OpenAI is developing a code repository platform that would compete directly with GitHub, the Microsoft-owned service used by most of the world’s software developers, according to a report by The Information published on March 4, 2026. OpenAI has not publicly confirmed the project.
The report says the platform began as an internal tool and could be offered to outside developers. A code hosting service would give OpenAI a place to store, version and review code that sits alongside Codex, its AI coding agent, instead of depending on GitHub for the repositories that Codex works on.
Strains with Microsoft
The move would deepen the competition between OpenAI and Microsoft, which is OpenAI’s largest investor and a key cloud partner but also owns GitHub and its Copilot coding assistant. The relationship has grown more complicated over the past year as both companies have expanded into the other’s territory.
One flashpoint was OpenAI’s attempted acquisition of Windsurf, an AI coding startup, for about $3 billion in 2025. That deal collapsed, and reports at the time cited disagreements over whether Microsoft would gain access to Windsurf’s intellectual property under the terms of its agreement with OpenAI. Google subsequently hired Windsurf’s leadership team in a licensing deal.
Codex’s growing user base
OpenAI’s coding tools have gained ground quickly. The company says Codex has reached more than a million developers, and its desktop app for Mac passed a million downloads within a week of its February launch. A Windows version followed in early March.
GitHub Copilot remains one of the most widely deployed AI coding assistants, but it now faces a crowded field that includes Anthropic’s Claude Code, Google’s Gemini tools and Cursor, and its share of the market has not grown at the pace of some newer entrants, according to industry coverage.
From models to platforms
The reported project reflects a broader shift among AI labs from selling model access toward owning the full developer workflow. A company that controls where code lives, how it is reviewed and which agent writes it can embed its models at every step and collect data about how software is actually built.
Displacing GitHub would be difficult. The service hosts hundreds of millions of repositories and is deeply integrated into corporate development pipelines, and network effects around open-source projects are strong. Whether OpenAI launches a public product, and on what terms, remains unconfirmed.
