The best Codex GUI in 2026: 8 apps for using Codex without a terminal

Disclosure: Enjoy is our product, and it runs Codex. We checked every app below against its maker’s own pages and code on November 2, 2026, and we say where another app is the better pick, OpenAI’s own included.

Codex GUIs compared

Codex started in the terminal, and it doesn’t need to stay there. OpenAI’s own desktop app, the ChatGPT app for Mac, Windows and, in preview, Linux, runs it in a window, and its extension puts it beside your code in an editor. The independent apps run Codex itself on your own ChatGPT account, so the agent doing the work is the same in all of them. What differs is everything around it: which other agents sit beside it, where it runs, and what it costs.

App	Best for	Price, checked November 2, 2026	Runs on	Agents
The ChatGPT desktop app	Most people, on any ChatGPT plan	Included in every ChatGPT plan, from Free; Go $8 a month, Plus $20	Mac, Windows; Linux in preview	Codex
Codex in your editor	Staying in VS Code, Cursor or Windsurf	Included from ChatGPT Plus ($20 a month), or an API key	VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf; Xcode and JetBrains through their own integrations	Codex
Enjoy	Codex beside every other lab’s agent	A monthly subscription, free for 7 days, with your phone and other computers (pricing)	Mac, Windows, Linux	Codex, Claude Code, Grok Build, Antigravity, Muse Code, OpenCode
T3 Code	A free, open-source app, at your desk or on a server	Free	Mac, Windows, Linux; iPhone, Android and web apps	Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, Grok Build, OpenCode, Antigravity, fx
Nimbalyst	A free, open-source workspace with visual editors	Free for individuals	Mac, Windows, Linux; iOS companion	Codex, Claude; five more in alpha
CloudCLI	Codex in a browser	Free to run yourself; hosted from €7 a month	A browser, served from any computer with Node.js 22	Codex, Claude Code, Cursor CLI
CodexMonitor	A free app built only for Codex, if its age doesn’t bother you	Free	Mac, Windows, Linux	Codex
Conductor	Parallel agents on a Mac	Free; Pro $50 a month	Mac	Codex, Claude Code, Cursor, OpenCode

Prices are as each maker lists them in the US, before tax. Every app runs Codex on your own ChatGPT account, and OpenAI’s pricing sets what each plan reaches: Free and Go get “GPT-6 Luna at Standard speed in the desktop app, subject to rollout,” and Plus, at $20 a month, adds “Codex on the web, in the CLI, in the IDE extension, and on iOS.” The independent apps run Codex outside OpenAI’s app, so plan on Plus or more for them, or an OpenAI API key, billed at API rates, where an app takes one. Pro is $100, $200 or $500 a month.

Apps built for running many agents at once, such as Orca and Paseo, run Codex too; our Conductor alternatives guide compares them.

Which fits how you use Codex

• You’re on ChatGPT Free or Go. OpenAI’s desktop app is the one way in, with GPT-6 Luna. Everything else here starts at Plus.
• You use the Codex CLI and want a window around it. OpenAI’s app or its extension, if you only use Codex. T3 Code and CodexMonitor drive the Codex CLI you already have installed, and CloudCLI puts it in a browser.
• Your computer runs Linux. OpenAI’s app is now in preview for Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04 LTS, Debian 13, Fedora 43 and 44, and Arch Linux, and “Other Linux distributions may work but aren’t formally supported.” Enjoy, T3 Code, Nimbalyst and CodexMonitor have Linux builds, and CloudCLI runs in a browser. Conductor doesn’t run on Linux.
• You use more than OpenAI. Enjoy, T3 Code, Nimbalyst, CloudCLI and Conductor run other labs’ agents beside Codex.

The ChatGPT desktop app

Best for: most people who want Codex in a window, on any ChatGPT plan.

OpenAI’s desktop app is where Codex runs on your computer: “Run projects in parallel, work with files, use your computer, and keep long-running work moving from one desktop workspace,” says its app page. “By default, chats use a Codex-managed worktree,” so parallel chats don’t trip over each other. Its review pane “reflects the state of your Git repository, not just what Codex edited”: you stage, unstage or revert a whole diff, a file or a single hunk, and “Codex treats inline comments as review guidance.” “Each chat in the ChatGPT desktop app includes a terminal scoped to its current project or worktree,” and you can “Create a standalone scheduled task or schedule a task inside an existing chat.”

It’s for macOS and Windows, and “The ChatGPT desktop app for Linux is available in preview,” on x64 and ARM64.

