Codex runs inside its own host project, building itself
@steipete reports that Codex has been running continuously for four days inside the project it is building, handling issues, PRs, and even signing up for external services autonomously via browser and computer use.
Score breakdown
The post illustrates a concrete case where an AI coding agent has taken over the full contribution pipeline of an active open-source project, reducing the human maintainer's role to payment and editorial triage.
- 01Codex runs inside crabbox while building crabbox — a self-referential development loop.
- 02Codex has been running nonstop for four days across multiple working trees.
- 03The agent implements, tests, and lands community-submitted issues and PRs autonomously.
@steipete describes a workflow where Codex operates inside the very project it is constructing — a tool called "crabbox" — creating a self-building loop that has run continuously across multiple working trees for four days. The agent handles the full lifecycle of community contributions: implementing, testing, and landing submitted issues and PRs without manual intervention.
The setup extends to external service onboarding as well, with Codex signing up for services automatically via browser and computer use.
The setup extends to external service onboarding as well, with Codex signing up for services automatically via browser and computer use. Because all output is end-to-end verifiable, @steipete characterizes the project as one that "basically builds itself," leaving their primary responsibilities as entering credit card details and rejecting contributions that don't fit the project's direction.
Key facts
- 01Codex runs inside crabbox while building crabbox — a self-referential development loop.
- 02Codex has been running nonstop for four days across multiple working trees.
- 03The agent implements, tests, and lands community-submitted issues and PRs autonomously.
- 04All work is described as end-to-end verifiable, enabling the self-building dynamic.
- 05Codex signs up for external services automatically using browser and computer use.
- 06@steipete's remaining tasks are adding credit card details and triaging unwanted contributions.
Topics
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