Codex Capabilities: The Complete Guide to What Codex Can Do (2026)

Everything Codex CLI can do with AnyCap: image generation, video production, web search, cloud storage, and page publishing. Complete guide to the full Codex + AnyCap capability stack.

by AnyCap

Codex is OpenAI's agentic coding tool. It plans features, writes implementations, runs tests, and manages the full development loop — in a cloud sandbox, through the terminal, without a GUI.

Out of the box, Codex is focused: code in, code out. What it lacks are the capabilities that turn an isolated coder into a complete build-and-ship agent: image generation, video production, web research, file storage, and publishing.

This page covers every major capability you can add to Codex through AnyCap, with links to the complete guide for each one.


What Codex Can Do Natively

  • Write and edit code. Plan features, generate implementations, refactor, debug.
  • Execute terminal commands. Run tests, build scripts, git operations, shell pipelines.
  • Manage files. Read, write, move, and delete files within its sandbox.
  • Interact with APIs. Make HTTP requests, parse responses, integrate third-party services.

These are Codex's core strengths. Every capability below extends the agent beyond these defaults.


Codex + Image Generation

What it unlocks: Hero images, UI mockups, product screenshots, social graphics, design references — generated by the agent that's also building the product.

Codex generates code. AnyCap generates the visual assets. The same session that builds a landing page can produce the hero image, embed its URL, and push to git.

Models available: Seedream 5, GPT Image 2, FLUX.1 Kontext Max, Nano Banana Pro, Nano Banana 2

anycap image generate \
  --prompt "developer dashboard, dark theme, neon blue accents, product photography style" \
  --model seedream-5 \
  -o hero.jpg

Complete guide: How to Generate Images with Codex (2026)


Codex + Video Generation

What it unlocks: Product demo videos, UI animation previews, launch clips, changelog videos, image-to-video animation.

Codex can generate a product video as part of the same session it builds the product. One command, six models, no separate video tool.

Models available: Veo 3.1, Seedance 2.0, Seedance 2.0 Fast, Seedance 1.5 Pro, Kling 3.0, Sora 2 Pro

anycap video generate \
  --prompt "product walkthrough, dark UI, data visualizations animate in sequence" \
  --model seedance-2 \
  -o demo.mp4

Complete guide: How to Generate Video with Codex (2026)

Model comparison: Best Video Models for Codex (2026)


Codex + Web Search and Crawl

What it unlocks: Live web search, documentation crawl, competitor research, API verification — current information, not training-data guesses.

Codex's training has a knowledge cutoff. anycap search and anycap crawl give it access to current information before writing code that depends on it.

# Search for current information
anycap search "stripe api rate limits 2026"

# Crawl a specific documentation page
anycap crawl https://docs.stripe.com/api --format markdown

Complete guide: How to Give Codex Web Search (2026)


Codex + Cloud Storage

What it unlocks: Persistent file storage across sessions, shareable URLs for generated assets, cross-session asset retrieval, team review links.

Codex runs in ephemeral sandboxes. Files generated in one session disappear when the session ends. anycap drive upload saves them to permanent storage and returns a URL.

# Upload generated assets
anycap drive upload hero.jpg product-demo.mp4

# Get a URL for embedding
HERO_URL=$(anycap drive upload hero.jpg --format url)

# Retrieve in a future session
anycap drive download "hero.jpg" -o ./assets/hero.jpg

Complete guide: How to Give Codex Cloud Storage (2026)


Codex + Publish

What it unlocks: Instant live URLs for generated pages and assets — for stakeholder review, client delivery, or A/B comparison.

Codex generates a complete page. anycap page publish puts it at a public URL in one command. No git, no deployment pipeline, no hosting account required for quick review links.

# Publish a generated page for review
anycap page publish ./landing.html --title "Landing Page — Review"

# Returns: https://page.anycap.ai/p/abc123

Complete guide: How to Deploy and Publish with Codex (2026)


The Full Codex + AnyCap Stack

All capabilities share one install, one authentication step, and one CLI surface:

npx -y skills add anycap-ai/anycap -a codex -y
anycap login && anycap status

After that one-time setup, Codex has access to every capability in the table below:

Capability Command What Codex can do
Image generation anycap image generate Generate hero images, UI mockups, social graphics
Video generation anycap video generate Generate demos, animate images, produce launch clips
Web search anycap search Look up current information before writing code
URL crawl anycap crawl Read live documentation and competitor pages
Cloud storage anycap drive upload/download Persist files, share URLs, retrieve cross-session
Page publish anycap page publish Host generated content at a live URL

The Complete Build-and-Ship Pipeline

With the full stack installed, Codex can run a complete product workflow without stopping:

# 1. Codex builds the landing page (Codex's native work)

# 2. Research current competitors before writing comparison copy
anycap search "vercel vs netlify pricing 2026" > competitor-notes.md
anycap crawl https://vercel.com/pricing --format markdown >> competitor-notes.md

# 3. Generate the hero image
anycap image generate \
  --prompt "developer tool landing page hero, dark UI, neon accents" \
  --model seedream-5 \
  -o hero.jpg

# 4. Animate the hero
anycap video generate \
  --prompt "interface comes alive, elements animate in sequence" \
  --model seedance-2 \
  --mode image-to-video \
  --param images=./hero.jpg \
  -o hero-loop.mp4

# 5. Upload assets to get permanent CDN URLs
HERO_IMG=$(anycap drive upload hero.jpg --format url)
HERO_VID=$(anycap drive upload hero-loop.mp4 --format url)

# 6. Codex embeds the URLs in the landing page HTML

# 7. Publish for review
anycap page publish ./ --title "Launch Page — Stakeholder Review"

One session, one agent, one CLI. Codex researches, builds, generates assets, stores them, and publishes the result.


Codex vs Claude Code vs Cursor: Capability Comparison

All three agents use the same AnyCap CLI. Their architectural differences shape how each capability fits best:

Agent Best capability fit Architecture note
Codex CLI-native chaining, OpenAI ecosystem Shell-first, runs in cloud sandboxes
Claude Code Parallel execution via subagents Can run multiple capabilities simultaneously
Cursor In-IDE context, tight feedback loop Design asset access, in-editor review

For the full agent comparison, see Terminal Agent Showdown: Claude Code vs Codex vs Windsurf.


Video Model Guide for Codex

Video generation has the most model options. Quick reference:

Model Best for in Codex Speed
Seedance 2.0 Default production standard 45–90s
Seedance 2.0 Fast Draft iterations, direction testing 15–35s
Veo 3.1 Customer-facing polished output 60–120s
Kling 3.0 Cinematic creative briefs 50–100s
Sora 2 Pro OpenAI ecosystem, human motion 60–120s
Seedance 1.5 Pro High-volume automated pipelines 40–80s

For the full comparison: Best Video Models for Codex (2026)


Start Here

New to Codex + AnyCap? Start with the setup guide for the capability you need most:

  1. How to Generate Video with Codex (2026) — most requested
  2. How to Generate Images with Codex (2026) — pairs with video for the full pipeline
  3. How to Give Codex Web Search (2026) — research before you build
  4. How to Give Codex Cloud Storage (2026) — persist what you generate
  5. How to Deploy and Publish with Codex (2026) — ship the result

Install AnyCap — 250 credits free for new users


Written by the AnyCap team. AnyCap is the capability runtime that gives Codex image generation, video production, web search, cloud storage, and publish — through one CLI, one API key, and one install.