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Ask HN: Is Codex really on Par with Claude Code?

12 points by shivang2607 1 day ago | hide | 16 comments

I’ve mostly switched to Codex (GPT-5.4 high) over Claude Code (Opus 4.6) in the last few weeks. I think my style of workflow and prompting seems to generate a bit better results with it. I have a thin CLI based issue tracker and an associated skill that I use instead of markdown files and Codex does a better job of interacting with it and updating existing tasks over time whereas Claude Code tends to create duplicate tasks with slight changes. I find the code quality of both to be pretty on par with some style differences; Claude has been leaving very verbose comments as of late

I do slightly prefer the Codex app over the Claude Code TUI and Visual Studio Code integrations.

That is really helpful for me. From your experience it appears like codex is better value for money as a developer who can write proper prompts and not just expect AI to vibe code everything.

Though I think gpt was better in terms of architectural decisions earlier as well, and claude was better interms of coding and UI. Do you think with codex gpt has beaten claude or on par with claude in terms of UI and clean code quality?

I wouldn’t say that my prompts are more proper than anyone else’s, but GPT-5.4 adheres to them really well and does a good job of asking clarifying questions when needed. Spending some time up front to make a very detailed list of requirements here really helped. I think Claude Code still creates better UIs when given a broad task, but Codex makes totally usable interfaces when it’s fed designs and specific instructions. Your mileage may vary; I think different people’s development styles may mesh better with different models and harnesses. I don’t think that Claude Code is a clear winner in April 2026 compared to how it outperformed other options a few months ago.

Can you elaborate on your CLI issue tracker? I’ve been wanting a todo list tailored to agentic coding that will work with CC, Codex, Gemini, etc. Simple, but more than markdown.

I was largely inspired by beads (https://github.com/gastownhall/beads) but ended up vibe coding something slightly more tailored for the way I like to work. It’s basically a JIRA style task with a few fields (project, title, status, description, priority, parent task, and an array of notes) that I store in a Postgres database hosted in Neon. I have a lightweight API and human readable UI hosted in fly.io. The CLI is a Python API client that gets executed with uvx and can retrieve a list of tasks in JSONL format, get task details for a specific task ID, create a new task or update an existing task. I defined a skill for Claude Code and Codex to use the CLI and was off to the races- both harnesses are very good at following instructions to use the task tracker to manage work items.

This approach works well for me because I can easily view the task list and notes from any device and coding agents can coordinate across repos or development environments. In hindsight it might have been easier to wrap something like Todoist with a CLI so I didn’t have to host any of my own infra. I do think writing your own task manager with a coding agents is almost a standard right of passage in 2026- if you’re going to do that you might as well make one that you can use to coordinate work with LLM coding tools.

I've been using Claude Code as my primary agent orchestration tool for a few weeks now. Running cron-style loops for browser automation through a remote Playwright instance. Haven't tried Codex at this depth yet, but from what I've seen it's more focused on code generation while Claude Code is more of a general-purpose agent runtime. The things that make Claude Code powerful for me are the persistent session with tool access, the ability to run background tasks on schedules, and the hook/skill system for customization. If Codex matches that plus adds better async execution (Claude Code's scheduled tasks die when the session ends), it could be compelling. But for now Claude Code handles my use case better than anything else I've tried.

I mostly use claude code for coding purposes. According to my experience, claude code is unbeatable in terms of coding and UI. But I feel like chat gpt is better for architectural decisions. But I haven't tried codex, BUT I am listening a lot now that its limits are far better than claude code and that it is good in terms of value for money.

I just recently shifted to codex since i got frustrated with the token usage which did not allow me to get my work done. Here's my honest opinion i think with the right configs codex does a very good job, like cc is better in terms of quality of code generated but codex seems to understand everything way better, and you can improve your code quality if just read through it once.

Claude has become pretty slow and in the last couple of weeks, so I switched to codex. Codex code can be quite sloppy, so it's worth doing multiple review passes.

Actually I use LLM mostly for the code quality and not for the architectural/logical or design decisions.

I am using claude solely because it's best in terms of Code quality and UI.

According to you do you think codex has surpassed or at least came on par with the claude in terms of code quality and UI ?

How good is codex in terms of code context ?

I think in terms of UI, codex has become superior probably due to its sandbox concept. It can complete tasks reliably without intervention whereas claude would have stalled asking permissions (unless you run it in --dangerously-skip-permissions, which I won't do). I don't know about you, but sitting in front of my laptop just to continuously press enter is depressing, I'd rather do other tasks in the meantime, which is exactly what I can do with codex.

So combined with the issues claude has been experiencing in the last couple of weeks (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47660925) - codex has become a better option. Claude has been unable to complete simple tasks and got lost in 5+ minutes of exploration too many times and I just called quits.

Yes, even better sometimes.

In terms of Code quality and UI too ?

GPT-5.4 Pro is very good, at the very least comparable with Opus 4.6.

Some people on my team have switched to Codex in the last month citing that it's currently slightly better.

If you have a good workflow with CC I wouldn't switch, but if you're deciding whether to use one or the other, maybe give Codex a shot.

Actually I am currently using claude code mainly for the UI purpose. I consider myself good developer and all the design and architectural decisions are taken by me. I use claude mostly for the code quality it gives. Do you think codex has surpassed claude in terms of UI and code quality ?

I haven't used Codex for UI work, but you might find this helpful: https://developers.openai.com/blog/designing-delightful-fron...