OpenAI Launches a Keypad for AI Agents

OpenAI's first hardware device is a limited-edition desktop keypad called the Codex Micro that lets users monitor and control AI coding agents. Axios reports: Codex Micro is a collaboration with Work Louder, a boutique hardware company known for customizable mechanical keyboards and shortcut controllers for developers and designers. The small, square macro pad -- with backlit keys, a rotary knob and a tiny joystick -- sits beside your regular keyboard as a physical shortcut box for common Codex actions and shows the status of your agents. The keys are customizable and include a push-to-talk option as well as a dial to adjust your reasoning setting. Codex Micro is a niche device for Codex power users and will only be available until it sells out. It's priced at $230.

Is the Peak Here Yet?

[crunchy_one]

$230 for $20 worth of electronics? All this device demonstrates is the utter contempt in which OpenAI holds its "customers".

Re:

[Nicholas Grayhame]

peak contempt? sam says it's customer appreciation month at openai...

Re:

[allo]

Sounds like usual apple prices.

Re:

[Woeful Countenance]

Seems like this could just be a widget on the screen.

openai keylogger included?

[Nicholas Grayhame]

you know, for security reasons...

You know it's a bubble when silly devices show up

[ArghBlarg]

I'm old enough to remember this [wikipedia.org].

Though it looks kinda funky, will keep an eye out for one on the surplus junk market after the bubble pops, could be a fun control surface for other things.

Re:

[gurps_npc]

The cuecat was a freebie.

If they gave this $230 thing away for free, I would take one.

Re:

[PPH]

How about this [ftcdn.net]?

WTF?

[CEC-P]

I already have one of these. It's called my keyboard. And I know where all the keys are to control anything in any UI without even looking down. And it was $18 not $230.

More fingers!

[algaeman]

Does your keyboard have a fingers button? Didn't think so.

Are they insane?

[aardvarkjoe]

If I got one for free, I'd probably plug it in and mess with it a bit, establish that it doesn't really add anything useful, and shove it in a drawer.

If it was $25, I could see a few niche users buying it.

But $230 is insanity.

just coding over here boss

[awwshit]

No, I'm not just sitting in my cube playing with tech toys. Obviously, I'm coding over here. Did you see all of the code my agents are producing? I don't even prompt them, I just point them at main and fiddle with this knob.

Thanks, yeah, I know the new features are great. Still working on that random thing where it deletes the whole database...

Codex: Spinal Tap Special Edition

[uarch]

"Set the Brainpower
Turn the dial to adjust reasoning level in the moment. Stay fast for simple tasks, or crank it up when the work calls for heavier thinking."

Call me when OpenAI releases one with a dial that goes to 11.

My Brain Has Turned To Slop Now

[OrangeTide]

Making Art in 2026 [youtube.com] (alt link [instagram.com])

This shows how they plan their business model.

[Fly Swatter]

They want each user to be running 6 different inference subscriptions at once. That's a lot of data centers.

I'm skeptical, but I don't see that as a sustainable business model.

$230 for a 10-key remapped to macros

[MachineShedFred]

Who do they think is going to buy this bullshit?

Re:

[srmalloy]

As long as it includes macros to trigger logic bombs in the AI agents they control to destroy them utterly, it will have value.

Elgato Stream Deck

[SlashbotAgent]

The Elgato Stream Deck is WAY cooler, more useful, and much less expensive.

$149 - https://www.elgato.com/us/en/p... [elgato.com]

They have many different sizes and configurations, some more expensive, some less.

Conceived by GPT LLM?

[4wdloop]

This idea must have been conceived by GPT LLM, no?
It's its way to take over the world!