codex vs pi
The two are close in size: 121.6k stars for codex, 102.0k for pi. Over the days we have tracked them codex moved +23.1% and pi +42%, so pi is growing faster right now.
They split the axes: codex leads on setup ease, pi on context depth and customization and model freedom.
Stars and commit dates come from our own daily tracking. The six axes are read off each project's documentation by our review pipeline, so they describe what a project says about itself, not what we measured in its code.
Where they stand today
A lightweight, local-first terminal coding agent that you can install and run with one command while signing in to ChatGPT or using your OpenAI API key.
- Stars
- 121.6k
- Tracked growth
- +23.1%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 5h ago
- Language
- Rust
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Cost to run
- Sign in with a ChatGPT plan or use your OpenAI API key
An open-source, self-extensible coding agent harness that bundles a unified multi-provider LLM API, agent runtime, CLI and terminal UI in one project.
- Stars
- 102.0k
- Tracked growth
- +42%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 24m ago
- Language
- TypeScript
- License
- MIT
- Cost to run
- Your API key for cloud models
Six axes, head to head
Each axis runs 0 to 5. The label under a score is what that project's own docs claim, not a category average.
| Axis | codex | pi |
|---|---|---|
Context depth How much of your codebase it sees before it answers: the open diff, the diff plus related files, or the whole repository. | ●●●●● Diff/file only | ●●●●● Diff + related files |
Noise control How it keeps output volume down — severity thresholds, deduplication, incremental runs over new commits only. | ●●●●● None mentioned | ●●●●● None mentioned |
Customization How far it bends to your team: custom rules, prompts, style guides, per-path config. | ●●●●● No customization | ●●●●● Config & extensions |
Privacy Whether your code stays on your own infrastructure: fully local, self-hostable, or cloud API only. | ●●●●● Cloud (ChatGPT/API) | ●●●●● Self-hostable |
Model freedom Whether you can point it at any provider, or it is wired to one. | ●●●●● OpenAI only | ●●●●● Multiple providers |
Setup ease What it takes to get a first useful run out of it. | ●●●●● One-command install | ●●●●● Config + API key |
Which one to pick
Pick codex if…
Easy setup — one-command install to run a local CLI coding agent that integrates with your ChatGPT plan or OpenAI API key.
- Setup ease: One-command install (5/5 against 3/5)
Pick pi if…
Privacy-friendly — can run locally or in a container while supporting multiple LLM providers via a unified API.
- Context depth: Diff + related files (3/5 against 1/5)
- Customization: Config & extensions (3/5 against 1/5)
- Model freedom: Multiple providers (3/5 against 1/5)
What people want from each one
openai/codex
Hacker News: Replit's new Code LLM: Open Source, 77% smaller than Codex, trained in 1 week drew 891 points and 220 comments.
earendil-works/pi
Questions people ask
Is codex better than pi?
They split the axes: codex leads on setup ease, pi on context depth and customization and model freedom. codex is worth picking when easy setup — one-command install to run a local CLI coding agent that integrates with your ChatGPT plan or OpenAI API key.
Which of codex and pi keeps my code private?
codex: Cloud (ChatGPT/API) (3/5). pi: Self-hostable (4/5).
What does each one cost to run?
codex: Sign in with a ChatGPT plan or use your OpenAI API key. pi: Your API key for cloud models.
Full profiles: openai/codex and earendil-works/pi. Everything else in CLI coding agents.