OpenAI Acquires Astral to Expand AI Coding Capabilities
Deal brings widely used Python tools into Codex as OpenAI pushes deeper into developer workflows.
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OpenAI is acquiring Astral, a maker of widely used Python developer tools, as it deepens its push into AI-powered coding and software development workflows, the company said on Thursday.
Astral’s team will join OpenAI following the deal. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition will bring widely used Python tools, including uv, Ruff and ty, into OpenAI’s Codex system, which supports software development tasks.
“Astral has built some of the most widely used open source Python tools, helping developers move faster with modern tooling like uv, Ruff, and ty,” OpenAI said.
OpenAI said it intends to continue supporting Astral’s open-source projects after the deal closes.
The acquisition comes at a time when AI coding tools are gaining traction among developers.
OpenAI said Codex has more than 2 million weekly active users and has recorded an increase in usage since the start of the year.
“Codex has already seen 3X user growth and 5X usage increase since the start of the year,” the company said.
OpenAI said it is working to extend Codex beyond code generation to support broader development processes.
“Our goal with Codex is to move beyond AI that simply generates code and toward systems that can participate in the entire development workflow,” the company said.
Astral founder and chief executive Charlie Marsh said the company would continue to work on its tools within OpenAI.
“Astral has always focused on building tools that transform how developers work with Python, helping them ship better software, faster. As part of Codex, we’ll continue evolving our open source tools to push the frontier of software development,” he said.
Thibault Sottiaux, who leads Codex at OpenAI, said Astral’s tools are already used across developer workflows.
“Astral’s tools are used by millions of Python developers. By bringing their expertise and ecosystem to OpenAI, we’re accelerating our vision for Codex as the agent most capable of working across the entire software developer lifecycle,” he said.
