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Glossary

Codex cloud task

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Definition

A Codex cloud task is a piece of work you give Codex to run in an OpenAI-hosted container built from one of your cloud environments, instead of on your own machine.

Also called: Codex cloud chat, Codex Cloud.

OpenAI's documentation uses “task” in its headings and “chat” in the interface for the same thing. You describe the result you want, Codex prepares a container from the chosen cloud environment (checks out the repo and runs its setup script), and the agent works there while you do something else. Several tasks can run in parallel.

A finished task returns a summary and a diff. From there you can ask for a follow-up, open a pull request, or apply the changes locally.

Starting and listing tasks

  • The Codex web interface: choose an environment and describe the job.
  • Integrations such as GitHub pull requests and issues, Linear or Slack.
  • The CLI: codex cloud exec --env <ENV_ID> "Add tests for the date parser" (--attempts asks for up to four attempts), and codex cloud list for recent tasks as JSON.

Local messages and cloud tasks come out of the same plan allowance. Anthropic's equivalent is the Claude Code cloud session.

In Pairbar

Pairbar lists your cloud tasks with codex cloud list, run through your own codex and its login, at most every 5 minutes and only while the sidebar is showing. They get a ☁︎ on the Codex icon and show as working (pending), waiting for you (ready to apply) or finished (applied); clicking opens the task's page on chatgpt.com. With an environment id saved for the repo, the composer's Cloud option sends a new task straight to Codex Cloud. See Cloud chats and the composer.

Frequently asked questions

Is a Codex cloud task the same as a Codex cloud chat?
Yes. OpenAI's docs use both words for work that runs in Codex's cloud environments.
What do I need to start a Codex cloud task from the command line?
The codex CLI signed in to your account and the id of a cloud environment, passed as codex cloud exec --env <ENV_ID>.
Can Pairbar show what a cloud task is doing right now?
No. It shows the task's title, status, environment and date from codex cloud list; the details are on the task's chatgpt.com page.

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