Once you've used these coding agents a lot, you develop a pretty intuitive feel for how they work, what they're capable of, what they're good at, and where their weaknesses are. Hopefully, you're already pretty familiar with the code base you're working on. Combining the two, this means you can get quite far essentially "vibe coding" (i.e. not looking at the actual code) on a new branch.
So if you have some idea or some issue you want to fix on the go, you just iterate with the agent for a bit (presumably no more than a couple hours) until the agent outputs an implementation. Here, I do claim there is some "skill" (which is a function of your codebase familiarity, general SWE ability, and facility with AI agents), and if you're good, this implementation will be halfway decent a high percentage of the time. Then when you're back at your desktop, you can review the changes carefully/do some proper testing/debugging etc. But you've saved a good chunk of time- an initial draft is already waiting for you.
Case in point, I have a Rust project with a target/ directory with about 10GB. Compile times from scratch takes about 10 minutes. (I do not love this)
With this mobile app I need to upload the code to the cloud, right? Or does OpenAI expects me to compile huge projects on my phone?
(The refactor's been to support Jujutsu VCS.)
Of course I am aware that the caveat here is that all my interaction is part of training, but I’m fine with that. Even Qwen Cli discontinued the free plan.
(side note I like that they rate limit messages and not tokens. at least it does not just stop mid reply)
Codex is far less frustrating and manages context better. It's also costing me about 1/3rd as much as Opus 4.7 on CC.
Claude was more autonomous and still is a little, but I think GPT 5.5 closed that gap a lot. Claude is far better at front end design. I think it's still better at big picture planning.
Codex is far better at code review and catching bugs that actually matter. I think it's better at following directions, although I think that regressed a bit with 5.5 (flip side of the autonomy I mentioned earlier). A lot of CC users claim to not like Codex's personality (or lack of), but personally I prefer it.
Very fast
MAYBE the 50% overall is true, but the double usage during a 5 hour window i just dont see it at all. I've maxed 3 5 hour windows since this happened, 0% chance it was double as much as normal, i ate up about 4-5% of my weekly total each time(this was ~10% each time pre announcements). wish i could give token numbers but its obscured i just know it was around 120k 4.6 with some delegation to sonnet subagents.
So SURE its almost certainly more allotted weekly, but if those totals are consistent for 5 hour blocks, you gotta split your daily usage into at least 3 sessions with 5 hours between them to even hit that weekly limit. its unreal how much they have burned their good reputation in a 2 month stretch, i am positive its also being astroturfed with bots more than happy to advance the narrative.
the internet is annoying, these tools are overall cool, just wish anthropic would go back to being semi predictable.
I'm using paid on TypeScript and it's genuinely terrific. Subjectively I think it has the edge over Opus.
I'd be surprised if OpenAI is hamstringing the free version. That would seem crazy from a GTM PoV. If anything the labs seem to throttle the heavy paid users.
I was initially quite excited, but I’ve found the results are less than great compared to being at a keyboard.
Something about the smaller screen size and/or lack of keyboard causes me to direct the agent less, which in turn creates more tech debt/code churn/etc.
Maybe I’m just showing my age, and I should practice voice dictation or something more, but my thoughts flow faster and more clearly on a keyboard (less ums).
Don't get me wrong, I still use Codex (and sometimes Claude Code) remotely every day, and am overall excited for this release, it's just that the benefit wasn't as high as I had initially hoped.
Part of this is due to the models getting better (no need to prod along with "continue"), and part of this is the nature of how I use my phone (short bursts of attention).
But again, maybe I'm just old and prefer big screens with a keyboard.
I think you just need to type more rather than feeling constricted, as it's actually a form of liberation, to produce (or have an AI produce, whatever) something from wherever you are rather than needing to sit down on a laptop where you're gonna be waiting around anyway.
What tunnel setup do you use by the way? I'm on Android so it's kind of annoying all the LLM remote coding apps are iOS only.
They might just not have cut a new build yet, today. It 'works' on master, but the mobile app thinks that your build is outdated (v0.0.0) if you build from master without overriding version, so probably easiest to wait until they cut a build if they haven't.
Edit: Running into issues setting it up on Windows. There's no "/remote-control" command in the CLI, so I installed the Windows Codex app. Then I updated the iOS app which now has the "Codex" feature in the sidebar, which should allow remote access to the Windows machine's instance - except it doesn't connect. The iOS app shows my desktop's hostname, so it knows there's an instance there, but refuses to connect. Issues like this would persuade a lot of folks to switch back to Claude.
If I were to do this Codex flow I would want to have it setup in a dev container, most people are probably not going to do that, so we are going to see a lot of vulnerabilities introduced / computers "breaking". Breaking in quotes because the computer is not actually broken, but to a novice it might appear it is, when in reality it's just out of disk space or the agent executed a setting, it shouldn't have. Unfortunately, if the computer is out of disk space, a novice won't be able to spawn their coding agent to fix it, so their next logical course of action is Geek Squad/IT? I don't even know.
This is a non-issue problem raised by anti-ai zealots, much like data center water use is overblown. Headlines and lies.
And novices ARE absolutely using these things, I have a handful of friends with 0 CS background using claude to write apps, automation, etc
Also, your worst case was... having to dig for some cables and peripherals, which of course you have around, because you are into computers and self hosting.
