Source: https://seerepo.com/compare/openai/codex/vs/rtk-ai/rtk
Markdown source: https://seerepo.com/compare/openai/codex/vs/rtk-ai/rtk.md
Description: codex and rtk share 9 technologies: axum, SQLite, Tokio, tower, Ratatui, crossterm, image, tracing, and tracing-subscriber. Both are written in Rust.

# codex vs rtk

codex and rtk share 9 technologies: axum, SQLite, Tokio, tower, Ratatui, crossterm, image, tracing, and tracing-subscriber. Both are written in Rust.

- [openai/codex](https://seerepo.com/r/openai/codex): Lightweight coding agent that runs in your terminal
- [rtk-ai/rtk](https://seerepo.com/r/rtk-ai/rtk): CLI proxy that reduces LLM token consumption by 60-90% on common dev commands. Single Rust binary, zero dependencies

## What they share and what sets them apart

- In common: axum, SQLite, Tokio, tower, Ratatui, crossterm, image, tracing, tracing-subscriber
- Only in codex: lru, Sentry, objc2-app-kit, objc2-foundation, keyring, hmac, rmcp, png, pulldown-cmark, zip, schemars, Pydantic, log, tracing-appender
- Only in rtk: rusqlite, tiktoken-rs, quick-xml

## Side by side

| | codex | rtk |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 2,320,674 lines written, 4,216 code files | 219,272 lines written, 253 code files |
| Who writes it | 2.8% of its commits signed by AI. With Codex, Claude Code, and GitHub Copilot | 33.7% of its commits signed by AI. With Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor |
| Activity | Last push November 4, 2026, 13,099 commits, 133,103 stars | Last push November 4, 2026, 1,914 commits, 85,563 stars |
| Tests | 2,448 test files. 51.6% of its code files have a test that imports them | 84 test files. 4% of its code files have a test that imports them |

- Size: Lines written by people and agents, without generated ones; code files, without tests.
- Who writes it: A commit counts as AI's when it carries its signature: a Co-Authored-By line, its author name or the merge of its branch.
- Activity: From GitHub and its history, on the day SeeRepo read it.
- Tests: The files that test the code, and the share of code files a test imports.

## Frequently asked questions

### Which is bigger, codex or rtk?

codex, with 2,320,674 lines written; rtk has 219,272.

The proof: [openai/codex's code at commit 021fccb](https://github.com/openai/codex/tree/021fccb046508938c4754982efccfb51d6e8356e)

### Which has more GitHub stars, codex or rtk?

codex, with 133,103 stars; rtk has 85,563.

The proof: [openai/codex on GitHub](https://github.com/openai/codex)

### Which has more tests, codex or rtk?

codex, with 2,448 test files; rtk has 84.

The proof: [openai/codex's code at commit 021fccb](https://github.com/openai/codex/tree/021fccb046508938c4754982efccfb51d6e8356e)

### Which was updated more recently, codex or rtk?

Both got their last push on November 4, 2026.

The proof: [rtk-ai/rtk's commits on GitHub](https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk/commits)

### Which has more commits signed by AI, codex or rtk?

rtk: an AI signed 33.7% of its commits, with Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor; in codex, 2.8%.

The proof: [the commits each tool signed in rtk-ai/rtk](https://seerepo.com/r/rtk-ai/rtk/ai)

## Sources

- openai/codex: Read on November 4, 2026, at commit 021fccb (https://github.com/openai/codex/tree/021fccb046508938c4754982efccfb51d6e8356e)
- rtk-ai/rtk: Read on November 4, 2026, at commit b47e05b (https://github.com/rtk-ai/rtk/tree/b47e05b5df0c60ba1afbf3ba2492ad9e60fa340a)

## What is your repo built with?

Any public repo, with no account: https://seerepo.com/r/owner/repo/built, with the owner and name it has on GitHub.