OpenAI has entered an agreement to acquire Astral, the company behind popular open source Python tools including uv, Ruff and ty. The deal will integrate Astral into OpenAI's Codex team to enhance AI capabilities in software development. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OpenAI announced on March 19, 2026, that it has agreed to acquire Astral, maker of widely used open source Python development tools. The acquisition aims to integrate Astral into OpenAI's Codex team, accelerating work on Codex and expanding AI applications across the software development lifecycle, according to the company's statement. Closer integration of Astral's tools with Codex is expected to allow AI agents to interact more directly with everyday developer tools, OpenAI said. The deal's financial details remain undisclosed. Astral's key projects include uv, a Rust-based Python package manager with over 126 million monthly downloads; Ruff, a Python linter and code formatter with 179 million monthly downloads; and ty, a beta-stage fast Python type-checker with 19 million monthly downloads. Charlie Marsh, Astral's founder, started the company three years ago with $4 million in seed funding. In a blog post, Marsh stated that OpenAI 'will continue supporting our open source tools after the deal closes. We’ll keep building in the open, alongside our community – and for the broader Python ecosystem – just as we have from the start.' OpenAI confirmed it will 'continue to support these open source projects while exploring ways they can work more seamlessly with Codex' post-acquisition. This move occurs amid competition with Anthropic's Claude Code; Anthropic acquired Bun, a JavaScript runtime with 7 million monthly downloads, in November. Earlier this month, OpenAI acquired Promptfoo, makers of an open source LLM security tool.
