Connect ChatGPT Work & Codex

One command covers OpenAI's ChatGPT desktop app and the Codex CLI — both read the same settings file. The AI Reserve CLI signs you in through your browser, connects every coding agent on the machine, and keeps Codex on short-lived tokens instead of a key sitting in a config file.

1. Install what you'll use

ChatGPT desktop app

The everyday choice. Download it from OpenAI, open it once, and come back here.

Codex CLI

Install (macOS/Linux)

curl -fsSL https://chatgpt.com/codex/install.sh | sh

Then run codex once (other platforms).

Either one creates the .codex settings folder the next step updates. Already installed? Skip ahead — your existing settings are kept.

One command (recommended)

Install the AI Reserve CLI and connect your coding agents

curl -fsSL https://get.aireserve.com/install.sh | sh

Your browser opens to approve — no key to copy. Undo anytime: aireserve unconfigure.

What the CLI does

Signs you in through your browser and mints one managed key for this machine (AIRESERVE-CLI-KEY) — revoke it in your API keys any time. Usage bills to your organization's AI Reserve wallet.
Writes an AI Reserve provider into ~/.codex/config.toml that authenticates with a command, not a pasted key: each time Codex or the ChatGPT app starts, the helper exchanges the machine's key for a gateway session token that expires within the hour. The key itself never sits in config.toml, and anything that captures a request header holds a credential that is already worthless.
Because the provider uses command auth, Codex refreshes its model list from the gateway — the full AI Reserve catalog appears in the native model picker with per-model reasoning-effort options, instead of a single pinned model.
Fully quit and reopen ChatGPT, then start a new chat, to see AI Reserve as its provider. The CLI picks the change up on its next run.

Check it worked

codex exec --skip-git-repo-check "Reply with exactly: PONG"

Should print PONG, served through the AI Reserve gateway.

Escape hatches

codex --profile original runs one session on the setup that existed before the CLI touched anything. aireserve unconfigure restores every value the CLI changed, deletes the machine's key file, and revokes its live session tokens.

Manual setup without the CLI

Can't install the CLI on this machine? Create a personal API key from your API Keys page and choose Configure Codex in the setup that appears. It exports the key as AIRESERVE_API_KEY in your shell profile and points config.toml at AI Reserve with env_key, so the key still never lands in the config file.

Trade-offs: the key is long-lived (rotate it from the API Keys page), Codex only shows the model you pinned in its picker, and GUI launches that skip your shell profile need the variable set another way. The developer docs carry the same snippet with the details.

New to all this? The plain-language walkthrough lives at Getting Started with ChatGPT Work. Trouble connecting? Ask your administrator to confirm your account is active, or see the Codex developer docs.