OpenAI Codex can now use your Mac even when it’s locked

OpenAI has rolled out Computer Use for its Codex desktop app on macOS, and its latest trick is that your Mac doesn’t even need to be unlocked for the Codex Agent to use your apps while you’re away.

In a post on X, OpenAI developers said users can now send Codex tasks from their phone and have it run apps on their Mac “even when the screen is off and locked.” An image attached to the post shows a locked Mac displaying a “Codex is using your Mac” overlay with a prompt to press any key or click to unlock.

For the feature to work, the Computer Use plugin must be installed and granted screen recording and accessibility permissions. After that, Codex can click in windows, type, navigate menus, and interact with the clipboard in applications that you explicitly allow.

OpenAI says this feature is useful for the types of things that command-line tools can’t easily achieve, like reproducing a GUI-only bug, changing an app’s settings, or running a flow in a desktop app that Codex helps create.

Codex asks for permission before using each new app, and for those brave enough, you can mark specific apps as “Always Allow.” OpenAI says the feature is not available in the European Economic Area, UK, and Switzerland at launch, and that it cannot automate Terminal apps, Codex itself, or system-level administrative prompts.

The update follows other recent Codex additions, including a new “Appshots” feature that pulls a screenshot and text from a Mac application window into a Codex thread with a Command-Command shortcut, as well as a new mode/goal that allows an agent to continue working toward a milestone over several hours or days.