How to Run Claude Code and Codex Together — One Chat to Orchestrate Both

If you write code with AI in 2026, there's a good chance you keep both Claude Code and OpenAI Codex within reach. They are both terminal-based coding agents, and it's tempting to frame it as Claude Code vs Codex — which is better? In practice the more useful question is: how do I run Claude Code and Codex together, without becoming the human message bus copying context between two terminals?

Short answer: you can, and there are two ways to do it. The manual way — two terminals, a shared context file, and git worktrees — works today. The simpler way is to put one orchestrator in front of both. This post covers both.

Claude Code vs Codex: which is better at what

Neither one dominates the other; they have different shapes, and running them together means using each for its strength:

• Claude Code tends to shine at understanding an existing codebase: reading unfamiliar code, explaining architecture, making careful multi-file edits, and reviewing a diff for what it will actually break.
• Codex tends to shine at fast, well-scoped execution: scaffolding a new feature, generating boilerplate, and grinding through a clearly-defined ticket quickly.

So "which is better" is the wrong question. The interesting workflow is planning and review with one, execution with the other — and, ideally, each catching the other's mistakes.

The manual way: two terminals, one shared context

Both tools install as CLIs and run in any project directory:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code   # then: claude
npm install -g @openai/codex               # then: codex

The trick to running them on the same project is to give them a shared source of truth and keep them out of each other's way:

• Keep a living PROJECT_CONTEXT.md in the repo that both agents read and update, so a plan written by one is visible to the other.
• Use git worktrees so each agent works on its own branch in its own directory — they never fight over the same files.

git worktree add ../feature-claude feature/claude
git worktree add ../feature-codex  feature/codex
# run `claude` in one, `codex` in the other; review and merge the diffs

This works. The catch is that you are the integration layer: you paste Claude Code's plan into Codex, paste Codex's diff back into Claude Code, and reconcile the results by hand.

A workflow that actually works: plan → execute → cross-review

The most reliable pattern people land on is a small assembly line across the two agents:

1. Claude Code  — read the code, write a plan (files, steps, risks)
2. Codex        — implement the plan fast, produce a diff
3. Claude Code  — review Codex's diff: correctness, edge cases, style
4. loop on anything the review flags

Two independent models reviewing each other's work catches a class of mistakes that a single agent, marking its own homework, will happily miss. The cost is coordination overhead — which is exactly the part worth automating.

The friction: you're the orchestrator

Everything above works, and for a one-off task it's fine. Done daily, the manual approach quietly turns you into the orchestrator: routing each task to the right agent, carrying context between them, reconciling two diffs, and keeping a mental model of who did what. That's real work, and it's the same coordination problem whether you're juggling two coding agents or twenty.

How Orkas runs Claude Code and Codex together

Orkas is an open-source, local-first desktop app that turns that manual dance into a built-in feature. It can run local CLI coding agents for you — Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw, OpenCode, and Hermes — and coordinate them from one chat. Setup is short:

1. Install and sign in to the `claude` and `codex` CLIs on your machine
2. In Orkas: new chat → add an agent → "External" tab → pick a CLI
   (Orkas only lists the CLIs it detects on your PATH)
3. Do it twice — one Claude Code agent, one Codex agent
4. Optionally set a project directory per agent, and a model
   (leave the model blank to use each CLI's own default)

Orkas doesn't reimplement or wrap the models. It runs your real, already-installed claude and codex binaries as subprocesses, using the credentials you've already logged into them with. It manages the coordination, not the keys.

One Commander, both agents, in parallel

Now you have two specialist agents in one conversation. Ask the lead Commander for something and it routes the pieces — it can hand the "understand and plan" slice to Claude Code and the "implement fast" slice to Codex. When the Commander fans several hand-offs out in a single turn, Orkas runs them concurrently (a few at a time), so Claude Code and Codex work at the same time instead of you tabbing between terminals. You can also just @-mention either agent directly. We wrote up how this orchestration works in Multi-Agent Orchestration in Practice.

There's a bonus two bare terminals can't give you: when Orkas runs Claude Code or Codex, it also exposes itself back to them over a local bridge. The coding agent can reach Orkas's connected tools and knowledge — your GitHub, Notion, or Google Workspace connectors and your knowledge base — from inside its own run, not just the files in the repo.

A few things to get right

• You bring the CLIs and their logins. Orkas spawns claude and codex; it does not manage API keys or sign-in. Install them and log in first, on a recent version (roughly Claude Code 2.0+ and Codex 0.100+).
• Point them at different directories to parallelize safely. Orkas doesn't isolate each agent in its own git worktree — if both point at the same folder and run at once, they edit the same files concurrently. Give each its own project directory or repo for true parallel work.
• They run autonomously. Inside Orkas, Claude Code and Codex run without per-step approval prompts, so they edit files and run commands on their own. The one thing Orkas still checks with you is when a coding agent reaches out through a connector.

So — Claude Code or Codex?

Both. Use Claude Code for understanding, architecture, and review; use Codex for fast, well-scoped execution; and let one Commander route between them so you're steering the work instead of shuttling it. That's the point of running them together rather than picking a winner.

Local-first means your repository and your keys stay on your machine — see What Is Local-First AI? To skip the two-terminals dance, download Orkas and point one Commander at both Claude Code and Codex.