Integration into Codex: OpenAI acquires startup Astral

ChatGPT maker OpenAI is acquiring Astral, a startup that develops and integrates established open-source programs for Python into the Codex platform. Both companies announced this on Thursday. OpenAI is thus further expanding its commitment in the rapidly growing market for coding and developer services.

OpenAI's goal is to expand Codex beyond programming into a more comprehensive offering of developer services. According to the company, the Codex ecosystem has seen a threefold increase in user numbers since the beginning of the year, with currently over two million weekly active users. "Our goal with Codex is to go beyond pure code generation and develop systems that support the entire development process – from planning changes, modifying codebases, and executing tools to verifying results and long-term software maintenance," says a statement from OpenAI.

Integration of Astral tools into Codex

Astral has developed some of the most used open-source Python tools, such as uv, Ruff, and ty. Python is one of the most important languages in modern software development. By integrating the development tools into Codex, OpenAI aims to enable AI agents to have direct access to local development environments. "Astral has always focused on developing tools that revolutionize the work of developers with Python and help them build better software faster," said Astral founder and CEO Charlie Marsh. "As part of Codex, we will continue to develop our open-source tools to push the boundaries of software development."

The Python tools developed by Astral will continue to remain open source. "In line with our philosophy and OpenAI's announcement, OpenAI will continue to support our open-source tools even after the acquisition is complete. We will continue to develop openly and collaboratively with our community – and for the entire Python ecosystem – just as we have from the beginning," writes Marsh in a blog post.

"Astral's tools are used by millions of Python developers. By bringing their expertise and ecosystem into OpenAI, we are accelerating our vision to make Codex the optimal agent for the entire software development lifecycle," explained Thibault Sottiaux, Codex Lead at OpenAI.

The Astral deal, which is still subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval, is the latest in a series of acquisitions by OpenAI. Earlier this month, the ChatGPT developer announced the acquisition of the AI security platform Promptfoo, which helps companies identify and fix vulnerabilities in AI systems during development. Promptfoo's technology is to be integrated directly into OpenAI Frontier, a platform for developing and operating AI employees. Shortly before that, OpenAI also reached a definitive agreement to acquire AI startup Neptune, after already having bought the developer of the Apple Shortcuts app, Software Applications Incorporated, at the end of last year.

(akn)