Codex is OpenAI’s agentic coding tool, and unlike Claude, nobody has to request it for you. It ships inside ChatGPT Edu, which every ASU staff member can switch on themselves. If you have ChatGPT through ASU, you have Codex.
What Codex is for
Describe a task in plain English and Codex plans it, writes the code, runs it, and iterates until it works. Automations, scripts, data cleanup, internal tools, prototypes. You do not need to be an engineer to start, though you do need to read what it produces before you trust it.
It also includes Sites, which publishes what you build to a real URL. That is one of two approved hosting paths for AI-built work at EdPlus, alongside Live Artifacts in Claude.
How to get it
There is no agreement to sign and no license tier to choose. This is the whole process:
- 1Go to asu.edu/selfsub, sign in with your ASURITE, scroll to the bottom, and select Subscribe next to “ChatGPT: User Account.”
- 2Watch for the email. Provisioning is automated and usually lands within 24 hours. There is no cost and no supervisor approval.
- 3Sign in at chatgpt.com with your ASURITE and open Codex.
Deep Research and additional models are a separate ServiceNow request, linked from the ChatGPT page in the Tool Directory.
The guardrails are the same
Codex runs on the same green, yellow, red framework as everything else at EdPlus.
- 🟢 Green: build now. Scripts, automations, and internal tools for you or your team. No review needed; keep your leader in the loop on what you are building and why.
- 🟡 Yellow: review before it goes live. Prototypes are always fine. The gate is the moment of exposure: authentication, external hosting, sensitive data in a third party tool, or use by students and faculty. Publishing to Sites where people outside your team can reach it lands here. Submit it through the project intake form.
- 🔴 Red: through the technology team. Net new customer solutions and complex deployments, and anything that integrates deeply with university systems or manages a database.
The full framework is in The EdPlus Agentic Governance Framework.
Work in your ASU account, never a personal one. ChatGPT Edu is approved for PII and FERPA records, and that approval covers your ASU account only. Keep HR and financial data out unless it has been explicitly approved. Review what Codex writes before you run it anywhere that matters.
Where to start
- The ChatGPT page in the Tool Directory has the full getting-started steps and the FAQ.
- The Learn library has videos and guides, filterable by tool.
- Building something that reaches real people? Start with the intake form, not after.
- Questions go to #edplus-ai-support.