Use Codex CLI with your ChatGPT account or an OpenAI API key. The Codex app or IDE extension alone does not install the CLI.
What you need
- Node.js and npm for the CLI installation below.
- A ChatGPT account with Codex access, or an OpenAI API key. Availability depends on your account.
- Repository access through gh or glab plus a local clone.
Install and authenticate
Install the official Codex CLI package with npm on macOS, Linux or Windows.
npm install -g @openai/codexStart the login flow, then check the authentication method reported by Codex.
codex login
codex login statusUse the account sign-in flow or follow Codex’s official API-key authentication instructions. Never paste a secret into a skill file or a review prompt.
Windows sandbox (Beta)
On Windows, run Codex once interactively to complete its sandbox setup before reviewing in CodeCrab.
codexAccept the sandbox setup and approve the administrator prompt if Windows asks. If a CodeCrab review fails with a sandbox error, complete this setup and retry.
Choose Codex and its model
- Open Settings → Models → Codex and click Use Codex.
- Choose Local default or a model listed for your account.
- If the model list is empty, open Codex once in the CLI or app, then refresh the list in CodeCrab.
If Codex is the only ready agent, CodeCrab selects it automatically. Shared profiles, skills, past reviews and deep dives stay available when switching to or from another agent.
Sandbox and session boundaries
CodeCrab runs a one-off Codex session in its read-only sandbox, with no network inside that sandbox. Codex can read files and run read-only commands such as rg or git log, but cannot edit files. CodeCrab fetches the PR/MR data itself.
This session is not saved to your Codex history. CodeCrab does not change ~/.codex/config.toml.