OpenAI has launched Codex Pets, an optional animated companion for its AI coding tool that functions as a floating overlay to surface project status updates in real-time, allowing users to monitor active threads and track whether Codex is running, waiting on input, or ready for review without switching tabs. Users can activate the feature by heading to Settings, selecting Appearance, then choosing Pets from built-in options, and can toggle the overlay on or off by typing /pet in the composer, using Wake Pet or Tuck Away Pet in Settings > Appearance, or pressing Cmd+K on Mac or Ctrl+K on Windows. The feature ships with eight built-in variations including a cat and dog, and includes a custom pet creator where users can prompt Codex to generate their own companion and share it online; current community creations include Goku, Patrick Star, Microsoft's long-retired Clippy, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and 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.