I started Astral to make programming more productive.
From the beginning, our goal has been to build tools that radically change what it feels like to work with Python – tools that feel fast, robust, intuitive, and integrated.
Today, we're taking a step forward in that mission by announcing that we've entered into an agreement to join OpenAI as part of the Codex team.
Over the past few years, our tools have grown from zero to hundreds of millions of downloads per month across Ruff, uv, and ty. The Astral toolchain has become foundational to modern Python development. The numbers – and the impact – went far beyond my most ambitious expectations at every step of the way.
Open source is at the heart of that impact and the heart of that story; it sits at the center of everything we do. In line with our philosophy and OpenAI's own announcement, OpenAI will continue supporting our open source tools after the deal closes. We'll keep building in the open, alongside our community – and for the broader Python ecosystem – just as we have from the start.
I view building tools as an incredibly high-leverage endeavor. As I wrote in our launch post three years ago: "If you could make the Python ecosystem even 1% more productive, imagine how that impact would compound?"
Today, AI is rapidly changing the way we build software, and the pace of that change is only accelerating. If our goal is to make programming more productive, then building at the frontier of AI and software feels like the highest-leverage thing we can do.
It is increasingly clear to me that Codex is that frontier. And by bringing Astral's tooling and expertise to OpenAI, we're putting ourselves in a position to push it forward. After joining the Codex team, we'll continue building our open source tools, explore ways they can work more seamlessly with Codex, and expand our reach to think more broadly about the future of software development.
Through it all, though, our goal remains the same: to make programming more productive. To build tools that radically change what it feels like to build software.
On a personal note, I want to say thank you, first, to the Astral team, who have always put our users first and shipped some of the most beloved software in the world. You've pushed me to be a better leader and a better programmer. I am so excited to keep building with you.
Second, to our investors, especially Casey Aylward from Accel, who led our Seed and Series A, and Jennifer Li from Andreessen Horowitz, who led our Series B. As a first-time, technical, solo founder, you showed far more belief in me than I ever showed in myself, and I will never forget that.
And third, to our users. Our tools exist because of you. Thank you for your trust. We won't let you down.