OpenAI adds Codex remote access

OpenAI has added Codex remote access to the ChatGPT mobile app, giving users a way to monitor and steer coding work from an iPhone or Android device while the underlying job keeps running on another machine. (openai.com) OpenAI announced the feature in a May 14 product post and described it as a preview release in the ChatGPT mobile app. The company said the feature is aimed at longer-running coding tasks, letting users answer questions, redirect execution, approve actions and review outputs without staying at the host machine. (openai.com) OpenAI said the phone app surfaces the live state of the connected environment rather than copying files and credentials onto the handset. (community.openai.com) Here’s what the update changes, based on OpenAI’s product post, developer documentation and release notes. ### So what exactly can you do from the phone? OpenAI said the mobile experience lets users work across active Codex threads, review outputs, approve commands, change models and start new work from the ChatGPT app. (openai.com) The company said updates can flow back to the phone in real time, including screenshots, terminal output, diffs, test results and approvals. The developer documentation says remote project threads can run commands, read files and write changes on the remote host. (openai.com) That means the execution happens on the connected machine — such as a laptop, Mac mini, devbox or managed remote environment — rather than on the phone itself. ### Does this mean ChatGPT is running code on the phone? OpenAI’s documentation says no: the files, credentials, permissions and local setup stay on the host where Codex is operating. The phone acts as a remote interface to that environment. (openai.com) The remote-connections page says Codex connects over SSH and uses port forwarding with local-host WebSocket listeners. OpenAI said users should not expose an unauthenticated app-server listener on a shared or public network and should use the same security expectations they would use for ordinary SSH access. (developers.openai.com) ### How do users set it up? OpenAI’s ChatGPT release notes say users need to update both the ChatGPT mobile app and the Codex app on macOS. Setup starts in the Codex app on the host machine and continues in ChatGPT after the user scans a QR code. (openai.com) The developer documentation says the host must be configured so the `codex` command is available on the remote machine’s PATH, and the host must remain awake, online and running Codex for remote access to continue. OpenAI also says some ChatGPT workspace users may need an admin to enable Remote Control access before they can connect from a phone. (developers.openai.com) ### Who gets the feature? OpenAI’s community announcement said the preview is rolling out on iOS and Android in all supported regions. The help-center overview for Codex says Codex is included with ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise/Edu plans. (help.openai.com) OpenAI said in its product post that more than 4 million people now use Codex every week. The company framed the mobile release as a way to keep those users connected to ongoing work across devices and remote environments. (developers.openai.com) ### What’s still missing? OpenAI’s community post says support for connecting the phone to the Codex app on Windows is “coming soon.” The current setup notes specifically reference the Codex app on macOS for starting mobile access. OpenAI’s changelog points users to the Remote connections documentation for mobile setup, host selection and details on what comes from the connected machine. (community.openai.com) Those pages, along with the ChatGPT release notes, are the main references for the next rollout steps and setup changes. (developers.openai.com) (openai.com)