AI companions are quietly becoming a staple across the industry, and OpenAI is now joining the trend. The company has launched Codex Pets, an optional animated companion baked into its AI coding tool.

Like most AI companions, it isn’t doing any heavy lifting. But Codex Pets earns its keep as a floating overlay that surfaces project status updates in real-time, so you don’t have to switch tabs. Users can monitor active threads and track whether Codex is running, waiting on input, or ready for review, all without ever leaving whatever they’re working on.

Getting started is straightforward. Head to Settings, select Appearance, then choose Pets to pick from the built-in options. Once activated, the floating overlay can be toggled on or off by typing /pet in the composer, using Wake Pet or Tuck Away Pet in Settings > Appearance, or by pressing Cmd+K on Mac or Ctrl+K on Windows.

The feature ships with eight built-in variations — including a cat and dog — but the more interesting play is the custom pet creator. Users can prompt Codex directly to generate their own companion, then share it online. A quick scroll through the homepage reveals the community has already gotten to work. Current creations include Goku, Patrick Star, Microsoft’s long-retired Clippy, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and — naturally — a goblin.

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.