OpenAI Codex app bundles LibreOffice, Python, Node in 1.7GB cache

Simon Willison, poking through his ~/.cache/ folder with OmniDiskSweeper, found that the OpenAI Codex desktop app (now rebranded as ChatGPT) contains 1.7GB in a codex-primary-runtime folder, including a full Python installation, a complete Node.js installation, and native binaries for Poppler, git and LibreOffice. Codex has been steady in our coverage, most recently the 5-hour cap OpenAI brought back for ChatGPT Plus last week.

The breakdown he lists: 771.0 MB native, 446.4 MB node, 440.6 MB python, 429.7 MB libreoffice-headless, 187.9 MB poppler and 148.1 MB git, with libheif and jxrlib rounding it out.

A documents folder nested deep in the runtime tree 'contains skills instructing Codex how to locate and operate these binaries,' Willison writes, noting in passing that LibreOffice is the office suite that 'separated from OpenOffice.org in 2010.' None of this is announced anywhere in the app; it just shows up in the cache.