OpenAI just made a move that could change how we think about AI agents. The ChatGPT parent company has acquired Ona, a cloud-based developer platform, to give its Codex product something it's been missing: a permanent home in the cloud.
Think of it this way. Right now, when you ask an AI agent to do something—say, analyze a dataset or run a series of tests—it usually stops when you close your laptop. That's fine for quick tasks, but what about jobs that take hours or days? OpenAI wants Codex agents to keep working even after you've shut down your browser, picking up where they left off across different devices and sessions.
Ona's infrastructure makes that possible. It provides secure, customer-controlled cloud environments where agents can run persistently. OpenAI says this will let Codex complete long-running tasks in minutes instead of hours or days, while giving organizations better visibility and oversight into what their agents are doing.
Ona isn't a small player. The platform has helped shift software development into the cloud and now supports more than 2 million developers. It already shares customers with OpenAI, so the acquisition feels more like a natural next step than a leap into the unknown.
OpenAI, backed by Microsoft (MSFT), emphasized that organizations need to trust their agent-based systems. That means clear control over deployment environments, system access, credential boundaries, activity logging, and how work gets reviewed and approved. Ona's technology checks those boxes.
“Agents need more than intelligence; they need a trusted workspace,” said Johannes Landgraf, Ona's co-founder and CEO. “We built Ona to give agents cloud environments with the context, control and collaboration enterprises require. Joining OpenAI lets us bring that foundation into Codex, helping organizations deploy agents with confidence and giving humans more agency over their work.”
The timing makes sense. Codex has exploded beyond its original role as a coding assistant into a broader platform for research, analysis, automation, and software development. OpenAI says Codex now has more than 5 million weekly users—a 400% jump from earlier this year.
The deal is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, and both companies will operate independently until it closes. After that, Ona's team will join OpenAI and work alongside the Codex group to build secure, persistent execution capabilities for enterprise customers.
OpenAI said it's excited to bring the Ona team on board. Together, they aim to help engineering teams tackle long-running software tasks more safely and effectively—from running tests and fixing bugs to modernizing applications, patching vulnerabilities, and managing complex workflows over time.
