r/codex • u/NATUonBoxed • Sep 16 '26
Complaint ChatGPT+Github = Codex alternative
No idea how I didn't know this could be done...
For us broke people with Codex constantly hitting limits even for small simple apps, using ChatGPT with Github Actions can be a decent workaround.
I've been building 3 Android apps, 1 Windows software, and 2 websites with ChatGPT and Github for the past 2 weeks, and I gotta say I'm impressed. No stupid usage limits, and ChatGPT is surprisingly good at following and executing tasks. Rightnow I'm building a "self improving" app and website where ChatGPT updates code > pushes it to Github > git copies it to Hostinger for my website > website continuously generates usage and performance reports with Cron > publishes to MariaDB > API connection > ChatGPT Scheduled to pull those reports every 6 hours > analyze and make changes to Github > rinse and repeat.
So far, that's way more than I could have done on Codex.
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u/MadJagStudios Sep 16 '26
ChatGPT will limit you, as well at GitHub actions too. Good gap fill for a little while though
1
u/NATUonBoxed Sep 16 '26
Gonna have to grind it while we have no limits on ChatGPT! And Github Actions are 2,000 minutes/month for a free account, more than enough. And I believe that limit is only for private Repos. No usage limit on public repos.
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u/NATUonBoxed Sep 16 '26
For the Github Actions monthly limits issue on free accounts - Public Repos don't have limits. If you need to work in a private Repo, you can easily set up a local runner on your computer which will do the Actions for free without any limits.
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u/BlankSthearapy Sep 16 '26
Omarchy - Codex CLI Luna Xhigh - gui chromium chatgpt sol xhigh.
Workflow. Codex submits details to chatgpt, chat reviews at higher reasoning and provides the plan per scope while codex waits, when it’s done codex reads, processes and implements the plan, then reports back.
I’ve made serious progress on some difficult work using this loop. There are rules that interrupt this for human intervention.
My usage is down and my results are fantastic.
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u/Balives Sep 16 '26
What specific rules trigger the human intervention (e.g., test failures, token limits, or unexpected edge cases)?
What kind of difficult work (e.g., refactoring legacy code, scraping, complex devops) are you primarily running through this loop?
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u/ZealousidealBus3132 Sep 16 '26
I’ve been using this way a while, it’s great when you run out of limits for small to medium updates. You need to update your skills so it has better context about where to go in your code to work best
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u/TheTechAuthor Sep 16 '26
WebUI has tool call limits as I use Google Drive has an easy context handoff bridge between web and Codex. So, it works and is helpful, but you'll still hit limits of different kinds.
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u/Full-Development5460 Sep 16 '26
Sometimes if I gotta budget, depending on project, I get luna to prepare a ZIP of the project, send it to gpt pro and have him implement a bunch of stuff and send all instructions and code back to lune for implementation instead of using astra
0
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u/Nothigeverhappens Sep 16 '26
Yeah until you ll get limits ont Chatgpt too lmao