Codex on Linux

Yes, Codex runs on Linux, in two official ways. The Codex CLI has always worked in a Linux terminal. Since August 2026, the ChatGPT desktop app, with Codex inside it, has a Linux preview. What the preview cannot do yet is where most Linux questions come from: driving it from your phone, and Computer Use.

This page sorts every way to run Codex on Linux, checked against OpenAI's docs on 1 November 2026. We build Orage, one of the options below, on Linux machines, and say where it does and does not fit.

The short answer

• Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04, Debian 13, Fedora 43 or 44, or Arch: install the ChatGPT desktop app for Linux. Codex is the coding agent inside it.
• Another distribution, a server, or you live in the terminal: install the Codex CLI with one command.
• You want the work to go on while your laptop sleeps, or to follow it from your phone: the Linux app cannot be driven from the phone today. Use Codex cloud tasks, or a remote Codex such as Orage.

Every way, compared

The official app (preview)

OpenAI released the ChatGPT desktop app for Linux on 11 August 2026 (announcement). It brings ChatGPT and Codex into one app, for x64 and ARM64. Arch Linux was added to the supported list in September. Other distributions may work, but OpenAI does not support them.

On Ubuntu or Debian, download the .deb from the Linux guide, then:

sudo apt install ./chatgpt_amd64.deb

On Fedora, with the .rpm:

sudo dnf install ./chatgpt.x86_64.rpm

On Arch, OpenAI ships a script that adds its signed package repository and runs a full system upgrade:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -fL -o install-arch.sh \
  https://persistent.oaistatic.com/codex-app-prod/linux/install-arch.sh
sudo bash install-arch.sh

Then open ChatGPT from your applications menu, or run chatgpt, and sign in. Updates come through apt, dnf or pacman like any other package. OpenAI does not ship a Flatpak or an AppImage.

What the Linux preview does not do yet

• No control from your phone. The desktop app can be driven from ChatGPT on iOS or Android, but OpenAI's remote connections guide lists macOS and Windows hosts only, and that host must stay awake. The Linux app still shows a "Control this PC" code, and people who scan it get "Pairing Failed". OpenAI support answered that Linux hosts have no timeline yet.
• No Computer Use. It works on macOS and Windows; OpenAI says a future release will add Linux.
• Wayland is experimental. The app runs through XWayland by default. chatgpt --ozone-platform=wayland starts it on native Wayland, where floating windows, focus and some shortcuts may not work yet. In the launch thread, Wayland and high resolution screens are the most reported trouble, along with Japanese and Korean input through Fcitx5.

Install the Codex CLI on Linux

The CLI is the same Codex agent in your terminal, and it runs on any distribution, on a desktop or on a server. OpenAI's CLI guide gives two ways on Linux:

# The standalone installer
curl -fsSL https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.sh | sh

# With Node.js
npm install -g @openai/codex

Run the same command again to update.

You can also download codex-x86_64-unknown-linux-musl.tar.gz or the aarch64 build from GitHub releases. On Arch, the openai-codex package in extra follows the releases closely; an Arch maintainer packages it, not OpenAI. The codex Snap is published by someone else too, and its stable channel was months behind on 1 November.

Then run codex in your project and sign in with your ChatGPT account. Your plan pays for the model; an API key works too.

Signing in on a server with no browser

Over SSH there is no browser for the usual sign in. OpenAI's authentication guide prefers the device code, in beta: turn on device code login in your ChatGPT security settings, then run

codex login --device-auth

and type the code on any device. If that is not available, forward the login port and use the normal flow, or sign in with an API key:

ssh -L 1455:localhost:1455 you@your-server
printenv OPENAI_API_KEY | codex login --with-api-key

The unofficial repackages

Before August, people ported the macOS app to Linux themselves. One is still very active: ilysenko/codex-desktop-linux now rebuilds OpenAI's own Linux package as AppImage, Nix and other formats, with opt-in extras for Computer Use and phone control. Older ports that unpacked the macOS app, such as better-slop/codex-app-linux, have gone quiet. These are community projects: OpenAI does not support them, and you are trusting their maintainers with an app that runs commands on your machine.

To run several agents side by side on Linux, the way Conductor does on a Mac, see Conductor alternatives: several of them run on Linux.

Codex on Linux from your phone

This is the gap the official preview leaves. Two ways close it today:

• Codex cloud. Start a task in ChatGPT, on the web or on your phone, and Codex works on your GitHub repository in OpenAI's cloud (guide). Nothing on your side needs to stay on. You set up an environment for the repository once, and each task gets its own workspace in it.
• A remote Codex on its own machine. This is what we build. Orage runs the real Codex agent, codex app-server from OpenAI's open source release, on Linux machines in the cloud: one of your own, and a fresh one for each chat that edits a repository. You follow it from a browser on any Linux desktop, or from the iPhone, iPad and Mac apps. A machine keeps its files between messages and stops when there is nothing to do, and your laptop can be closed the whole time. Your own ChatGPT plan pays for the model. How we drive the app server has the details.

What Orage is not: it is not a Linux desktop app, and it does not touch the files of the computer in front of you. It works on your GitHub repositories, cloned on its cloud machines. It is not made by OpenAI. It is private today; we let people in a few at a time, from the list below.

Questions

Is there an official Codex app for Linux? Yes, in preview since 11 August 2026: the ChatGPT desktop app, with Codex inside, for Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04, Debian 13, Fedora 43 and 44, and Arch, on x64 and ARM64.

Does it work on Linux Mint, Pop!_OS or NixOS? Mint and Pop!_OS are built on Ubuntu, so the .deb may install, but OpenAI only supports the distributions above. On NixOS, the community repackage above has a Nix build. The Codex CLI works on all of them.

Can I control Codex on my Linux computer from my phone? Not with the official app today: remote control supports Mac and Windows hosts only. Use Codex cloud tasks, or a remote Codex such as Orage.

Does Computer Use work on Linux? Not yet. OpenAI says a future release of the Linux preview will add it.

How do I install Codex on Ubuntu? For the app, sudo apt install ./chatgpt_amd64.deb after downloading it from OpenAI's Linux guide. For the CLI, curl -fsSL https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.sh | sh.

Is the Codex Snap official? No. It is published by a third party, and on 1 November 2026 its stable channel was months behind OpenAI's releases.

Updated 2026-11-01