Codex by OpenAI

To use Codex, OpenAI’s AI model for translating natural language into code (part of GPT-4 and previously available as a standalone API), you can follow these steps depending on your use case:

🔧 1. Use Codex via OpenAI API (Programmatic Access)

OpenAI’s Codex is now integrated into the GPT-4 API with code-specific instructions. You can still write prompts like:

textCopyEdit# Python program to read a CSV and plot a graph

✅ Requirements:

• OpenAI API key
• Python + openai Python package

🧪 Sample Code:

pythonCopyEditimport openai

openai.api_key = "your-api-key"

response = openai.ChatCompletion.create(
  model="gpt-4",
  messages=[
    {"role": "user", "content": "Write a Python script that reads a CSV and plots a bar chart of the data"}
  ]
)

print(response['choices'][0]['message']['content'])

💻 2. Use Codex in ChatGPT

If you’re using ChatGPT with GPT-4, you’re already using Codex capabilities when asking it to write, explain, or debug code. Just type your natural language instruction like:

“Write a function in JavaScript that checks if a string is a palindrome.”

Or

“Convert this Python code to Rust.”

🛠️ 3. Use in VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

Codex powers GitHub Copilot, which you can use in VS Code:

✅ Steps:

1. Install VS Code
2. Install GitHub Copilot extension
3. Authenticate with your GitHub account
4. Start coding — Copilot provides real-time suggestions

You can write comments like:

pythonCopyEdit# Create a function that returns the nth Fibonacci number

Copilot will auto-suggest code.

🧠 4. Use with Playground (for experimentation)

You can also use Codex via the OpenAI Playground:

• Choose “GPT-4” or “GPT-3.5”
• Write natural language prompts like:

textCopyEditCreate a Python script that scrapes all image URLs from a webpage using BeautifulSoup.

🔐 Licensing Note

Codex-based models (e.g., GPT-3.5, GPT-4) are commercial tools, and you need an OpenAI or GitHub Copilot subscription for full access.

Openai.com announcements on 16 May 2025 here: