OpenAI Codex desktop version adds a pet feature: 3 status prompts, incubated based on the language you use

OpenAI Codex desktop version recently added a new “Pets” feature, allowing developers to instantly track the Codex task status through a floating animated character while coding. According to OpenAI’s official documentation, the pet overlay switches between 3 prompt types based on Codex’s current state (running / waiting for input / ready for review), and pets can be customized by “hatching” them according to the programming language the user most recently wrote—for example, continuously writing Rust for a week might hatch a crab character. The feature spread in Chinese communities after it was transcribed and showcased on May 2 by Xiaohu, an AI observer on the X platform (@xiaohu).

Codex also released the Pets feature

8 forms

Three status prompts: running (running) / waiting for input (waiting for your reply) / ready for review (waiting for you to review the diff)

How to open: type /pet in the input box or go to Settings → Appearance → Pets

Built-in pets can be selected directly, and you can also make your own—so it can generate a pet based on the code you’ve written recently. For example, you’ve been writing… pic.twitter.com/dRHu0Y96Nv

— Xiaohu (@xiaohu) May 2, 2026

Pets overlay feature: 8 built-in forms, 3 status prompts

The Codex Pets feature consists of small animated characters that float above other app windows, so you can still see the current status of the Codex agent at a glance even when you switch to a browser or other tools. The 3 states are: running (task in progress), waiting for input (waiting for user input), and ready for review (completed, waiting for diff review). The pet character pairs brief progress prompts so developers don’t have to constantly switch back to the Codex window.

OpenAI’s official offering includes 8 built-in pet forms that can be selected directly. The pet UI design is intended to reduce friction commonly seen in agentic coding workflows—specifically, the need for developers to frequently switch windows to confirm an agent’s status. When an agent task can last anywhere from several minutes to dozens of minutes, passive status prompts are less cognitively costly than actively switching windows.

How to open: /pet command, Settings, Cmd+K shortcut

Users can enable Codex Pets in three ways: (1) type the /pet command in the input box; (2) open Settings → Appearance → Pets to choose a built-in form or load a custom pet; (3) press Cmd+K (macOS) or Ctrl+K (Windows/Linux) and run “Wake Pet” or “Tuck Away Pet” to toggle the display.

Custom pets: hatch-pet skill hatches pets based on the user’s programming language

In addition to built-in forms, Codex also supports user-made pets. The process is to first install the hatch-pet skill, then after pressing Cmd+K select “Force Reload Skills,” and finally ask the skill to produce a new pet based on the user’s most recent code—for example, continuously writing Rust for a week might hatch a crab character, while continuously writing Python might hatch a snake. Customizing the pet appearance moves the Codex interface one step closer to a developer’s personal coding habits, beyond feeling like a purely functional tool.

This article, “OpenAI Codex desktop version adds the Pets feature: 3 status prompts, hatching based on the language you use,” was first published on Chain News ABMedia.