OpenAI will acquire developer tools startup Pierre Computer and integrate its Code Storage feature into Codex, after unveiling Pando, a separate coding system that the company says reduced the time needed to push code changes by nearly 80%, Axios reported on 4 November. OpenAI told the publication about the planned acquisition. Pierre’s technology is already used in Codex, OpenAI’s AI coding platform, and the deal would bring its code-storage function more fully into the product.
Key points
- OpenAI plans to integrate Pierre’s Code Storage into Codex, where the startup’s technology is already in use.
- Financial terms were not disclosed. Pierre’s open-source projects will remain open-source.
- OpenAI says Pando cut the time needed to push code changes by nearly 80%.
- Cursor launched a GitHub rival in August, and former GitHub chief executive Thomas Dohmke announced a competing product in October.
Pierre’s Code Storage joins Codex
The acquisition would move OpenAI further into the infrastructure developers use to manage code. Codex already uses Pierre’s technology, while the planned integration specifically covers Code Storage. That brings a storage function into a product built around AI coding, at a time when companies are developing alternatives to Microsoft’s GitHub. GitHub has long served as a central repository for software development.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, Breaking the News reported. The publication also reported OpenAI’s statement that Pierre’s open-source projects would remain open-source after the deal. Those projects and the Code Storage integration are distinct parts of the announcement: OpenAI intends to bring the storage feature into Codex while keeping Pierre’s existing open-source work available on that basis.
OpenAI has also outlined a change to how its existing products share usage. It plans to merge ChatGPT’s Chat and Work tabs and share Codex usage, AI Affairs previously reported. The Pierre acquisition concerns a different part of Codex: the tools used to store code, rather than the usage shared with ChatGPT.
Pando targets AI-generated code
OpenAI unveiled Pando earlier in the week of 4 November as a system designed to handle code generated by AI agents. The company says Pando reduced the time needed to push code changes by nearly 80%. That figure concerns the process of moving changes forward, rather than a financial return from the Pierre acquisition.
OpenAI is exploring ways to make Pando available to customers, Axios reported. Its work on Pando and the planned Code Storage integration address different stages of a coding workflow: handling a growing volume of agent-generated changes and storing code within Codex. The company’s stated Pando result is a measure of time saved in pushing changes, while Pierre brings technology already used by Codex into the planned acquisition.
Origin and Dohmke challenge GitHub
Microsoft’s GitHub is the established platform these new products are challenging. Critics cited by Axios argue that GitHub was designed for human developers and that software increasingly written by AI agents calls for a different approach. The Pierre deal places OpenAI among the companies pursuing that shift, even as Microsoft owns nearly a quarter of OpenAI.
Other challengers have already named products. Cursor, which Axios reported is now owned by SpaceX, launched its GitHub rival Origin in August. Thomas Dohmke, the former GitHub chief executive who has started a new coding company, announced a competing product in October.
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