Codex best practices: the official resources
OpenAI's own docs, courses, talks and videos on getting good work out of Codex, collected in one place.
OpenAI builds Codex, and its team already publishes the best guidance on how to use it. Rather than rewrite that, this page points you to it. Everything below is made and kept up to date by OpenAI. We add a one-line summary so you can pick where to start.
Codex changes every few months, so we favor pages OpenAI keeps current over one-off posts. Talks and webinars show their date so you can tell how recent they are.
Start here
- GuideOpenAICodex best practiceslearn.chatgpt.com
OpenAI's own guide to better results across the Codex CLI, IDE extension and app: prompting, planning, AGENTS.md, testing and review, MCP, skills, and common mistakes. If you read one thing, read this.
- DocsOpenAICodex documentationlearn.chatgpt.com
The home of OpenAI's Codex docs, with use cases, setup guides and the latest product updates.
- DocsOpenAICodex CLIlearn.chatgpt.com
Install the CLI, sign in and run your first task in the terminal, with links to the command reference and automation.
- DocsOpenAICodex IDE extensionlearn.chatgpt.com
Use Codex in VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Xcode or JetBrains, review edits inline, and hand longer tasks to the cloud.
- DocsOpenAICodex Cloudlearn.chatgpt.com
Run coding tasks remotely: set up a cloud environment, control network access and secrets, and review changes before you open a PR.
Set up your project
- DocsOpenAICustom instructions with AGENTS.mdlearn.chatgpt.com
How Codex finds and combines AGENTS.md files, from a global file down to per-folder overrides.
- DocsOpenAIConfig basicslearn.chatgpt.com
Set defaults in config.toml, such as the model, approval prompts and sandbox level, for you or for one project.
- DocsOpenAIAgent approvals and securitylearn.chatgpt.com
Run Codex safely with sandboxing, approval policies and network controls.
- DocsOpenAIBuild skillslearn.chatgpt.com
Package instructions, resources and scripts as skills that extend Codex, and share them as plugins.
- DocsOpenAIModel Context Protocollearn.chatgpt.com
Connect Codex to outside tools by adding MCP servers.
Stay current
- Release notesOpenAIChatGPT and Codex changeloglearn.chatgpt.com
Dated release notes for the Codex CLI, the Codex app and ChatGPT.
- BlogOpenAICodex posts on the OpenAI Developers blogdevelopers.openai.com
OpenAI's developer blog posts about Codex, newest first.
- CookbookOpenAICodex in the OpenAI Cookbookdevelopers.openai.com
Worked examples for automating developer workflows and building with Codex agents and tools.
Courses and training
- CoursesOpenAI AcademyCodex on OpenAI Academyopenai.com
OpenAI Academy's Codex hub for learning to write code, run tasks and build automated workflows.
- WebinarOpenAI AcademyMarch 2026Codex Fundamentalsacademy.openai.com
A recorded OpenAI Academy webinar on the fundamentals of working with Codex. Free sign-in to watch.
Talks and videos
- VideosOpenAIChatGPT and Codex videoslearn.chatgpt.com
OpenAI's library of Codex demos, walkthroughs and talks, grouped by topic.
- Learning hubOpenAI DevelopersLearn Codexdevelopers.openai.com
OpenAI's Codex learning page, with product videos on the Codex app, code review, JetBrains and building frontends.