Astral

Developer Tools · AI Coding Agents · Python

Acquisition

OpenAI acquires Python tooling maker Astral, folds team into Codex

Millions of Python developers already run these tools daily, giving the lab a foothold deep inside workflows instead of just a chat window.

• OpenAI confirmed it is acquiring Astral, maker of the Rust-based Python tools uv, Ruff and ty, folding its team into the Codex coding-agent group; financial terms were not disclosed.
• Astral, founded by Charlie Marsh, built three open-source tools that have become near-standard in Python workflows: uv for package management, Ruff for linting and formatting, and ty for type checking.
• All three tools will stay open source after the deal closes, and uv alone has drawn more than 500 contributors on GitHub, underscoring how embedded Astral's code already is in developer workflows.
• Codex now counts more than two million weekly active users, with triple the user growth and a five-fold jump in usage since the start of 2026.
• The deal is OpenAI's second developer-infrastructure acquisition in about a week, following its purchase of Pierre Computer's Code Storage service on November 4, 2026.
• Owning the Rust tooling underneath everyday Python workflows lets OpenAI wedge Codex deeper into the developer toolchain, a flank Microsoft's GitHub Copilot and Google's Gemini Code Assist are now racing to cover.