I reverse-engineered Codex's web search for use with Claude, and any local model

Developer Mateus DCC released pi-gpt-search, an open-source npm package that gives any Pi model (Gemini, Claude, local models, OpenRouter) real-time web search by reusing OpenAI Codex's standalone search endpoint with zero GPT tokens consumed. The tool, installable via npm or GitHub, supports slash commands and LLM tools, reuses existing Codex credentials, and preserves data privacy by sending only queries.

Native, Model-Independent Web Search for Pi using OpenAI Codex Standalone Search Engine. pi-gpt-search gives any Pi model Gemini, Claude, local models, OpenRouter real-time web search capabilities by reusing OpenAI Codex's standalone web retrieval infrastructure - with ZERO GPT Model Inference Turns and ZERO GPT Tokens Consumed . Install via npm: pi install npm:pi-gpt-search Or install via GitHub: pi install https://github.com/mateusdcc/pi-gpt-search Or install project-locally for your current repository -l flag : pi install npm:pi-gpt-search -l Or try it temporarily in a single session without installing: pi -e npm:pi-gpt-search - 🚀 Zero GPT Tokens Spent: Pure web retrieval via OpenAI's backend endpoint. No GPT/Codex LLM turns are executed, meaning 0 input tokens, 0 output tokens, and 0 reasoning credits are billed . - 👑 Model Sovereign: Your active Pi model e.g., Gemini 3.5 Flash / Gemini 3.1 Pro remains the sole reasoning model. - 🛠️ Slash Command & LLM Tools: Works both automatically as LLM tools codex-search & codex-research and as a direct user command /gpt-search . - 🔑 Credential Reuse: Automatically uses your existing codex login session ~/.codex/auth.json or custom .env tokens. - 🛡️ Data Privacy: Query-only by default. Does not send conversation history, project files, or system prompts to search. Pi Coding Agent └── Gemini or active model ├── codex-search query: "latest Rust release" │ └── Codex/OpenAI Standalone Search API /codex/alpha/search │ └── Structured Results Title, URL, Snippet │ └── Gemini continues reasoning & answers user │ └── codex-research search query: ... , open: ... , find: ... └── Multi-Step Web Research Harness └── Deep document content, pattern matching & citations Run either Codex tool yourself without spending LLM tokens: /codex-search Rust 1.97 release notes /codex-research OpenAI Codex GitHub repository Use codex-search for a quick lookup and codex-research when you want more comprehensive results. The direct commands preserve their tool defaults: short for codex-search and long for codex-research . /gpt-search <query remains available as a simple legacy alias. Ask any model a question requiring current facts single-query lookup : pi --model antigravity/gemini-3.5-flash "What is the latest release of Rust and what changed?" The model uses it automatically for quick lookups that need current information. PI WEB SEARCH DEBUG req id=maqk8a5 query="latest Rust release version and date 2026" provider=codex PI WEB SEARCH DEBUG req id=maqk8a5 status=200 elapsed ms=1863 results=41 Ask models to conduct deep, iterative web research with multi-query execution, page content inspection, pattern finding, and link navigation. The model manages the research steps and sources for you. The pre-rename tool name web is kept as a backward-compatible alias. It delegates to the same implementation as codex-research and prepends a deprecation notice on every invocation. New integrations should use codex-research directly. Pi Coding Agent: pi CLI installed v0.80+ . Node.js: v18.0.0 or higher. OpenAI Codex Auth: An authenticated Codex session run codex login in terminal, or set CODEX ACCESS TOKEN in .env . If you prefer manual placement instead of pi install : Global All projects mkdir -p ~/.pi/agent/extensions cp -r pi-gpt-search ~/.pi/agent/extensions/ Project-local mkdir -p .pi/extensions cp -r pi-gpt-search .pi/extensions/ Copy .env.example to .env if you want to explicitly override your Codex access token: cp .env.example .env Edit .env : Optional: If unset, automatically reads ~/.codex/auth.json CODEX ACCESS TOKEN=your token here CODEX ACCOUNT ID=your account id here Enable debug logging PI WEB SEARCH DEBUG=1 Security Note:Never commit .env to Git. .env is listed in .gitignore . pi-gpt-search comes with a 4-level test suite: npm test Test suite breakdown: Unit Tests Schema validation, DTO normalization, error classes, output formatting, collapsible display. unit.test.ts , commands.test.ts , normalize.test.ts , output.test.ts , web-tool.test.ts : Integration Tests Mock server handling for 200, 401, 403, 429, 500, timeouts, cancellation. provider-integration.test.ts : Real Search Test Live execution against OpenAI's search endpoint and session continuity. real-search.test.ts & real-endpoint.test.ts : Zero-GPT Verification Network interception test proving zero-gpt.test.ts : 0 GPT inference calls are made. E2E Research Harness Suite Full end-to-end multi-step web research test suite. e2e-research.test.ts : HOW-IT-WORKS.md /mateusdcc/pi-gpt-search/blob/main/HOW-IT-WORKS.md - Deep architectural breakdown of modules, data flow, TUI renderers, context isolation, and cancellation. HOW-IT-WAS-EXTRACT.md /mateusdcc/pi-gpt-search/blob/main/HOW-IT-WAS-EXTRACT.md - Reverse-engineering guide documenting how the standalone search endpoint was discovered. Search Index Scope: Returns search result snippets, URLs, and document views; does not include a full headless browser DOM renderer. Session Auth: Requires an active ChatGPT/Codex login session codex login . Expired sessions require running codex login to re-authenticate. MIT License.