OpenAI Codex released: Turning coding into a “cloud pipeline”

Written by

Clara Bennett

Updated on:June-19th-2025

I still remember the excitement of learning to write "Hello World" for the first time in college. Nowadays, with just one sentence, Codex will open a virtual computer in the cloud, where you can pull code, change the style, run tests, and submit a PR and update notes. Writing code has suddenly become simple.

1. What exactly is the Codex?

Task-Level AI Agents

Codex no longer provides you with "intelligent completion", but can independently complete an entire development task : new features, bug fixes, and document writing. Each task runs in an independent sandbox environment, which is safe and traceable.
How it works

You give instructions in natural language, it executes the commands in the virtual computer, runs tests, and delivers the results in the form of PR. The task size ranges from a few minutes to half an hour.

2. What does this mean for programmers?

Past value points	New Value Points in the Codex Era	Degree of impact
Handwritten CRUD, change style	Design prompts and review AI outputs	high
Break down user stories and write single tests	Orchestrate multi-agent processes and manage security	middle
Choose a technology stack and determine the architecture	Setting system boundaries and evaluating AI quality	Low (demand rising)

Core changes :

"People who think of themselves as keyboards will be undervalued, while people who think of themselves as 'system designers' will be more popular."

3. Give entrepreneurs and non-technical people opportunities

MVP costs dropped dramatically
: People who understand the business + Codex = first edition product.
The threshold has changed from "writing code" to "describing requirements"
: Clear expression of requirements is more valuable than grammar.
Competition barriers move up
：Unique scenario insights, data resources and user experience design will be more core than code implementation.

Codex is not the ultimate weapon to "end programmers", but a new tool to sink repetitive labor and elevate system thinking . The core competitiveness of future engineers will be:

Setting the right questions
——Clarify boundaries and goals;
Harnessing the AI Process
——Enable multi-agent collaboration safely and efficiently;
Linking business value
——Transform technological results into sustainable products and services.

Programming has not disappeared, it has just changed from "tapping in front of the keyboard" to "scheduling in the cloud". People who can write code are still important, but people who only know how to write code are no longer important.