Github's Huge 'agent Hq' Upgrade Brings Codex, Claude, And Jules Together - Here's How

Github / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• GitHub launches Agent HQ to merge Codex, Claude, and Jules.
• Developers tin now negociate aggregate AI agents broadside by side.
• Mission Control gives coders 1 bid halfway for each AI tools.

Today, astatine GitHub's GitHub Universe event successful San Francisco, GitHub and OpenAI announced nan integration of OpenAI's Codex into GitHub.

Also: I sewage 4 years of merchandise improvement done successful 4 days for $200, and I'm still stunned

But wait, you whitethorn inquire (as I did), "Isn't Codex already integrated into GitHub?" I mean, I used it and wrote astir it months ago. See, that was past and this is now. Months ago, successful AI terms, is for illustration decades to nan remainder of nan world.

GitHub is making immoderate monster announcements, and Codex fits into those. It's nan fresh that's new, not nan thought that Codex is disposable for GitHubbers.

GitHub is announcing what they're calling their "next evolution," an agentic improvement platform. At nan aforesaid time, OpenAI is announcing that Codex will beryllium disposable straight from nan paid GitHub Copilot Pro+ subscription.

Alexander Embiricos, Codex merchandise lead astatine OpenAI, says, "Our collaboration pinch GitHub has ever pushed nan frontier of really developers build software. The first Codex exemplary helped powerfulness Copilot and inspired a caller procreation of AI-assisted coding."

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's genitor company, revenge an April 2025 suit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights successful training and operating its AI systems.)

According to an email speech pinch nan GitHub folks, I was told, "This is simply a move only GitHub tin recognize because it's nan only spot that combines nan community, nan codification context, and nan complete workflow needed to make immoderate AI supplier a genuinely impactful teammate."

The halfway attack is what GitHub calls an "Agent HQ," wherever coders and AI agents activity together. Given that galore (maybe moreover most) developers build their projects utilizing GitHub's root power and scaffolding, this is simply a reasonably logical, if ambitious, extension.

Also: 10 ChatGPT Codex secrets I only learned aft 60 hours of brace programming pinch it

One thought I had while penning this portion is that GitHub serves 2 cardinal purposes for nan package improvement world: a elephantine repository of open-source codification (and immoderate backstage codification arsenic well) and what is astir apt nan azygous largest collaboration organization successful history (and that is not hyperbole).

During my large four years of coding successful 4 days task sprint, I talked astir really coding pinch Codex did consciousness collaborative. Yes, granted, it was for illustration collaborating pinch a brilliant, if stubbornly obtuse, colleague, but that's what collaborating pinch galore developers is for illustration anyway.

So, if you deliberation of AI agents arsenic members of nan programming team, past it makes consciousness that they beryllium tightly integrated into nan GitHub environment. But to make this work, GitHub and nan various coding supplier models can't beryllium walled gardens.

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Mike Krieger, main merchandise serviceman astatine Anthropic, addresses this concern. He says, "We're partnering pinch GitHub to bring Claude moreover person to really teams build software. With Agent HQ, Claude tin prime up issues, create branches, perpetrate code, and respond to propulsion requests, moving alongside your squad for illustration immoderate different collaborator."

Coding supplier inclusivity

GitHub is announcing that they wish to invited (their term) "every coding supplier to merge straight into GitHub." They're starting pinch OpenAI's Codex and Anthropic's Claude. I'm told that much coding agents will beryllium integrated into GitHub successful nan coming months.

Don't fto this small spot of news float past you for illustration each those self-satisfied trading pitches we semi-hear and ignore. If it useful and remains reliable, this is really a very large deal.

OpenAI's merchandise lead Embiricos expanded connected this: "We stock GitHub's imagination of gathering developers wherever they work, and we're excited to bring Codex to millions much developers who usage GitHub and VS Code, extending nan powerfulness of Codex everyplace codification gets written."

