Note

April 10, 2026

1 min read

Codex Has Our Relationship Backwards

By Cristiano Pierry

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Agentic coding tools create leverage only when they stop handing routine implementation chores back to the human.

ai-agentsproduct-designcodex
A builder questions a laptop while the useful work waits on the table.

Codex has our relationship backwards. It keeps telling me to do things!

Latest example: it asked me to update environment variables for a Netlify project.

Codex asking me to set Netlify environment variables
Codex asks me to set the environment variables needed for the deployment.

I told Codex to “Use the CLI tools and stop asking me to do work you can do on your own.”

My end goal is to enable Codex (or Claude Code) to operate with enough agency to actually finish the job, not to ask me to do grunt work for it.

This writing reflects my personal perspectives on product management, AI, and content discovery. It does not represent the official position of my employer or any affiliated organization.