Stop using Claude? Why so many power users are switching to OpenAI Codex

There’s a growing camp of AI power users who say OpenAI’s Codex is quietly becoming the “super app” for AI agents. Instead of bouncing between ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Notion AI, and a dozen browser extensions, they’re doing almost all of their knowledge work, coding, research, and even video creation inside one interface: Codex.

This article breaks down what Codex actually is, how it compares to tools like Claude and Cursor, and how to get started in a way that feels practical rather than overwhelming.

What Codex actually is (and how it differs from ChatGPT)

Codex is not just “ChatGPT in a different skin.” You can think of it as a desktop workspace built around a state-of-the-art OpenAI model (like GPT 5.5) that can:

• Chat like ChatGPT
• Build and run apps ("vibe coding")
• Create and edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations
• Control a built-in browser
• Control your actual computer via “computer use”
• Run automations on a schedule
• Plug into tools like Notion, Slack, email, Remotion, and Canva

Where ChatGPT is mostly a conversational interface, Codex is designed as a full working environment for AI agents. The model lives in the center, but the real power comes from how it connects to files, skills, plugins, and your operating system.

The new default interface for AI agents

OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), and tools like Cursor are all converging on a similar layout for AI work:

• Folders or projects on the left
• Individual chats/threads inside each project
• The main conversation in the middle
• A live preview pane on the right (apps, docs, browser, videos, etc.)

Codex leans into this pattern hard. You can create a project (say, “Startup ideas podcast”), and every new chat you open in that context gets saved as a thread under that project. That makes it much easier to keep research, drafts, code, and experiments grouped together instead of scattered across random chats.

Why some users prefer Codex over Claude and Cursor

There’s no single “right” AI stack, and if you’re productive in Claude or Cursor, you don’t have to switch. But there are a few reasons serious builders are gravitating to Codex as their daily driver:

1. Coding and knowledge work in one place

Claude splits its experience into Claude Code and Claude Co-Work, with different capabilities and permissions. Codex keeps everything in one product: the same interface can ship a web app, write a report, generate slides, and browse the web.

That matters if you’re doing “vibe coding” – describing what you want and letting the AI build it – and then immediately turning that work into docs, decks, or landing pages. In Codex, apps, docs, spreadsheets, and presentations are all first-class citizens.

2. Strong performance on complex coding and infra

Teams that have benchmarked Codex’s models against Claude and others report that Codex tends to win on harder, more complex tasks: infrastructure, multi-service apps, and long-running builds. There are examples of one-shotting full tools (like a Replit-style sandboxed coding environment) in a single Codex session, even on older models like GPT 5.4.

3. Deep integration with OpenAI’s ecosystem

Because Codex is OpenAI’s own app, it gets tight integration with their latest models and features:

• GPT 5.5 with adjustable effort levels (low, medium, extra high)
• GPT Image 2 for state-of-the-art image generation
• Sora as a plugin (even if it’s not yet the best video option)
• A built-in Atlas-style browser that’s evolving into a full login-persistent browser

On top of that, you can still use other models like Claude inside Codex via the terminal, so you’re not locked into a single vendor.

Projects, docs, and “vibe coding” in Codex

Codex is built for multitasking. Within a project, you can spin up new chats with a shortcut, let multiple agents work in parallel, and see which threads have finished via simple status indicators.

From any chat, Codex can:

• Build interactive web apps (e.g., a physics-based train simulator with a crash counter)
• Create spreadsheets with charts and tables
• Generate and edit Word-style documents
• Build slide decks that you can export to tools like Canva for polishing

Because everything lives in the same workspace, you can go from “research this market,” to “summarize the findings in a doc,” to “turn this into a pitch deck” without switching tools. For founders and creators constantly juggling landing pages, lead magnets, and internal docs, that all-in-one flow is a big deal.

Browser use: agents that actually use the web

Early attempts at AI-controlled browsers were slow and clunky – think dial-up internet. Codex’s browser use is noticeably faster and more reliable, and it’s integrated directly into the right-hand pane of the app.

