Codex /pet and /hatch Cheat Sheet — Every Command, Built-in, and Status Signal (2026)

This is a working reference for the /pet and /hatch commands in OpenAI Codex. If you want the philosophical side — why Codex Pets exist and how they compare to the now-retired Claude Code Buddy — read our comparison guide instead.

Command	What It Does	When to Use
/pet	Open the picker and spawn a built-in pet	You want a companion fast, do not need customization
/hatch <prompt>	Generate a custom AI pet from a prompt	You want a unique design tied to a personal idea
npx petdex install <name>	Install a community pet from Petdex	You want curated designs (467+ to choose from)

That is the entire surface area. Three commands, hundreds of pets, infinite possibilities.

Run /pet in any Codex prompt to open the built-in picker. A floating window appears above your editor with the chosen pet inside. The window stays on top, follows you across spaces, and persists across Codex restarts.

Switching Pets

Run /pet again to reopen the picker and choose a different built-in. State is preserved — pets are skins over the same agent activity feed.

Hiding the Pet

Close the floating window. The pet stops rendering but the agent continues running. Re-open with /pet.

If none of the eight built-ins fit, run /hatch followed by a description and the model will generate a unique pet on the fly.

Prompt Examples

/hatch a tiny rust crab wearing a tiny chef hat
/hatch a phosphor-green CRT terminal ghost
/hatch a postal owl carrying a pull-request envelopeCOPY

The generated pet uses the same status overlay system as the built-ins — red clock for waiting, green check for done. The visual is unique to your prompt.

Saving the Prompt

The hatched pet does not auto-save the original prompt anywhere persistent. Save it yourself — in a dotfile, a private gist, or your README. Without it, you cannot reproduce the same pet on a new machine.

Pet	Visual	Personality Notes
Codex (default)	Blue creature, clean lines	The reference design — neutral, calm
Dewey	Duck-shaped	Playful, slightly chaotic energy
Rocky	Stone-textured	Steady, low-key — good for long sessions
(5 more built-ins ship with the app — pick what fits your vibe)

The exact roster may shift as OpenAI ships updates. Run /pet in your current Codex version to see today's options.

The pet's thought bubble communicates agent state. Memorize these three signals and you will never need to context-switch to check progress.

Signal	Meaning	Action
🔴 Red clock face	Agent is paused, waiting for your approval before running a command	Switch to Codex and approve or reject
🟢 Green checkmark	Agent finished the task, ready for a new prompt	Provide next instruction or close the thread
💭 Thought bubble (text)	Active thread name — what the agent is currently working on	Use to disambiguate between multiple parallel agents

The signals update in real time. If you have multiple Codex windows open, each pet only reflects its own agent's state.

Petdex is the community catalog of open-source Codex companions — 467+ pets at last count. Browse the gallery, copy the install command, and you are done.

npx petdex install <pet-name>COPY

Examples of what is in the catalog:

• A monochrome detective spider in a fedora and trench coat
• A white koala fintech companion with purple accents
• A Super Saiyan Blue Goku-inspired companion
• A Nomai-inspired character (Outer Wilds reference)
• A Game & Watch–style 2D digital pet

An alternative gallery, Codex Pet Share, focuses on shareable companion designs. Both work alongside the built-ins — Codex Pets does not care where the pet definition came from.

Does /pet work on Linux?

Codex Pets ships with the Codex desktop app on macOS and Windows. Linux is not officially supported as of May 2026.

Can /hatch generate a pet that looks like my old Claude Buddy?

You can describe your old Buddy in the prompt and get something visually similar, but it will not be the same artifact. Claude Buddy was deterministic from your accountUuid; /hatch output depends on the model's interpretation. If you want to look up your original Buddy, use claudebuddy.art.

Where are Petdex pets stored?

npx petdex install places the pet definition in the Codex pet directory; subsequent /pet runs include it in the picker. Uninstall is npx petdex uninstall <pet-name>.

Can I run more than one pet at once?

One pet per Codex window. Multiple Codex windows can each have their own pet, useful for tracking parallel agents.

Does the pet send data anywhere?

Status signals are local to the Codex client — they reflect what your local agent is doing. Petdex pet definitions are public on the catalog, but installation does not transmit personal data.

What if I want a Claude Code experience instead?

Claude Code retired its /buddy command in v2.1.97. The closest current equivalent inside Claude Code is /powerup for productivity tracking. For nostalgic buddy-checking, claudebuddy.art reproduces the original algorithm.

Reference: Codex Pets vs Claude Code Buddy · Claude Buddy Checker · All 18 species