OpenAI to acquire Python developer tools company Astral

OpenAI announced it will acquire Astral, a company that develops open source Python developer tools, to enhance its Codex coding platform.

Astral has created widely used Python development tools including uv for dependency management, Ruff for code linting and formatting, and ty for type safety enforcement. The company's tools are used by millions of Python developers worldwide.

OpenAI reported that Codex has experienced 3x user growth and 5x usage increase since the beginning of the year, with over 2 million weekly active users. The company aims to expand Codex beyond code generation to participate in complete development workflows including planning changes, modifying codebases, running tools, and maintaining software.

"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," said Charlie Marsh, founder and CEO of Astral.

OpenAI stated it plans to continue supporting Astral's open source products after the acquisition closes. The integration will allow Codex to work more directly with existing developer tools and operate across the Python development workflow.

"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," said Thibault Sottiaux, Codex lead at OpenAI.

The acquisition remains subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approval. Until closing, both companies will operate independently. After completion, the Astral team will join OpenAI's Codex division.

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