Ask HN: Is Anybody Using Codex?

[cl3misch]

I read HN daily and posts about features or curious behavior of Claude Code are very common.

I see no posts about OpenAI Codex. I was under the impression that it also is a very popular tool and virtually as powerful as Claude Code.

Where am I wrong? Is Codex not popular? Is it significantly worse than Claude Code? Is it being "cancelled" because of OpenAI cooperating with the US Department of War?

[mattmanser]

Take this with a pinch of slat, but look at the subreddits:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/ 1m Weekly visitors, 19K Weekly contributions

https://www.reddit.com/r/codex/ 372K Weekly visitors, 11K Weekly contributions

Looks like it's 2nd place, but still popular.

[AnmolJ269]

I use both regularly. My experience has been that Claude is better at end-to-end workflows -- planning, structuring, and reviewing code -- so it also helps for the logical part while Codex feels more optimized for code generation itself rather than the full cycle.

I think that's the main reason for more discussion around Claude.

[kevinherron]

Codex is great, both the CLI and Codex.app.

I regularly use both Claude Code and Codex; work pays for Claude, my personal sub is for Codex.

Opus 4.7 and GPT 5.5 seem equally competent. They have distinct “feels” when interacting, and perhaps each have strengths and weaknesses, but I don’t really see one as better than the other.

[MattGaiser]

The problem with Codex is that Codex is largely only for code due to its more aggressive sandboxing. Claude can do pretty much everything for your computer out of the box. It is not insurmountable, but it is a big barrier to convince anyone to use it for anything beyond code review.

[3dsnano]

start with claude

use it 2 make the plan

use it 2 implement

when u hit the limit switch 2 codex

use codex to code review the implementation

never ask codex to implement its own feedback (wait for claude)

go between codex (review) and claude (respond 2 review with changes) until u get no issues found

then u commit

and greptile will maybe complain

use /greploop to close greptile gripes

winning

[isamu_2000]

i suggest having codex review claude's plans. i consistently find it catches 2nd order effects of planned changes much better which can lead to a total change of direction in some cases.

[serf]

the harness or the model?

I don't use the harness anymore, but it was fine. I switched to an agnostic harness that uses a multitude of models -- often the GPT ones.

Anyone that cares about quality first and foremost switches harnesses pretty fast, the features are just insane. I want to be able to dictate the models that do vision versus code, for example. I want agentic memory that I can manage. I want better permissions controls than CC or codex, I want better file editing and reversion; better harnesses out there for all of these points.

[slipwalker]

are you using opencode ?

[kasey_junk]

I’ve switched almost all my usage to codex. For the simple reason that it’s more reliable.

[Sharedmemory]

I have mostly seen people using claude code, never heard anyone using Codex.

[moomoo11]

Yes. Pretty sure you’re falling for marketing