The feature is live on Windows and macOS, with eight built-in companions plus custom pets users can create with the /hatch command.
The animated overlays show Codex's active thread, alert users when tasks finish and flag when input is needed, reducing the need to switch away from another open app.
Users can summon or dismiss pets with /pet, and OpenAI is offering 30 days of ChatGPT Pro for 10 favourite user-generated companions for a limited time.
As AI agents gain autonomy, are gamified pets a helpful interface or a dangerous distraction from the underlying risks?
Can cute AI companions fix a powerful coding tool's low adoption and serious security concerns?