30 Apr 2026
Codex for non-coders (and for those who can)
OpenAI’s coding agent, Codex, is available across the University for users to start experimenting
On Wednesday 22 April, the Codex for Non-Coders event was held in collaboration with OpenAI, bring Carlotta Reviglio, EMEA Success Engineer Lead, to Oxford to deliver a session on Codex. This is OpenAI’s coding agent which, unlike ChatGPT, is able to read, write, and execute work directly on your files and digital environment in response to plain-language instructions. While its use to support coding tasks and app creation is most obvious, Codex can also assist with administrative tasks such as file organisation, data transformation, and automating repetitive digital tasks. This has only been made more accessible with the release of the Codex app in February 2026.
The Codex for Non-Coders event saw nearly 100 participants from around the University, covering a variety of roles and experience levels. Users from across Oxford kicked off the day by demonstrating how Codex was already being used to support their work, including a case from Matt Rattley, Lecturer and Tutor in the Department of Biochemistry. Carlotta then spoke to the audience about what Codex is and gave a practical walkthrough of how it can be used to create branded documents from rough notes. Event resources are now live on our Canvas pages to access on-demand.
Shortly after the event, Kirsty James, Senior Events Manager in the University Events Office, told us:
“I just successfully used Codex to write all the honorand and host briefings for this year’s Encaenia (15 documents) using a template from last year’s briefings and an excel where we had collected the data on this year’s honorands and hosts details.
This is usually a huge job and a big mental load to do it so repetitively, I think [Codex] has saved a couple of days of work as now we just need to cross check them for correctness.”
Codex is available for all staff and students to use. We have created resources to help you get started, including our Codex webpage giving a full overview and the self-service Canvas course on Getting Started with Codex.