My method of walking to work is back (going for an 8 hour walk , voice dictating the whole way)
Those two are killing features.
But, for whatever reason, no one uses Google Jules.
I don't want my phone to have the ability to execute things on my computer. Much less with a LLM in-between!
only surprising product that feels non google for me is Google Stitch https://stitch.withgoogle.com/
I can do some tasks on mobile, especially if they are follow up and steering only, greatly increasing productivity as you can keep working whilst in transit, etc.
This specific feature is more akin to Remote Control in Claude. You could already kick off Codex Cloud tasks (although it's just a little more fiddly to do so).
If you can move to Codex Cloud (or "Claude Code for the Web"), I think it's the superior approach. Start it there, and just pick it up from the PR if necessary.
And here I thought AI was gonna automate the world and we were gonna work less.
Turns out you’re gonna work 24/7 no matter where you are!
(Have them cover their own token costs, hehe).
I want to code from my mobile device when my laptop is off or unavailable, pushing PRs directly to GitHub. Codex mobile only works with a desktop machine, at which point, I'll just use that machine, what's the point.
Packing a Linux mini-pc in my rucksack, connected to display glasses, and voice-to-text with handy. Voice to text gets injected into a remote (Docker) codex session, running a hot reload web stack. I prompt to implement various features in an existing code base, where codex understands the structure and requirements. If a feature is done, I take a moment to inspect the results on the display glasses, then move onto the next feature or keep iterating. It's not perfect, but I was able to implement a couple of not too complex features while walking my local national park. The display glasses have a built-in 4-microphone array, and solid speakers. No need for a bulky headset or earbuds. Glasses come with monochromatic dimming, you can easily switch between dimming and see through.
If this comes with Linux integration, I will certainly give it a try.
But a person can use subagents, if they want, to filter that down. This burns tokens in a big hurry, but I think subagents can be arbitrary local commands (eg, a local LLM).
Or, you know: Just slow down. :) It doesn't always have to be a race, does it?
Feels like a testament to the value in taking time and doing it properly.
Now if only codex got its 1M token context window back.
---
Edit: Hmmm. Maybe I spoke too soon. Sigh. Definitely _more_ reliable by far overall, but still have queued messages with responses on my phone that don't show up on my computer, and responses that don't show up on my phone.
Edit 2: New threads created from my phone seem to have a little stall-out, but ones that are underway are behaving reasonably well.
But I will still consider to release it anyways
Neither does OpenAI.
they added some new stuff, like remote control to wherever the desktop codex app is running, but these companies need to work much more on their press releases.
In those scenarios, the goal is not "work at any time" but to "be anywhere at any time", or, rather, to "be able to work from anywhere, doing anything".
Sort of....I guess.
The main issue is reliability, so I think the corporations are going to take a much more gradual, piecemeal approach, and probably end up with something like Claw within a year.
Claude on the other hand has been jank all around from the UX to the UI to the AI itself that it's baffling how it's more popular here on HN: https://i.imgur.com/jYawPDY.png
Sadly this remote control feature doesn't seem to be for Mac to Mac yet? I love the MacBook Neo as a "thin client" for AI and keep the MacBook Pro at home/hotel, and it would be nice to share Codex desktop sessions (without SSH → resume link)
Oh there is a "Control other devices" option in Settings → Connections, but it wasn't working in the build at the time of the original post
Both of the Codex apps are very good.
I tried this out and it works significantly better than Claude's remote control in fact the first few times I tried Claude's remote control it didn't even work and to this day is very buggy.
Other than those limitations, the connection has been very stable for me, definitely more reliable than alternatives like happy.engineering or Omnara. What’s been buggy for you specifically?
Edit: actually it gets worse -- you can't start any tasks any longer in your mobile, you are required to sign in from your desktop/workstation. You can't "sign in" from your CLI.
Whoever made this, paper cuts I wish onto you. It sucks.
Edit2: actually you can ssh, so I presume that allows you to do the CLI -- and you still can do mobile first tasks, but it's not intuitive at all. Mobile first tasks you still can't pick the model, and I haven't tested the workstation connection one. That said, indeed paper cuts.
Now I can run scripts as hoc or stop my loss making stock market script without going through the hoops
you need a model server - ollama/llama.cpp/lm studio
Do you mean supporting oai-compatible api URLs in copilot? If so then you need either VS Code Insiders, or a VS Code extension I believe?
> Stay connected to active work from anywhere
... (and anytime because it's on your phone). No thanks.
So the whole idea is not to make work more efficient. It's just to make you work more, all the time, while waiting for your coffee, while in your commute.
Ask yourselves: is that the society we want?
You can run your local LLM and just connect the docker containers. I'm paranoid of being disconnected from the LLM, so I never run any of this on the same machine, so orchestrating a docker-compose file that provides the necessary services is important.
I'm still trying to find a good remote file system to loop into the setup for improved switching between cli and these web containers.
It integrates with your issue tracker and makes the tracker the UI for the LLM. It also clones the repo for every ticket, and can set up fixtures/etc. I can work on multiple items at a time, which is fantastic because otherwise you have to wait for the LLMs a lot.
In an ideal world the would allocate 50% of compute to find errors in that rewrite and publish how bad Claude is, but that would undermine confidence in slop in general so that is not going to happen.
