Today we’re announcing that OpenAI will acquire Astral(opens in a new window), bringing powerful open source developer tools into our Codex ecosystem.
Astral has built some of the most widely used open source Python tools, helping developers move faster with modern tooling like uv, Ruff,andty. These tools power millions of developer workflows and have become part of the foundation of modern Python development. As part of our developer-first philosophy, after closing OpenAI plans to support Astral’s open source products. By bringing Astral’s tooling and engineering expertise to OpenAI, we will accelerate our work on Codex and expand what AI can do across the software development lifecycle.
## Expanding Codex beyond coding
Codex has already seen 3x user growth and 5x usage increase since the start of the year, and has over 2 million weekly active users.
Our goal with Codex is to move beyond AI that simply generates code and toward systems that can participate in the entire development workflow—helping plan changes, modify codebases, run tools, verify results, and maintain software over time. Astral’s developer tools sit directly in that workflow. By integrating these systems with Codex after closing, we will enable AI agents to work more directly with the tools developers already rely on every day.
> “Astral has always focused on building tools that transform how developers work with Python—helping them ship better software, faster. As part of Codex, we’ll continue evolving our open source tools to push the frontier of software development.”
— Charlie Marsh, Founder & CEO of Astral
## Strengthening the Python ecosystem
Python has become one of the most important languages in modern software development, powering everything from AI and data science to backend systems and developer infrastructure.
Astral’s open source tools already play a key role in that ecosystem:
Together these tools help developers manage projects, enforce quality, and catch errors early in the development process. With Astral joining OpenAI, we’ll continue to support these open source projects while exploring ways they can work more seamlessly with Codex—enabling AI systems to operate across the full Python development workflow. Our aim is simple: help developers move faster while maintaining the reliability and performance their workflows depend on.
> “Astral’s tools are used by millions of Python developers. By bringing their expertise and ecosystem to OpenAI, we’re accelerating our vision for Codex as the agent most capable of working across the entire software developer lifecycle.”
— Thibault Sottiaux, Codex Lead at OpenAI
The closing of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approval. Until the closing, OpenAI and Astral will remain separate and independent companies.
After closing, the Astral team will join the Codex team at OpenAI and over time, we’ll explore deeper integrations that allow Codex to interact more directly with the tools developers already use, helping develop Codex into a true collaborator across the development lifecycle. Our goal remains the same: build AI systems that help people create, learn, and build faster, and make powerful development tools accessible to more people everywhere. We’re excited to welcome the Astral team to OpenAI after we close.
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