Post-2000 generation creates the most powerful Apple development Agent. Just now, OpenAI acquired it.

Just today, Alex, the most popular and powerful programming Copilot plugin for Xcode, announced that it has been acquired by OpenAI, and the entire team will join Codex to start new work! What variables will this bring to Codex's expansion in the Mac platform, which is more favored by developers?

Early this morning, Daniel Edrisian, the founder of Alex, the most popular and powerful programming Copilot plugin for Xcode, announced that Alex has been acquired by OpenAI!

All members of the team will join OpenAI's Codex team to start new work.

If you're not a Mac programmer, you may not be familiar with Alex, the Copilot.

Perhaps what people are more concerned about is, what does this move by OpenAI mean?

Alex: The Best Copilot in Xcode

Xcode is a large - scale IDE officially launched by Apple, competing with Microsoft's Visual Studio. It has comprehensive and powerful functions, holds a high market share on the Mac platform, and is also an essential programming tool for developing iOS, iPadOS, and macOS apps.

Alex, on the other hand, is the most outstanding Copilot among the many Xcode plugins.

Alex is in the form of a sidebar plugin for Xcode and is hailed as "the missing sidebar of Xcode".

It deeply integrates with Xcode through the macOS accessibility interface, enabling AI to "see" the IDE interface and perform operations.

Thanks to this, Alex not only provides code auto - completion and conversational suggestion functions similar to ChatGPT/Copilot but also can directly operate and modify code in Xcode to achieve a series of automated development tasks.

Intelligent code completion and inline rewriting, automatic error repair, Agent mode and automatic task execution, environment operation and search - these are all within its capabilities.

This deep integration and automation ability have earned it an excellent reputation among Apple developers. Many developers have evaluated it as "the most powerful AI programming assistant on Xcode".

According to data disclosed by the investor, the product accumulated more than 1,200 active users within a week of its launch, and many iOS development teams have incorporated it into their daily workflows.

Its user base includes not only independent developers but also mobile developers from well - known companies such as Duolingo, Notion, LinkedIn, Robinhood, and ByteDance.

In August 2025, Alex announced the completion of a seed - round financing of $5.3 million (approximately 38 million RMB).

And the entire team, including the founder, only has 3 people. What makes this team unique?

Founder Daniel Edrisian: A Seasoned iOS Developer

Daniel Edrisian, the founder of Alex, is a post - 2000 guy.

Since high school, he has been working as a full - time iOS developer in the San Francisco Bay Area and sharing iOS app development tutorials in his spare time.

During this period, his achievements were highly recognized by Apple, and he won the Apple WWDC Student Scholarship three times.

In 2018, he entered the University of California, Berkeley, to study Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS) and achieved excellent grades.

During his college years, he interned at large companies such as Apple, Meta, and Google, focusing on iOS development.

Later, he took a one - year gap and joined FlutterFlow, a new company founded by a Google colleague, as the first employee.

The company mainly builds a low - code development platform and has currently raised $25.5 million in Series A financing.

After graduating from undergraduate studies, he immediately started founding Alex. It was selected for the famous incubator Y Combinator's Fall 2024 list, received rave reviews, and secured a $5.3 million seed - round financing.

His rich experience in iOS development has made him one of the people who best understand the pain points that may be encountered during the Xcode development process.

Now, he and his team have joined the OpenAI Codex team.

Codex May Intend to Enter Xcode to Expand Its Territory

Why does OpenAI want to absorb the Alex team?

Codex's traditional strength lies in Github Copilot. Entering Xcode may be Codex's real desire to expand its influence.

The field that Alex excels in, AI automation in Apple ecosystem development, is exactly the relatively missing part in Codex's territory.

For OpenAI, this acquisition is both about obtaining talent and technology.

Alex has verified the market demand and feasibility of an AI assistant in Xcode. Incorporating its technology and experience into the Codex team can accelerate OpenAI's layout for supporting Apple app development.

For the Alex team, they also have the opportunity to "amplify their dreams" on OpenAI's vast resources and platform and influence a larger developer community.

This alliance has brought about a significant win - win situation.

Let's wait and see what significant positive changes will occur to Codex in the future.

Reference Materials:

https://www.alexcodes.app/blog/alex-team-joins-openai

This article is from the WeChat official account “New Intelligence Yuan”, author: New Intelligence Yuan, editor: Allen. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.