Today, Codex can:

• Open sites in its in-app browser
• Click around and interact with pages
• Run tests on web apps it just built (for example, playing a chess game against itself inside the browser)

The roadmap is for Codex’s browser to become a full, login-persistent browser (essentially folding OpenAI’s Atlas project into Codex). That would mean:

• Staying logged into tools like Notion, Slack, Gmail, and SaaS dashboards
• Letting agents perform almost any web-based task a human can
• Organizing work around tasks and chats instead of around browser tabs

Once that’s stable and fast, a huge chunk of “knowledge work” can be delegated to agents that live inside Codex.

Computer use and Chronicle: AI that sees your screen

Beyond the in-app browser, Codex includes a “computer use” mode that can literally move your mouse and control desktop apps. In practice, that means Codex can:

• Open Canva, click through menus, export a file, and bring it back into Codex
• Operate multiple apps at once, not just a single browser tab
• Handle UI-heavy workflows that used to require manual clicking

There’s also a newer feature called Chronicle. When enabled, Chronicle watches your screen to gather context about what you’re working on and stores that as “memories” for Codex. In theory, this lets Codex respond more intelligently without you having to re-explain everything.

However, Chronicle raises real privacy and security questions. It’s something to evaluate carefully, especially on personal or sensitive machines. On a dedicated work laptop used for experimentation, it can be a powerful way to keep agents “in the loop” on your current tasks.

Skills vs plugins: how Codex extends itself

Codex uses a slightly confusing mix of terminology: plugins, skills, MCPs, integrations. The simplest mental model is:

• Plugins: official, OpenAI-approved integrations that show up in the Plugins tab (Slack, Notion, Remotion, Canva, email, etc.)
• Skills: custom capabilities you define yourself, usually stored as a folder with a skill.md file that contains instructions and logic

In the interface, both show up under Plugins & Skills, but they behave a bit differently:

• You reference plugins with @ (e.g., @Remotion, @browser use)
• You reference skills with / (slash commands)

Despite the messy naming, Codex makes it relatively easy to build reusable skills. You can simply tell the AI, “Create a skill that does X,” where X is a repetitive workflow you want to automate. It will ask clarifying questions, generate the skill, and make it available as a slash command for future chats.

If you’re interested in reusable, cross-agent capabilities, it’s worth also reading about the broader concept of skills in AI workflows in this guide on building reusable skills instead of one-off agents.

Connecting Codex to Notion, Slack, email, and more

Codex becomes far more useful once it’s connected to the tools where your work already lives. With the right plugins enabled, you can:

• Connect Slack and ask Codex to summarize everything relevant to you across dozens of channels
• Connect email and have Codex surface important messages or draft replies
• Connect Notion and give Codex access to specific databases or team spaces (with granular permissions)

For example, you might:

• Use Notion as your “second brain” but let Codex handle research, summarization, and content generation
• Store high-quality examples of reports, emails, or decks in Notion, then have Codex reference them as patterns for new outputs
• Limit Codex’s Notion access to a single workspace or database if you’re worried about privacy or accidental edits

Remotion and Codex: motion graphics from code

Remotion is a tool that turns code into motion graphics videos. On its own, it’s powerful but technical. Paired with Codex, you can describe the video you want in natural language and let the AI write the Remotion code for you.

Inside Codex, you can:

• Enable the Remotion plugin
• Use @Remotion in any chat to create or update a video
• Keep a “brand assets” project with your logos, fonts, and colors so Codex can automatically pull them into new videos

This workflow has been used to produce high-quality launch videos and social clips that have reached hundreds of thousands of views. It’s not quite “one prompt and done” – you still iterate – but Codex + Remotion gets you from idea to polished motion graphics much faster than traditional video tools.

If you’re exploring other ways to go from static assets to rich visuals, you might also be interested in tools that convert images into 3D models, like the workflow described in this Hiten3D guide.

