{"slug": "my-colleague-wanted-a-nerdy-niche-tool-for-his-macbook-codex-whipped-it-up-in", "title": "My colleague wanted a nerdy, niche tool for his MacBook. Codex whipped it up in minutes.", "summary": "Business Insider AI reporter Stephen Council used OpenAI's Codex tool to build a custom clipboard manager for his MacBook in under six minutes, without writing any code. The tool, created from a 190-word prompt, adds nine copy-paste slots to his workflow, demonstrating the practical utility of AI-powered software development for niche personal tools.", "body_md": "Every week in the AI Playground section of our [Tech Memo](https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/tech-memo) newsletter, we feature folks trying an AI tool, or sometimes I test stuff out myself.\n\nThis week, we hear from Business Insider's star AI reporter [Stephen Council](https://www.businessinsider.com/author/stephen-council). He's been using OpenAI's Codex tool to build software stuff without using code. OpenAI [merged Codex with ChatGPT](https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-codex-chatgpt-app-releases-gpt-5-6-models-2026-7) this week, so this is good timing.\n\n*I adore the copy-paste tool. Every day, it saves me from misspelling names, misquoting sources, wasting time on rewriting… I could go on and on. It's quick and easy and basically perfect.*\n\n*This week, **Codex** made it better. I've long wanted a version of copy-paste that lets me store multiple strings of text at once, so I can copy something new without losing what I'd copied before. There are clipboard managers for this online, but they often cost money, or add a pop-up and additional clicks — exactly the slowdowns I don't want.*\n\n*I gave OpenAI's tool a 190-word prompt, and voila! Five minutes and 26 seconds later, Codex handed me my app.*\n\n*Now, I have 9 different copy-paste slots on my work MacBook. Command-c and command-v work as normal, that's slot one. But now I can keep additional names, quotes, and links at the tip of my tongue: cmd-c-2 copies text for cmd-v-2, cmd-c-3 ties to cmd-v-3, and on and on. The app hangs out on my menu bar, so if I want to see what each slot is storing, it's all a click away.*\n\n*Very satisfying. It's exactly the niche and nerdy case that **vibe coding** is good for.*\n\n*Sign up for BI's Tech Memo newsletter *[here](https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/tech-memo)*. Reach out to me via email at *[abarr@businessinsider.com](mailto:abarr@businessinsider.com)*.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/my-colleague-wanted-a-nerdy-niche-tool-for-his-macbook-codex-whipped-it-up-in", "canonical_source": "https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-codex-niche-macbook-idea-five-minutes-vide-coding-2026-7", "published_at": "2026-07-11 12:02:01+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-11 12:58:53.609927+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-tools", "ai-products", "generative-ai", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["OpenAI", "Codex", "ChatGPT", "Stephen Council", "Business Insider", "MacBook"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/my-colleague-wanted-a-nerdy-niche-tool-for-his-macbook-codex-whipped-it-up-in", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/my-colleague-wanted-a-nerdy-niche-tool-for-his-macbook-codex-whipped-it-up-in.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/my-colleague-wanted-a-nerdy-niche-tool-for-his-macbook-codex-whipped-it-up-in.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/my-colleague-wanted-a-nerdy-niche-tool-for-his-macbook-codex-whipped-it-up-in.jsonld"}}