OpenAI to Acquire Pierre Computer, Maker of Code Storage, to Expand Codex

San Francisco, California — OpenAI has agreed to buy Pierre Computer Company, Inc., the developer tools startup behind the Git-based service Code Storage, as it works to turn its Codex coding agent into a platform for storing, reviewing and shipping software, not only writing it.

Pierre is not new to Codex users. Anyone who has browsed a project's files or looked over a change in the Codex app has been working with two of its open-source libraries, Trees and Diffs, OpenAI said.

Trees is built for moving quickly through the files in a project, while Diffs shows what has changed between versions of the code. OpenAI said both handle large volumes of code without slowing down.

The startup has added more on top. An Edit mode in Diffs lets a reviewer correct a line of code at the point where the problem appears, and Pierre recently put out Highlights, a syntax highlighter that refreshes as a person types or as an agent streams code into the editor.

Its paid product is Code Storage, which gives apps a way to keep code and its change history in Git. On its website, Pierre says Lovable, Poke, Anything, Bolt, Amp and Parahelp are among the companies using the service to hold generated code, memory files, design artifacts and other files that change over time.

The service offers a 99.99% uptime commitment, SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliance, and a sync engine for GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket, according to the site. Pierre says its team previously built large distributed storage systems at companies including Cloudflare, Coinbase, Discord, GitHub, Meta, Reddit, Stripe and Twitter.

OpenAI framed the purchase around Git, the version control system most software teams use, and how it has to change when coding agents work alongside people. The company said it wants to build on the Git workflows developers already depend on and adapt them to that new way of working.

OpenAI said in its announcement: “With the Pierre team, we wish to set the standard for modern software development: from the first branch an agent creates to that magic moment when code is deployed to the world. We want to make Codex the place where developers and agents take on their most ambitious projects.”

The company also said: “Pierre has built tools that developers love, and together, we will ship new products and platforms that benefit all. Once the acquisition closes, our ambition is to advance the future of source control across the industry. We want Codex to connect the code a company ships with the decisions its people make, at the scale the future demands.”

Pierre's open-source projects will stay open-source, and OpenAI plans to keep contributing to them. Existing Code Storage customers will be able to keep using the service after closing, while OpenAI moves its features and functionality into Codex.

The deal follows a technical post two days earlier in which OpenAI described Pando, the in-house source control backend it built after Codex sharply increased the volume of parallel work in its main code repository. By the end of last year, slow pushes and failed merges had pushed reliability at times below 90%, the company wrote.

OpenAI said it built Pando with Codex in 10 weeks, from kick-off to production, and that the system began handling live traffic in April. Moving to Pando cut median push latency by nearly 80%, and it now delivers nearly a petabyte of Git data a day. OpenAI added that it is looking at ways to offer the technology to users.

The two moves take OpenAI further into the infrastructure where code is kept and reviewed, where GitHub has been the central hub for many years.

Competition in code hosting is growing. Cursor began rolling out Origin in August, giving developers another place to host code and review changes. In October, Entire, led by former GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke, unveiled a competing platform built for teams that use AI coding agents. In June, SpaceX agreed to acquire Cursor in an all-stock deal valuing the coding company at $60.0 billion.

The purchase could also put OpenAI in a new position with Code Storage customers, several of which run AI app-building products of their own. How Codex absorbs the service, and on what terms the standalone product continues, may shape whether those customers stay.