Authentication

Codex supports two ways to sign in when using OpenAI models:

• Sign in with ChatGPT for subscription access
• Sign in with an API key for usage-based access

The ChatGPT desktop app, Codex CLI, and IDE extension support both sign-in methods for local work. Codex cloud requires signing in with ChatGPT.

Your sign-in method also determines which admin controls and data-handling policies apply.

• When you sign in with ChatGPT, Codex usage follows your ChatGPT workspace permissions, role-based access control (RBAC), and ChatGPT Enterprise retention and residency settings.
• With an API key, usage follows your API organization’s retention and data-sharing settings instead.

For managed workspaces, authentication is only one layer of access. Workspace membership and provisioning determine who can sign in, while seats and workspace roles determine which product surfaces and features they can use. For local work in the ChatGPT desktop app, Codex CLI, or IDE extension, permission profiles constrain what the agent can do on the device. See Groups and provisioning and Roles and workspace permissions to plan those controls.

Sign in with ChatGPT

When you sign in with ChatGPT from the ChatGPT desktop app, Codex CLI, or IDE extension, the sign-in flow opens a browser window. After you sign in, the browser returns your credentials to Codex.

ChatGPT web

Open ChatGPT, sign in, and choose the workspace where you want to work. ChatGPT web keeps the authenticated session in your browser.

ChatGPT desktop app

On the signed-out screen, select Continue to sign in, then complete the browser flow.

Codex CLI

Run codex login, then complete the browser flow. This is the default authentication path when no valid session is available.

IDE extension

On the signed-out screen, select Sign in with ChatGPT, then complete the browser flow.

Sign in with an API key

You can also sign in to the ChatGPT desktop app, Codex CLI, or IDE extension with an API key. Get your API key from the OpenAI dashboard.

ChatGPT desktop app

On the signed-out screen, select Sign in another way, enter your key, then select Continue.

Codex CLI

Pipe the key to codex login through stdin:

printenv OPENAI_API_KEY | codex login --with-api-key

IDE extension

On the signed-out screen, select Use API Key, enter your key, then select OK.

OpenAI bills API key usage through your OpenAI Platform account at standard API rates. See the API pricing page.

API key authentication supports local Codex workflows, but some features that rely on ChatGPT workspace access or cloud services are limited or unavailable. Compare support by plan in Feature availability.

When you sign in with an API key, Codex uses standard API pricing instead of included ChatGPT plan credits.

Use API key authentication for programmatic Codex CLI workflows, such as CI/CD jobs. Don’t expose Codex execution in untrusted or public environments.

Open the profile menu to confirm the active account and workspace. To end the ChatGPT web session in that browser, select Log out.

Open the profile menu to see the active account or API key status. Select Log out to clear the current credentials.

Run codex login status to see the active authentication method. Run codex logout to clear the current credentials.

Open the profile menu to see the active account or API key status. Select Log out to clear the current credentials.

Use Codex access tokens for enterprise automation

In ChatGPT Enterprise workspaces, admins can grant the access token permission so permitted members can create Codex access tokens for trusted, non-interactive Codex local workflows. Use an access token when automation needs ChatGPT workspace access, ChatGPT-managed Codex entitlements, or enterprise workspace controls without a browser sign-in.

Access tokens are intended for trusted scripts, schedulers, and private CI runners. For general OpenAI API calls, continue to use Platform API keys.

For setup steps, permissions, rotation, and revocation guidance, see Access tokens.

If your environment already provides a Codex access token, pipe it to the CLI:

printenv CODEX_ACCESS_TOKEN | codex login --with-access-token

Secure your Codex cloud account

Codex cloud interacts directly with your codebase, so it needs stronger security than many other ChatGPT features. Enable multi-factor authentication (MFA).

If you use a social login provider (Google, Microsoft, Apple), you aren’t required to enable MFA on your ChatGPT account, but you can set it up with your social login provider.

For setup instructions, see:

• Google
• Microsoft
• Apple

If you access ChatGPT through single sign-on (SSO), your organization’s SSO administrator should enforce MFA for all users.

If you log in using an email and password, you must set up MFA on your account before accessing Codex cloud.

If your account supports more than one login method and one of them is email and password, you must set up MFA before accessing Codex, even if you sign in another way.

Login caching

When you sign in to the ChatGPT desktop app, Codex CLI, or IDE extension using either ChatGPT or an API key, your login details are cached and reused. The CLI and extension share the same cached login details. If you log out from either one, you’ll need to sign in again the next time you start the CLI or extension.

Codex caches login details locally in a plaintext file at ~/.codex/auth.json or in your OS-specific credential store.

For sign in with ChatGPT sessions, Codex refreshes tokens automatically during use before they expire, so active sessions usually continue without requiring another browser login.

