OpenAI buys Ona to push Codex toward long-running, autonomous coding tasks

OpenAI is acquiring Ona, the startup formerly known as Gitpod, to enhance its Codex product with persistent, customer-controlled cloud development environments. The integration will allow Codex agents to run autonomous coding tasks for hours or days, even when a user's laptop is closed, as OpenAI competes with Anthropic's Claude Code for long-running software development. The deal, which requires regulatory approval, comes as Codex usage has surged to over 5 million weekly users.

OpenAI buys Ona to push Codex toward long-running, autonomous coding tasks OpenAI is acquiring Ona, previously known as Gitpod, a startup founded in Kiel, Germany in 2020 that specializes in AI agents and secure cloud development environments for software development. The acquisition aims to expand OpenAI's Codex product https://the-decoder.com/openai-launches-codex-autonomous-ai-agents-for-software-development/ with persistent, customer-controlled work environments. According to OpenAI, Codex is used by more than 5 million people per week https://the-decoder.com/openai-makes-its-ai-coding-assistant-codex-available-on-ios-and-android/ , a 400 percent increase from the beginning of the year. After the integration, Codex will be able to continue tasks over hours or days, even when the user's laptop is closed. The agents run in each company's own cloud, while OpenAI provides the models and orchestration. Agents need "more than intelligence," they need a "trusted workplace," said Ona CEO Johannes Landgraf. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals. The purchase targets competition with Anthropic, whose Claude Code https://the-decoder.com/openai-launches-a-codex-plugin-that-runs-inside-anthropics-claude-code/ is considered the leader for long-running coding tasks. Just in March, OpenAI had brought the Python tools uv and Ruff into the Codex ecosystem https://the-decoder.com/openai-acquires-astral-to-bring-pythons-most-popular-dev-tools-into-its-codex-ai-coding-platform/ through its acquisition of Astral, while it, like Anthropic, is taking its first steps toward an IPO https://the-decoder.com/openai-says-going-public-is-a-complicated-set-of-tradeoffs-and-is-unsure-about-the-timing/ . AI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans Subscribe to THE DECODER for ad-free reading, a weekly AI newsletter, our exclusive "AI Radar" frontier report six times a year, full archive access, and access to our comment section. Subscribe now OpenAI https://openai.com/index/openai-to-acquire-ona/