GoKawiilOpenAI launches Agents API built on Codex harness
OpenAI has released an Agents API that gives developers programmatic access to its Codex agent harness, handling session management, orchestration, context compaction and recovery on OpenAI's servers. Applications supply tools and choose an execution environment, including an OpenAI-hosted sandbox where agents can run code, edit files, and connect to MCP servers. Billing follows standard model, tool, and container rates, and OpenAI has published sample use cases like incident-response bots and GitHub issue investigators.
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By managing orchestration and recovery itself, OpenAI is positioning its infrastructure as the default backend for autonomous coding and workflow agents, reducing the engineering burden on developers building agentic apps. This could accelerate adoption of agent-based automation but also deepens reliance on OpenAI's hosted infrastructure and pricing model for anything beyond simple chat completions.
- OpenAI's new Agents API exposes the Codex harness for building autonomous agents.
- OpenAI handles sessions, orchestration and recovery; developers supply tools and environments.
- Sandboxed agents can execute code, edit files, and connect to MCP servers, billed at standard rates.
AI Engineering" by Chip Huyen (O'Reilly) — If you're wiring up agents with OpenAI's Agents API, this O'Reilly book walks through building real applications on top of foundation models, from tool use and evaluation to deployment. It's a great companion for developers moving from API demos to production agent systems like incident-response bots and data analysts.
See AI Engineering" by Chip Huyen (O'Reilly) on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: developers.openai.com, 2026-09-10
Published there as: “OpenAI Agents API”
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