Automations: turning one-off workflows into recurring agents

One of Codex’s most underrated features is its Automations tab. The idea is simple:

1. Do a task once with Codex (for example, “Analyze my last 10 YouTube videos and tell me what I’m doing wrong.”)
2. Once you’re happy with the output, tell Codex: “Turn this into an automation that runs every Friday at 9am.”
3. Codex creates a scheduled automation tied to that project, which you can view, edit, and run manually for testing.

Common automations include:

• Twice-daily summaries of Slack and email, delivered as a concise report with links
• Weekly negative-only content audits for a channel, product, or landing page
• Regular market research updates compiled into a doc and slide deck

Instead of trying to design automations upfront, it’s often easier to:

• Solve a real problem once in a normal chat
• Refine the output until it’s genuinely useful
• Then promote that workflow into a scheduled automation

Using Claude inside Codex via the terminal

If you still love Claude – especially for design or certain coding styles – you don’t have to give it up. Codex includes a full terminal (opened with a shortcut like Command+J), and you can run Claude directly inside it.

For example, you can:

• Build the core of an app in Codex
• Open the terminal and run a Claude command (e.g., claude with a prompt) to redesign the UI or refine copy
• Apply Claude’s changes back into the Codex project

This hybrid approach lets you take advantage of Codex’s interface, browser, computer use, and automations while still tapping into Claude’s strengths and subscription economics.

Costs, models, and effort levels

GPT 5.5 is a premium model. Via the API, it’s roughly twice as expensive as GPT 5.4 and about 20% more expensive than Claude Opus 4.7. However, it also tends to be more “intent-efficient”: it often solves complex tasks in fewer iterations and with fewer missteps.

Inside Codex, you can tune how hard the model tries:

• Low / medium effort: good for small edits or quick tasks
• Extra high effort: best for complex builds, deep research, or multi-step workflows

Using extra high effort for trivial changes can slow things down and waste credits, so many experienced users default to low or medium and only crank it up when they truly need it.

How to get started with Codex without getting overwhelmed

If you’re new to Codex, it’s easy to feel paralyzed by the possibilities. A practical way in is to treat the first few hours as structured play, not a productivity test.

Step 1: Install Codex and create your first project

• Install Codex (it’s included if you already pay for ChatGPT Plus / Pro / Team, depending on OpenAI’s current packaging).
• Create a project named after something real you’re working on (e.g., “Newsletter,” “SaaS launch,” “Client X”).
• Start a few chats inside that project so you can see how threads are organized.

Step 2: Try three “play” projects

1. Have Codex build a simple game (like chess or a small simulator) and then use browser use to have the AI play against itself. This shows you how coding + browser use work together.
2. Ask for deep research on a topic you care about. Tell Codex to:
• Research the topic in depth
• Organize findings into a spreadsheet
• Turn that into a concise document
• Then generate a slide deck from the doc
3. Build a small 3D or UI demo or a simple mobile app (if you have Xcode and a Mac). Upload your existing website’s code and ask Codex to scaffold a Swift app version.

Step 3: Map your real workflows to Codex skills and automations

• Spend 15–20 minutes talking into your phone or writing out everything you do in a typical week, step by step.
• Highlight anything repetitive that happens on a computer (reporting, summarizing, content prep, simple ops).
• Pick one annoying task and ask Codex to help you do it once, using plugins (Slack, Notion, email) if needed.
• Once the output is good, tell Codex to turn that workflow into an automation on a schedule.

From there, you can gradually add more skills and automations as you discover what actually saves you time.

Mindset: tinkering beats perfectionism

The people getting the most leverage from tools like Codex aren’t the ones who demand perfect ROI in the first 30 minutes. They’re the ones willing to tinker, look a little dumb while they learn, and follow their curiosity down rabbit holes about models, agents, and workflows.

If you treat Codex as a playground for experiments – and then promote the best experiments into reusable skills and automations – it can evolve into a true “super app” for your work: coding, content, research, and operations all in one place.

Whether you fully switch from Claude or just add Codex to your stack, the key is to stop passively watching AI demos and start building small, concrete workflows that make your own day easier.