Introducing the Agents API
OpenAI is putting the Codex agent harness behind a public-beta API for developers building long-running cloud agents.
The Agents API lets developers specify a task, model, tools, and environment in one call, while OpenAI hosts and maintains the orchestration layer. Developers can run agents in an OpenAI-managed sandbox, their own infrastructure, or partner sandboxes from providers including Cloudflare, Vercel, Modal, and others. The API includes context compaction for long sessions, tool search and programmatic tool calling, MCP and built-in tools, and parallel subagents. OpenAI says there are no additional Agents API fees beyond the tokens and tools used. OpenAI's note
The Agents API lets developers specify a task, model, tools, and environment in one call, while OpenAI hosts and maintains the orchestration layer. Developers can run agents in an OpenAI-managed sandbox, their own infrastructure, or partner sandboxes from providers including Cloudflare, Vercel, Modal, and others. The API includes context compaction for long sessions, tool search and programmatic tool calling, MCP and built-in tools, and parallel subagents. OpenAI says there are no additional Agents API fees beyond the tokens and tools used. OpenAI's note
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