OpenAI acquires Ona, formerly Gitpod, to expand Codex

OpenAI acquires Ona, formerly Gitpod, to boost its Codex development agent with persistent cloud environments on AWS and Google Cloud for 5 million users.

OpenAI has reached an agreement to acquire Ona, a cloud infrastructure startup founded in Germany under the name Gitpod. The goal: to strengthen Codex, its software development agent, with persistent and secure execution environments. Ona's technology allows an agent to continue a task over several hours or several days, even after the machine where the work began has been shut down, whereas sessions previously lasted only minutes.

The model has a unique characteristic: agents run directly in the client's cloud, on AWS or Google Cloud for example, with the publisher providing the intelligence and orchestration while the company retains control over its infrastructure, data, and access. This logic is tailored for production deployments and regulated sectors, with activity logging and fine-grained credential management.

Regarding figures, OpenAI claims over 5 million weekly users for Codex, a 400% increase year-over-year, and credits Ona with having supported 2 million developers. The financial terms have not been disclosed. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals; in the meantime, the two companies remain independent, with Ona's team expected to subsequently join Codex.