OpenAI introduces Codex Micro button pad for coding agents

OpenAI has introduced a hardware product tied to Codex, its coding platform, according to The Verge. The product, called Codex Micro, is a compact square pad with physical buttons meant to help users oversee and control coding agents.

The device is being made through a collaboration between OpenAI and keyboard maker Work Louder, The Verge reported. OpenAI described the product as a limited-run collaboration that gives Codex users more options for monitoring and managing agents.

Codex Micro is separate from the AI hardware project OpenAI is developing with former Apple designer Jony Ive, according to The Verge. That other effort has drawn attention in part because it has become involved in a lawsuit, The Verge reported.

A controller for Codex users

The Verge reported that Codex Micro appears in marketing material as a button-based desk accessory for people using OpenAI’s coding tools. The device is designed around direct controls rather than a screen-based interface, based on the description and images cited by The Verge.

The publication said the pad looks closely related to Work Louder’s Creator Micro 2, a small programmable controller sold by the keyboard maker. Marketing images for Codex Micro show hardware that appears nearly identical to that Work Louder device, The Verge reported.

OpenAI has not positioned Codex Micro as a broad consumer AI gadget, according to The Verge’s report. Instead, the company is tying the hardware to Codex and the growing use of software agents that can perform coding-related tasks.

The launch gives OpenAI a physical product in the market while its higher-profile hardware plans remain separate. For now, The Verge reported, OpenAI’s first visible hardware release is aimed at developers working with Codex rather than at general ChatGPT users.

This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.