- Keep Codex status visible while working in another app.
- Learn the /pet command and settings workflow.
- Create custom companions through the hatch-pet workflow.
- Compare coding companion features with Claude Buddy.
OpenAI describes Codex pets as optional animated companions for the Codex app, not as a separate model or coding agent. The settings page says users can choose built-in pets, refresh custom pets from the local Codex home, and toggle the floating overlay from the composer, settings, or command menu.
- Entry points: Settings > Appearance > Pets, the /pet command, Wake Pet, and Tuck Away Pet.
- Overlay state: active thread, whether Codex is running, waiting for input, or ready for review.
- Customization path: install the hatch-pet skill, reload skills, then ask hatch-pet to create a pet.
Users need practical answers before adopting Codex Pets: how to enable the overlay, what status it shows, how custom pets are loaded, and whether a community pet is official or user-created. The topic also connects naturally to the broader AI coding companion pattern and the Codex Pet vs Claude Buddy comparison.
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Codex Pets FAQ
Page-level questions for Codex Pets.
What can Codex Pets show while I am using Codex?+
Codex Pets can show the active Codex thread, whether Codex is running, waiting for input, or ready for review, and a short progress prompt. This makes ongoing Codex work visible while you use other apps without reopening the full thread. The official setup path is Settings > Appearance > Pets or the /pet and command-menu controls.
Can I customize a Codex Pet?+
Yes. OpenAI documents a custom pet path through the hatch-pet skill: install hatch-pet, force reload skills from the command menu, then ask the skill to create a pet. Treat custom pets as local or community-created unless they are shipped by OpenAI in the Codex app.