OpenAI will acquire the developer tools startup Astral to energize the Codex team

MaticHoleFiller · 2026-03-20T12:14:39+00:00

OpenAI announced the acquisition of startup Astral, which will join the OpenAI team and be responsible for improving the AI code assistant Codex. This move aims to enhance Codex's market competitiveness in the face of pressure from competitors Anthropic and Cursor. Codex has reached 2 million users, with rapid user growth.

MaticHoleFiller

2026-03-20 12:14:39

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Key Points

OpenAI announces acquisition of Astral, a startup creating tools for software developers.
The Astral team will join OpenAI to work on its AI code assistant Codex.
OpenAI is accelerating improvements to Codex to compete for market share against rivals like Anthropic and Cursor.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

OpenAI announced on Thursday that it will acquire the small startup Astral, which has developed several popular open-source tools for software developers.

The Astral team will join OpenAI to help improve its AI code assistant called Codex. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Founder and CEO of Astral, Charlie Marsh, wrote in a blog post: “Despite everything, our goal remains the same: to make programming more efficient and to create tools that fundamentally change the software development experience.”

Over the past year, AI code assistants have surged in popularity. OpenAI is rushing to capture users and market share to compete with rivals like Anthropic and Cursor, which also have popular developer products.

OpenAI stated on Thursday that Codex has over 2 million weekly active users, doubling since the beginning of this year.

The acquisition of Astral still needs to go through usual closing conditions, including regulatory approval.

Recently, OpenAI completed several acquisitions, including the $6.4 billion purchase of AI hardware startup io, founded by Jony Ive, in May 2025. Earlier this month, the company announced it would acquire cybersecurity startup Promptfoo, and in January, it acquired medical technology startup Torch.

In December last year, OpenAI hired Google’s Albert Lee to lead enterprise development, signaling that the company will continue seeking acquisitions to gain a competitive edge.

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