Claude Code & Codex Collaboration
Using multiple AI assistants can drastically increase your development speed. You can run Claude Code and OpenAI Codex together to handle different aspects of coding, review, and documentation.
1. Recommended Division of Labor
| Scenario | Recommended Tool | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Fixing small bugs | Codex | Fast edit-compile-test cycles for quick fixes. |
| Understanding a new codebase | Claude Code | Strong multi-turn conversation and deep context analysis. |
| Complex architectural planning | Claude Code | Excellent reasoning capabilities for design patterns. |
| Writing unit tests / review | Codex | Highly structured code generation matching existing test patterns. |
2. Collaborative Workflow
A highly efficient collaborative workflow consists of the following steps:
- Analysis and Planning: Have Claude Code analyze a feature request and write a detailed step-by-step implementation plan (e.g., in a markdown file).
- Implementation: Use Codex to execute the individual steps of the plan, generating the functions and classes.
- Review & Refinement: Let Claude Code review the implementation, check for edge cases, and suggest improvements.
- Validation: Use Codex to write test cases and verify the code correctness locally.
3. Configuration Differences
When running both clients simultaneously, make sure you configure their respective environment variables properly:
bash
# Configuration for Codex / OpenAI Compatible tools
export OPENAI_BASE_URL="https://toprouter.cc"
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your_toprouter_api_key"
export OPENAI_MODEL="openai/gpt-5.5"
# Configuration for Claude Code
export ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL="https://toprouter.cc"
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your_toprouter_api_key"Using TopRouter, both clients will connect to the same billing account, making cost and usage monitoring simple and consolidated through the console dashboard.