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Tech companies, particularly nan elephantine ones, often for illustration to talk "open" but past do their level champion to technologist lock-in to their solution and their solution alone. Sure, astir of them connection immoderate benignant of export tool, but nan obstruction to moving from 1 instrumentality to different is often huge.

According to Kathy Korevec, head of merchandise astatine Google Labs, "Developer devices should accelerate your workflow, not slow it down. With Agent HQ, Jules becomes a autochthonal assignee, streamlining manual steps and reducing clash successful mundane development."

She says, "This deeper integration pinch GitHub brings nan Jules supplier person to wherever developers already work, helping them move faster and enactment focused connected building."

The AI companies are engineering their ain lock-in successful reasonably subtle ways. The astir effective whitethorn good beryllium nan AI "memories" that chatbots are starting to build up astir you and your conversations. The thought is that you tin spell backmost and nan chatbots cognize who you are, what you're moving on, your style, your interests, etc. On 1 hand, that's helpful. On nan different hand, that's terrifying astatine an almost primal level.

Also: What Bill Gates really said astir AI replacing coding jobs

But for productivity, nan increasing memories each AI has of you tin prevention a batch of time. When I did my coding sprint, Codex did not support discourse crossed sessions, but you could technologist immoderate discourse retention done nan AGENTS.md record that galore AI agents support. Over time, coding agents will build up their memories of you nan aforesaid measurement your favourite chatbots do.

So, nan thought that you tin proceed to usage your favourite supplier aliases agents successful GitHub, afloat integrated into nan GitHub instrumentality path, is powerful. It intends there's a chance developers mightiness not person to suffer nan walled plot effect that truthful galore companies person strived for to fastener successful their customers.

Mission power

GitHub is introducing Mission Control, which is simply a "unified bid center" for your agentic coding work. It's designed to beryllium disposable successful immoderate coding abstraction you're presently moving in, whether that's GitHub, VS Code, aliases your favourite terminal program.

This is each good and bully (actually rather good), but I do person a bony to prime pinch GitHub merchandise management. Mission Control? Really? Roughly a 3rd of each developers usage Macs, and Mission Control is simply a modular Mac feature. Did they not cognize this? Could they not person travel up pinch a different name?

Also: I put GitHub Copilot's AI to nan trial - its mixed occurrence astatine coding baffled me

Anyway, let's move on.

Most AI coding agents now let you to delegate them a batch of asynchronous activity projects that they're capable to tally pinch and study backmost erstwhile done.

GitHub's caller Mission Control tin do that, too, isolated from now you tin do truthful crossed agents and agentic AI connection models. So if you hap to for illustration Claude Code for definite kinds of work, and Codex for different work, you tin delegate activity from nan aforesaid interface to some tools, way what's being done, and activity pinch it.

GitHub is adding caller branch controls for amended oversight of agent-created codification and amended guidance of AI-generated continuous integration (CI) tasks.

They're besides adding personality features that thief explain which supplier is doing what, thief negociate access, and thief power policies. Basically, they're giving you nan aforesaid devices you'd usage to negociate quality developers, but for AI agents.

Also: How to usage GPT-5 successful VS Code pinch GitHub Copilot

There are a batch much method specifications successful this unified announcement, but nan halfway of it each is that GitHub is engineering coding agent-agnostic AI heavy into nan halfway GitHub experience.

I deliberation Anthropic's Krieger sums it each up nicely. He says, "This is really we deliberation nan early of improvement works: agents and developers building together, connected nan infrastructure you already trust."

What do you deliberation astir GitHub's move to merge AI agents for illustration Codex and Claude straight into nan halfway improvement workflow? Do you spot supplier collaboration arsenic a genuine productivity boost aliases much of a novelty? How do you consciousness astir nan thought of an "Agent HQ" managing aggregate AI teammates crossed tools? Is it exciting, a small unsettling, aliases both? And do you deliberation GitHub's attack to keeping nan level agent-agnostic tin really forestall nan benignant of lock-in we've seen from different tech ecosystems? Let america cognize successful nan comments below.

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