Vibe coding just got a whole lot more adorable. OpenAI introduced AI-generated pets to the Codex app, its agentic tool that helps with coding. These "optional animated companions" don't do any coding themselves, but serve as a floating overlay that can tell you what Codex is working on, notify you when Codex completes a task or whether it needs your input on something. The new feature lets developers see Codex's active thread, without having to switch away from your current open app.

Users can type "/pet" in to the Codex app to summon or dismiss the companion. There are eight built-in pets to choose from, but you can also generate your own with the help of AI with the "/hatch" command, like a cute goblin companion. Early adopters have already uploaded a bunch of options and there are even some versions of Microsoft Clippy.

The pets are already available on both Windows and macOS versions of Codex. For a limited time, OpenAI is also offering 30 days of ChatGPT Pro for 10 of their favorite generated companions.