ChatGPT / Codex Setup Guide

On this page

Before You Start

1. Install ChatGPT / Codex

Open the ChatGPT / Codex download page.

Create an account. After signing in, your account has a small default balance for testing. You can top up after the setup test succeeds.

3. Create an API Key

Click “API Keys” in the left menu, or open the API Keys page directly. On the API Keys page, click the create key button.

Enter a custom key name, choose the group you want to use, and click the create button. Different groups may have different billing multipliers and stability levels.

After the key is created, click the copy button on the right side of the key to copy it to your clipboard. The default format is sk-xxx.

Note: Do not share your API Key. Anyone who has it can use the balance in your account.

Option 1: Import to ChatGPT / Codex with CC Switch

1. Download and Install CC Switch

Install CC Switch.

2. Import the API Key to CC Switch

On the API Keys page, click the “Import to CCS” button on the right.

After clicking import, CC Switch opens and shows the prompt in the screenshot. Click confirm.

Click the test button. If the test succeeds, the API Key was imported into CC Switch and can be used normally.

3. Import from CC Switch to ChatGPT / Codex

Click the enable button for this account. CC Switch will automatically configure the account for ChatGPT / Codex.

Open ChatGPT / Codex. In the left sidebar, you should see that you are signed in with an API Key. Send a message and confirm that it gets a response.

Option 2: Import to ChatGPT / Codex with Cockpit Tools

1. Download and Install Cockpit Tools

Download and install Cockpit Tools.

2. Configure the API Key in Cockpit Tools

In the left sidebar of Cockpit Tools, choose Codex, then click add account.

Choose API Key and custom configuration.

Scroll down, enter the information, then click add account.

API Key is the API Key you created in the previous step
Base URL is https://api.geniuscoder.net/v1
Provider name can be Genius Coder, or you can leave it empty

3. Import from Cockpit Tools to ChatGPT / Codex

Click the triangle button in the screenshot to enable this account. Cockpit Tools opens ChatGPT / Codex automatically by default. If it does not open, start it yourself.

In the Codex sidebar, you should see that you are signed in with an API Key. Send a message and confirm that it gets a response.

Option 3: Manual Setup

Because ChatGPT / Codex changes frequently, third-party tools may lag behind and can occasionally fail to configure it.

If the first two methods did not work, or you do not want to install a third-party tool, try manual setup.

1. Start and Quit ChatGPT / Codex

Start ChatGPT / Codex at least once, then quit it. This creates the default configuration folder.

2. Find the Codex Configuration Folder

Find the Codex configuration folder .codex.

Mac and Linux: ~/.codex/. On Mac, run open ~/.codex in Terminal. On Ubuntu, run xdg-open ~/.codex.
Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.codex, usually C:\Users\YourName\.codex\

3. Edit config.toml

Copy the following into config.toml in the .codex folder.

# Use Genius Coder as the ChatGPT / Codex model provider
model_provider = "geniuscoder"

# Default model and reasoning effort
model = "gpt-5.5"
model_reasoning_effort = "high"

# Connect to the Genius Coder API
[model_providers.geniuscoder]
name = "Genius Coder"
base_url = "https://api.geniuscoder.net/v1"
wire_api = "responses"
requires_openai_auth = true

4. Edit auth.json

Clear the contents of auth.json in the .codex folder and replace them with the following. Replace sk-xxx with your API Key.

{
  "auth_mode": "apikey",
  "OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-xxx"
}

5. Verify the Setup

Save the files, restart ChatGPT / Codex, and send one request to verify that the setup works.