OpenAI has officially rolled out its first piece of hardware, and it’s not the one you’re thinking of.
The company behind ChatGPT announced on Wednesday a $230 mini keyboard designed specifically to work with its AI coding agent, Codesx. The device is a collaboration with Work Louder, a maker of programmable keyboards and macro pads.
Technically, the device is more of a programmable macro pad than a full keyboard. The small, square-shaped pad is officially called the kbd-1.0-codex-micro, or Codex Micro for short.
“Map the buttons and joystick to your workflow, and keep your pinned chats in view,” OpenAI’s developer account posted on X alongside a video of the device in action.
The Codex Micro’s product page describes it as a “command center for agentic work.”
The device has 13 mechanical switches, a touch sensor, a rotary dial, and a joystick. It comes in both clicky and silent versions. Buyers will also receive a set of 32 Codex icon keycaps so they can customize the pad with their preferred shortcuts.
Additionally, six illuminated keys on the pad use different colors to show each agent’s status. For instance, green means there is an unread message, blue signifies thinking, orange means an agent needs approval or has a question, and red means an error has occurred.
The joystick can also be programmed to launch workflows like debugging an error or refactoring code, while a dial adjusts the level of reasoning Codex should use for a task.
The keyboard comes amid growing buzz around OpenAI’s long-rumored consumer device. Bloomberg reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed source, that the highly anticipated product could be a screenless smart speaker that can move on its own. The device is reportedly intended to work as a “humanlike AI companion” that can play music and other media, control home appliances, answer questions, and complete other tasks through ChatGPT. It’s expected to be announced by the end of this year before launching in 2027. OpenAI is also reportedly exploring a separate mobile AI device.
Those projects are reportedly being developed with io Products, the hardware startup founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive, which OpenAI acquired last year for $6.5 billion last year.
However, OpenAI’s hardware ambitions have already landed the company in legal trouble. Apple sued OpenAI and two former Apple employees last week in federal court in California, accusing them of stealing trade secrets related to Apple’s manufacturing processes and products still in development. The lawsuit also names io Products as a defendant.
For now, anyone eager to get their hands on an OpenAI device will have to settle for the new Codex keyboard.
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