Price: included in every ChatGPT plan. Free is $0 and Go $8 a month, both with GPT-6 Luna only; Plus, at $20, adds GPT-6.1 Sol, and Pro is $100, $200 or $500.

Watch for: it runs only OpenAI’s agents, and OpenAI’s pricing lists API-key use “in the CLI, SDK, or IDE extension,” not its desktop app. “Worktrees only work in projects that are part of a Git repository,” and so does the review pane. On Linux, “Computer Use is available on macOS and Windows but not yet in the Linux preview,” and “Native Wayland support is experimental.”

Codex in VS Code, Cursor and other editors

Best for: staying in your editor, with Codex in a panel beside your files.

“Work with Codex beside your code,” say OpenAI’s IDE docs. “Bring open files and selections into the prompt, review edits in place, and hand off longer work without breaking your flow.” “VS Code and compatible editors use the Codex extension; Xcode and JetBrains IDEs provide their own integrations,” and OpenAI lists Visual Studio Code, Cursor and Windsurf among them. It’s also one of the ways OpenAI points Cursor users to for keeping GPT once OpenAI stops supplying Cursor.

Price: included from Plus, at $20 a month. With an API key, OpenAI’s pricing lists Codex “in the CLI, SDK, or IDE extension,” billed at API rates.

Watch for: it isn’t on Free or Go, whose Codex is “in the desktop app.” OpenAI’s own advice is to “Create Git checkpoints before and after a task so you can revert changes.” In Xcode and JetBrains IDEs, Codex comes through those IDEs’ own integrations, not OpenAI’s extension.

Enjoy

Best for: Codex beside every other lab’s agent, across all your projects, on Mac, Windows or Linux.

Enjoy is a desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux that installs Codex for you, “without typing commands in a terminal,” and signs it in to your ChatGPT account through your browser. Then it gives every agent “the same message box, so you don’t need to learn each one’s commands.” For Codex, that means:

• Its settings, in a menu. Pick one of its four permission modes, from Read-only to Full access, one of six effort levels, from Low to Ultra, and Fast speed, and approve each request on a card that shows what Codex wants to do.
• Your past conversations, brought in. Enjoy imports a project’s past Claude Code and Codex conversations from a terminal, an editor or their own apps, and the agent picks up where you left off.
• Limits, resets and accounts in view. The agent settings show Codex’s limits, credits and free resets, and you can use a free reset when OpenAI gives you one. Sign in to several ChatGPT accounts, and when one runs out, Enjoy moves to another or waits for the reset, then carries on.
• More than Codex. Claude Code, Grok Build, Antigravity, Muse Code and local models through OpenCode run in the same app, and you can switch agents mid-conversation. Agents work in a worktree when you ask, and View changes shows what each commit changed, line by line.

Price: Enjoy is one monthly subscription, and the first seven days are free, with a card to start. It includes your phone and any browser and your other computers, and each teammate you invite needs a subscription of their own. See pricing.

Watch for: Enjoy isn’t open source. It runs the Codex CLI, which OpenAI includes from Plus, so ChatGPT’s Free and Go plans won’t do. Imported conversations bring “the text of the messages”: images and attached files become a note, and “the agent’s tool activity isn’t imported.” It’s a monthly subscription on top of your ChatGPT plan once the free week ends, and scheduled workflows run only while your computer is awake with Enjoy open.

T3 Code

Best for: a free, open-source app for Codex and other agents, at your desk or on a server you drive from anywhere.

T3 Code calls itself an “agent harness control surface,” with phone apps, a web app and an “Electron-based desktop app,” per its README. It “Works with your subscriptions on Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Grok Build, OpenCode, Google Antigravity, and fx”: for Codex, you “install Codex CLI and run codex login.” Its FAQ says it runs on Windows, Mac and Linux, “Desktop app, CLI, the works,” and “Run npx t3 up on any box and drive it from anywhere.” It’s under the MIT license, with more than 41,000 stars on GitHub, and version 0.1.6 came out on October 31.

Price: “Nothing. There’s no way to pay us to use T3 Code.”

Watch for: its README says “We are very very early in this project. Expect bugs.” It sends “basic product usage events (provider, model, token totals, that kind of thing),” with “No prompts, no file contents,” until you set T3CODE_TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false. If you keep several ChatGPT accounts, its FAQ says “I don’t think T3 Code is the right place to manage a pile of accounts.”

Nimbalyst

Best for: a free, open-source workspace where you review and edit Codex’s work visually.

