Skip to documentation
Codex Skin
Get Pro

Codex Skin docs

Set up Codex Skin, apply and restore themes, understand the Plugin and safety model, or check changes that reached users.

Codex Skin changes the supported Codex view in the ChatGPT desktop app through a third-party theme workflow. Pick the task you have now; each guide stops at a clear result and links to the next action only when you need it.

Start with the task in front of you

Set up your first theme

Use Quickstart to install the public Plugin, verify the current release, copy a real six-digit theme ID, and finish the first visibly verified apply.

Install or update the Plugin

The Plugin guide has the canonical Marketplace commands, the upgrade path, current version checks, and the boundary between the public GitHub repository and private product data.

Apply, switch, or restore

  • Apply a theme explains authorization, the one-time operation, and the success check.
  • Switch themes covers direct replacement and the cases that may need one confirmed restart.
  • Restore the official appearance removes the skin and restores the native appearance saved before the first apply. Restore remains available offline.

Diagnose a stopped operation

Troubleshooting starts from the stable error or local status. It avoids destructive cache cleanup and tells you what is safe to share.

Review the technical boundaries

Read themes and skins for the terminology, architecture for the component and transaction model, or safety and compatibility for the user-facing controls.

What Codex Skin changes

A published Codex theme changes supported visual regions in the Codex workspace: backgrounds, surfaces, text colors, borders, and a limited set of design tokens. The theme is structured data plus declared local artwork. A fixed engine decides where those values may be applied.

A Codex theme does not change the model, task behavior, permissions, or the network behavior of Codex tasks and tools. Codex Skin does not modify the official application package, its signatures, or system-protected files. The theme does not extend to ChatGPT on the web, Codex CLI, IDE extensions, or browser extensions.

Codex Skin is an independent third-party project. It is not an OpenAI theme feature and is not endorsed by OpenAI.

The documented product path

Theme gallery -> six-digit ID -> Plugin -> device approval when needed
-> signed theme package -> verified one-time Helper transaction -> visible result

The docs follow this path. The gallery provides the identity of a published theme. The Plugin handles the supported request. The website checks device authorization and access before it delivers a package. The local Helper verifies and applies the package, then treats the current Codex window as successful only after the requested theme is visibly confirmed.

Current product scope

  • Codex Skin supports the Codex view on macOS and Windows during the Paid Alpha.
  • The current catalog contains 23 published themes: 6 Free and 17 Pro.
  • The Plugin is installed from a Git-backed Marketplace and is currently on the public 0.1.0-paid-alpha line.
  • Apply, switch, and Restore are bounded, on-demand Helper transactions. The Helper exits after verification; there is no background auto-reapply service.
  • Completely closing Codex, restarting the computer, or a later renderer reload ends the current visible guarantee. Apply the theme again through the Plugin next time.

Read changes that reached users

The Codex Skin changelog records changes that reached the Production user path, including actions a user may need to take. It does not mirror every commit or staging candidate.

Plugin and Helper release history is also available in the public CHANGELOG and GitHub Releases. The current Paid Alpha is distributed as a GitHub prerelease rather than a stable/latest release.

If you are starting from an unmodified installation, continue with Quickstart.