Credential storage

Use cli_auth_credentials_store to control where the Codex CLI stores cached credentials:

# file | keyring | auto
cli_auth_credentials_store = "keyring"

• file stores credentials in auth.json under CODEX_HOME (defaults to ~/.codex).
• keyring stores credentials in your operating system credential store.
• auto uses the OS credential store when available, otherwise falls back to auth.json.

See the configuration reference for the complete config.toml schema.

Enforce a login method or workspace

In managed environments, admins may restrict how users are allowed to authenticate:

# Only allow ChatGPT login or only allow API key login.
forced_login_method = "chatgpt" # or "api"

# When using ChatGPT login, restrict users to a specific workspace.
forced_chatgpt_workspace_id = "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"

If the active credentials don’t match the configured restrictions, Codex logs the user out and exits.

These settings are commonly applied via managed configuration rather than per-user setup. See Managed configuration.

Login diagnostics

Direct codex login runs write a dedicated codex-login.log file under your configured log directory. Use it when you need to debug browser-login or device-code failures, or when support asks for login-specific logs.

Custom CA bundles

If your network uses a corporate TLS proxy or private root CA, set CODEX_CA_CERTIFICATE to a PEM bundle before logging in. When CODEX_CA_CERTIFICATE is unset, Codex falls back to SSL_CERT_FILE. The same custom CA settings apply to login, normal HTTPS requests, and secure WebSocket connections.

export CODEX_CA_CERTIFICATE=/path/to/corporate-root-ca.pem
codex login

Login on headless devices

If you are signing in to ChatGPT with the Codex CLI, there are some situations where the browser-based login UI may not work:

• You’re running the CLI in a remote or headless environment.
• Your local networking configuration blocks the localhost callback Codex uses to return the OAuth token to the CLI after you sign in.

In these situations, prefer device code authentication (beta). In the interactive login UI, choose Sign in with Device Code, or run codex login --device-auth directly. If device code authentication doesn’t work in your environment, use one of the fallback methods.

Preferred: Device code authentication (beta)

1. Enable device code login in your ChatGPT security settings (personal account) or ChatGPT workspace permissions (workspace admin).
2. In the terminal where you’re running Codex, choose one of these options:
   • In the interactive login UI, select Sign in with Device Code.
   • Run codex login --device-auth.
3. Open the link in your browser, sign in, then enter the one-time code.

If device code login isn’t available in your environment, use one of the fallback methods below.

Fallback: Authenticate locally and copy your auth cache

If you can complete the login flow on a machine with a browser, you can copy your cached credentials to the headless machine.

1. On a machine where you can use the browser-based login flow, run codex login.
2. Confirm the login cache exists at ~/.codex/auth.json.
3. Copy ~/.codex/auth.json to ~/.codex/auth.json on the headless machine.

Treat ~/.codex/auth.json like a password: it contains access tokens. Don’t commit it, paste it into tickets, or share it in chat.

If your OS stores credentials in a credential store instead of ~/.codex/auth.json, this method may not apply. See Credential storage for how to configure file-based storage.

Copy to a remote machine over SSH:

ssh user@remote 'mkdir -p ~/.codex'
scp ~/.codex/auth.json user@remote:~/.codex/auth.json

Or use a one-liner that avoids scp:

ssh user@remote 'mkdir -p ~/.codex && cat > ~/.codex/auth.json' < ~/.codex/auth.json

Copy into a Docker container:

# Replace MY_CONTAINER with the name or ID of your container.
CONTAINER_HOME=$(docker exec MY_CONTAINER printenv HOME)
docker exec MY_CONTAINER mkdir -p "$CONTAINER_HOME/.codex"
docker cp ~/.codex/auth.json MY_CONTAINER:"$CONTAINER_HOME/.codex/auth.json"

For a more advanced version of this same pattern on trusted CI/CD runners, see Maintain Codex account auth in CI/CD (advanced). That guide explains how to let Codex refresh auth.json during normal runs and then keep the updated file for the next job. API keys are still the recommended default for automation.

Fallback: Forward the localhost callback over SSH

If you can forward ports between your local machine and the remote host, you can use the standard browser-based flow by tunneling Codex’s local callback server (default localhost:1455).

1. From your local machine, start port forwarding:

ssh -L 1455:localhost:1455 user@remote

2. In that SSH session, run codex login and follow the printed address on your local machine.

Alternative model providers

When you define a custom model provider in your configuration file, you can choose one of these authentication methods:

• OpenAI authentication: Set requires_openai_auth = true to use OpenAI authentication. You can then sign in with ChatGPT or an API key. This is useful when you access OpenAI models through an LLM proxy server. When requires_openai_auth = true, Codex ignores env_key.
• Environment variable authentication: Set env_key = "<ENV_VARIABLE_NAME>" to use a provider-specific API key from the local environment variable named <ENV_VARIABLE_NAME>.
• No authentication: If you don’t set requires_openai_auth (or set it to false) and you don’t set env_key, Codex assumes the provider doesn’t require authentication. This is useful for local models.