OpenAI to acquire Ona to give Codex persistent cloud workspaces

The Ona deal is about the execution layer behind AI agents. OpenAI wants Codex to work in secure cloud environments that can stay alive for longer tasks, instead of depending only on a short-lived local session or a single coding exchange.

The company says more than 5 million people now use Codex each week, up 400% from earlier this year. That growth explains why persistent environments matter: longer tasks need state, context, credentials, logs and recovery paths that survive beyond a single chat turn.

Ona's work is centered on cloud development environments. OpenAI says Ona has helped 2 million developers work in secure, reproducible cloud environments and already shares customers with OpenAI. After closing, the Ona team is expected to join OpenAI's Codex team.

For enterprise adoption, the important detail is the customer-controlled execution model. OpenAI describes agents operating inside an organization's own cloud boundary, while the organization controls code, credentials, data access and audit records. OpenAI supplies intelligence and orchestration rather than taking over the operating environment.

The acquisition remains subject to customary closing conditions, including required regulatory approvals. Until the transaction closes, OpenAI and Ona will continue to operate independently.