OpenAI’s Agents API can now work software through its interface
Published
OpenAI used DevDay 2026 to extend its Agents API, the service developers use to build AI agents on OpenAI’s infrastructure. As reported by InfoQ on 2 October 2026, three changes stand out for the kind of systems we build.
What was announced
- Computer use. Agents built on the API can now operate software through its graphical interface, the way a person would, rather than only through APIs.
- Multi-agent features. Capabilities first built for Codex, OpenAI’s coding agent, come to the API: several agents working on one task, tool search, tool calling and context compaction for long tasks. OpenAI runs the execution infrastructure.
- A Decisions API, in limited preview. It picks one answer from a set you define, based on text or an image. OpenAI pitches it for classification, routing requests and choosing an agent’s next step.
InfoQ reports the agent features are available through the API, and in Codex and ChatGPT Work on selected plans.
What it means in practice
Computer use helps where there is no API. Many supplier portals, government sites and older internal tools offer no way in except the screen. Until now, the answer has been scripted browser automation. An agent that can work the interface is more forgiving when a page changes, but it is also slower and harder to predict than a script. For high-volume, unchanging steps, a script is still the better tool. For low-volume steps on pages that change often, an agent may now be the better trade.
A constrained answer is easier to trust. Choosing from a fixed list of outcomes, such as which queue a request belongs in, is much easier to test than free text. That fits how we already design AI steps: rules first, a narrow decision for the model and a person for what matters.
Checkpoints matter more, not less. An agent that can click through any interface can also click the wrong thing. Anything that moves money, contacts a customer or changes records should still wait for a person.
Source: OpenAI DevDay 2026 Recap for Developers, InfoQ, 2 October 2026.
