OpenAI has announced plans to acquire Astral, a move aimed at enhancing its developer-focused capabilities and accelerating the evolution of its Codex platform.

Astral is known for building widely adopted open-source Python tools such as uv, Ruff, and ty, which are used by millions of developers globally. These tools have become integral to modern Python development workflows, helping improve speed, efficiency, and code quality.

As part of the acquisition, OpenAI plans to continue supporting Astral’s open-source products, aligning with its developer-first approach. The integration of Astral’s engineering expertise and tooling is expected to significantly enhance the capabilities of Codex.

The move comes amid rapid growth in Codex adoption, which has seen a threefold increase in users and a fivefold surge in usage since the beginning of the year, now exceeding two million weekly active users.

With this acquisition, OpenAI aims to expand Codex beyond traditional code generation. The company envisions AI systems that can actively participate across the entire software development lifecycle—from planning and modifying codebases to executing tools, verifying outputs, and maintaining software over time.

Astral’s tools are expected to play a key role in this vision by enabling deeper integration between AI agents and the tools developers already use daily, thereby streamlining workflows and boosting productivity.

Commenting on the development, Charlie Marsh said the company has always focused on transforming how developers work with Python and enabling faster, higher-quality software delivery. As part of Codex, Astral plans to continue advancing its open-source tools to push the boundaries of software development.

The acquisition underscores OpenAI’s growing focus on building end-to-end AI-driven development environments, positioning Codex as a central platform in the future of software engineering.