Nimbalyst is an “Open-source visual workspace for building with Codex, Claude Code, OpenCode, and other coding agents,” and its README says it’s “Free and MIT licensed. Desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux, with an iOS companion app.” Its provider setup says “By default, Codex uses the signed-in Codex or ChatGPT subscription,” with an API key as an override. “Codex file_change tool calls render as red/green edit cards in the transcript,” and “sessions started in a worktree run inside that worktree and keep their edits on its branch.” You track sessions on a kanban board, beside editors for markdown, mockups, diagrams and code.

Price: free. Its pricing says of the app, “No feature limits, no trial period.” Wiki Teams, a wiki shared across a team, is $20 a user a month and free during its beta.

Watch for: its own comparison of Codex GUIs says “It is a full workspace, not a minimal Codex shell” and “The product is more opinionated than the official app or a simple wrapper.” Beyond Codex and Claude, its providers, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot, Grok Build, Cursor Agent and Gemini through Antigravity, are in alpha.

CloudCLI

Best for: Codex in a browser, on your computer or from your phone.

CloudCLI, also called Claude Code UI, is “A desktop and mobile UI for Claude Code, Cursor CLI, and Codex,” per its README. Run npx @cloudcli-ai/cloudcli with Node.js 22 or later, open http://localhost:3001, and “all your existing sessions are discovered automatically.” It has a chat view, a built-in shell, a file explorer, Git tools and plugins, among them one that runs scheduled prompts “through a local CLI such as Codex or Claude Code.” It’s open source under AGPL-3.0, and version 1.37.7 came out on October 31.

Price: free to run yourself. CloudCLI Cloud, which hosts the environment for you, starts at €7 a month for one environment, and “There is no permanent free tier for the hosted service.”

Watch for: run yourself, its README answers “Yes” to “Machine needs to stay on,” and lists phone access as “Any browser on your network.” “CloudCLI provides the environment, not the AI,” so Codex still runs on your own ChatGPT account.

CodexMonitor

Best for: a free app built only for Codex, if you don’t mind that it has gone quiet.

“CodexMonitor is a Tauri app for orchestrating multiple Codex agents across local workspaces,” per its README. It can “Spawn one codex app-server per workspace, resume threads, and track unread/running state,” run “Worktree and clone agents for isolated work,” and show diffs with stage and revert controls, GitHub issues and pull requests, and a “Sidebar usage and credits meter for account rate limits.” It’s free under the MIT license, with more than 4,300 stars, and downloads for Mac, Windows and Linux.

Price: free.

Watch for: its latest release, v0.7.67, came out on March 24, 2026, and the last change to its code was on March 26. It needs the “Codex CLI installed and available as codex in PATH.” Its terminal dock is “experimental,” and “iOS support is currently in progress.”

Conductor

Best for: running Codex beside Claude Code, Cursor and OpenCode on a Mac, each in its own workspace.

“Conductor can run Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and OpenCode sessions in isolated workspaces,” says its harnesses page, and “Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode come bundled in Conductor. You do not need to install them separately.” You review and merge what each agent did.

Price: its pricing has a free plan that runs “multiple coding agents in parallel” with your own subscriptions and keys. Pro, at $50 a month, adds Conductor Cloud, multiplayer, its API and the mobile app, and Teams is $60 a user a month.

Watch for: “Conductor is not available for Windows or Linux yet,” says its installation page.

When to stay with OpenAI’s app, or the terminal

If Codex is your only agent, OpenAI’s desktop app is the one to beat. It’s included in every plan, it’s the only GUI here that works on Free and Go, and it already runs chats in parallel worktrees, reviews diffs and schedules tasks. Start there, and look further when you want other labs’ agents beside Codex, an open-source app, or Codex in a browser.

And the terminal is still all of Codex. Scripting is one thing no GUI here does: “Non-interactive mode lets you run Codex from scripts (for example, continuous integration (CI) jobs)” with codex exec. If you live in tmux or over SSH, or script Codex, stay where you are. Trying a GUI costs little: T3 Code and CodexMonitor run the Codex CLI you already have, and Enjoy imports the conversations Codex saved without changing them, so you can go back and forth.

How we compared

We read OpenAI’s pages on its desktop app, Linux, worktrees, code review, the terminal, its IDE extension, non-interactive mode and pricing; each independent maker’s homepage, pricing and docs; and the GitHub repositories of the open-source apps, on November 2, 2026, and every one is linked below. Licenses, star counts and release dates come from GitHub that day. We quote each maker’s own words for its limits, don’t count features a maker hasn’t documented, and didn’t test the independent apps ourselves. These apps change weekly, so we recheck this guide against its sources at least once a month, and the date at the foot of the page says when we last did.