Guide
Claude Code vs Codex, on your own repo
Benchmarks can’t tell you which agent is better on your codebase. The fastest honest answer is to give Claude Code and Codex the same task, each on its own branch, and compare the tests, the time, the cost and the diff. wisp does that with one click, then keeps the run you pick.
Free and open source · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor CLI, opencode, Antigravity CLI, Grok Build · macOS, Linux, Windows (beta) · Node 20+
How the two CLIs differ
Both are terminal agents that read your repo, edit files and run commands. What differs, as wisp drives them:
| Claude Code | Codex | |
|---|---|---|
| From | Anthropic | OpenAI |
| CLI | claude | codex |
| Headless | claude -p | codex exec |
| Read-only | --permission-mode plan | -c sandbox_mode="read-only" |
| Edit, ask for the rest | --permission-mode acceptEdits | -c sandbox_mode="workspace-write" |
| No prompts | --permission-mode bypassPermissions | --dangerously-bypass-approvals-and-sandbox |
| Permission prompts | Per call: allow, always, deny | A sandbox decides; no per-call prompt |
| Reports cost | Yes | Tokens only |
| Resume | claude --resume <id> | codex resume <id> |
Models change every few months, so a verdict on which one writes better code goes stale fast. Your repo, your tests and your review time are the benchmark that matters.
What to compare
- Do the tests pass? The project’s own suite, not the agent’s claim.
- The diff. How many files it touched, and whether you’d merge it without rewriting half.
- Time and cost. Wall-clock time for both; dollars where the CLI reports them.
- How much it needed you. Questions asked, and follow-ups before it was right.
Run the comparison
In the wisp launcher pick Claude Code, click vs, pick Codex and press Enter. Or from a terminal:
wisp "add rate limiting to /login" --agent claude --compare codexEach run gets its own worktree. Compare shows them side by side with both reports, and Keep this keeps the better branch and deletes the other. The parallel guide also shows how to do this by hand with git worktree.
Let your results pick
One comparison is one data point. wisp’s Auto harness keeps score for you: for each kind of task (bug, feature, UI, tests, refactor, docs) it tracks how often each agent, model and thinking level worked, counting merged PRs, 👍 and 👎, rollbacks and the follow-ups you needed. Then it picks per task, now and then trying the other option so the estimate stays honest. Settings → Auto shows what it learned.
You don’t have to choose one at all: a Claude Code lead can hand work to Codex.
Questions
- Is Claude Code or Codex better?
- It depends on the task, the repo and the current models. Run the same task on both, each on its own branch, and compare whether the tests pass, the diff, the time and the cost. wisp’s Compare view does that side by side.
- Can I use Claude Code and Codex together?
- Yes. Run different tasks on each at the same time, run the same task on both and keep the better result, or let a Claude Code lead delegate parts of a task to Codex subagents.
- Can I compare Cursor, opencode, Antigravity or Grok too?
- Yes. wisp runs Claude Code, Codex, Cursor CLI, opencode, Antigravity CLI and Grok Build, and --compare takes any of them.
Related guides
- Run Claude Code and Codex in parallelSame task on both agents, or different tasks at once, each on its own branch.
- Multi-agent coding across Claude Code, Codex and moreA lead agent with a team on other harnesses, working in parallel.
- Run multiple Claude Code agents in parallelSeveral Claude Code sessions on one repo, a git worktree each, one queue.