{"slug": "how-to-use-codex-pets-and-make-your-own", "title": "How to use Codex pets (and make your own!)", "summary": "OpenAI has introduced Codex pets, optional animated companions for the Codex app that appear in a persistent overlay to show task progress. Users can create custom pets by installing the hatch-pet skill and running the /hatch command, which generates sprites and animations. The feature is designed for fun rather than productivity, with a community marketplace called Petdex offering installable pets via curl commands.", "body_md": "# How to use Codex pets (and make your own!)\n\n### Use /hatch to get a cute companion for your projects\n\nOpenAI has really been cooking lately.\n\nThey’ve gone CRAZY on capabilities and features for Codex, their fast-growing Claude Code competitor.\n\nIn the last couple of weeks, Codex got in-app browser use, image generation, and computer use.\n\nBut today’s newsletter isn’t about that. Today’s newsletter is about adding some fun to Codex.\n\n**Today’s newsletter is sponsored by my friends at Augment Code.**\n\nAugment was kind enough to give me early access to ** Intent**, their next-generation tool for developing software.\n\nAll signs are pointing to the fact that **the IDE is no longer the ideal place to create software.**\n\nAugment Code has jumped on this opportunity, and my first impressions are great.\n\n## What are Codex pets?\n\n[Codex pets](https://developers.openai.com/codex/app/settings#codex-pets) are optional companions for the Codex app.\n\nThey are **not** for productivity. They’re for fun!\n\nOne thing to note is that Codex pets are only available in the app, so if you’re using the CLI you’re out of luck.\n\n## How to install the Codex hatch-pet skill\n\nFirst, you have to install the hatch-pet skill.\n\n`$skill-installer hatch-pet`\n\nNote that you should run this *inside a Codex chat*, not just in your terminal.\n\nOnce it’s done, restart Codex.\n\nI’m glad OpenAI adopted the Skill standard, it makes it easier to [switch back and forth between Claude Code.](https://www.augmentedswe.com/p/codex-vs-claude-code)\n\n## How to make a Codex pet\n\nYou can make your first pet by invoking the `hatch-pet`\n\nskill, which you can do with a slash command.\n\nYou’ll need to be on a recent Codex version for this to work. It uses the $image-gen tool, which requires that your Codex app supports plugins (a relatively recent addition).\n\nCodex will generate an image and do a LOT of work to get variation sprites ready so your “pet” can be animated.\n\nIf you click into one of the subagents, you can get a bit more visibility into what it’s doing.\n\nCodex took quite a long time for me, but eventually “Byte”, my first pet was ready!\n\nCodex offered to save the pet, and it was packaged at `.codex/pets/byte/pet.json`\n\nwith its spritesheet at `.codex/pets/byte/spritesheet.webp.`\n\n## How to wake your pet\n\nRunning `/pet`\n\nwill wake the default pet.\n\nTo select the pet you’re interested in, go to `Settings → Appearance → Pets`\n\nThen, you can select your custom pet.\n\n## Using the overlay\n\nYou’ll notice that Codex puts your pet in an overlaay in the bottom right coner of your screen. The overlay will persist throughout other screens on your computer, which is part of the point!\n\nThe overlay is meant to show active Codex work while you use other apps. It shows the current task, plus whether Codex is running, waiting for input, or ready for review. It combines that state with a short progress prompt so you can glance at what changed without reopening the thread.\n\nFor example, look at this Codex pet while a task runs as I write this newseltter!\n\nAnd when it finished:\n\nThis makes using Codex marginally more productive and way more fun.\n\n## Finding other pets online\n\nIf you want to add a Codex pet but you aren’t feeling creative, you’re not alone! Someone already set up [Petdex](https://petdex.crafter.run/), a marketplace of installable Codex pets.\n\nAs you click into one of these, you’ll see a curl command for installing the pet.\n\nLike this newsletter? Share it with a friend! *If 3 of your friends join from your referral, you’ll get a free month membership!*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/how-to-use-codex-pets-and-make-your-own", "canonical_source": "https://www.augmentedswe.com/p/how-to-use-codex-pets", "published_at": "2026-05-11 10:38:04+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-05-27 04:04:52.492028+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products", "ai-tools", "artificial-intelligence", "large-language-models", "generative-ai"], "entities": ["OpenAI", "Codex", "Claude Code", "Augment Code", "Intent"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/how-to-use-codex-pets-and-make-your-own", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/how-to-use-codex-pets-and-make-your-own.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/how-to-use-codex-pets-and-make-your-own.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/how-to-use-codex-pets-and-make-your-own.jsonld"}}