Do I need Codex to run a software factory with Claude Code?

No, you do not need Codex to run a software factory for Claude Code in Tares. The crew runs on Claude Code alone, on your own Claude Code login. Codex is optional, and you choose whether a second model checks every commit when you run tares factory crew up.

How it works

The software factory for Claude Code is a crew of Claude Code sessions that run in the background on your machine:

• orchestrator: hands out work, answers the others and brings you what needs you.
• reviewer: reviews every pull request to a fixed bar and posts its verdict.
• builders: one per milestone and repo of a project. Each works a ticket on its own branch, opens a pull request and merges it once the reviewer passes it and CI is green.
• releaser: only if you ask for one. It tags and deploys.

Every one of these stations is a Claude Code session. They use your Claude Code login, and there is no separate model API key. Tares keeps the plan, the tickets, the reviews and your answers, so none of this depends on another model.

The Codex CLI matters in one place only. The first time you run tares factory crew up, Tares asks how far the crew may go. One of the questions is whether a second model checks every commit. If you want that second check, you install the Codex CLI. If you do not, you leave it off and the crew works the same way otherwise: the reviewer still reviews every pull request, and nothing merges until it passes.

Set it up

1. Check what you need. You need Claude Code, signed in, on a plan that allows background sessions. You also need gh, signed in with write access to the repos the crew works in, plus git, jq and curl. Codex is not on this list of requirements.

2. Install the CLI and start Tares:

   uv tool install tares     # or: brew install glassflow/tap/tares
   tares up                  # console on http://127.0.0.1:8787

3. In a second terminal, start the MCP endpoint that every crew session shares with tares mcp. Leave it and tares up running.

4. In a third terminal, sign in with tares login and pick your workspace in the browser. Give Tares access to GitHub as described in Build a software factory with Claude Code.

5. Bring up the crew:

   tares factory crew up

6. Answer the first-run questions. When Tares asks whether a second model checks every commit, answer no to run on Claude Code alone. Answer yes only if you want the extra check, and have the Codex CLI installed first.

7. Run tares factory doctor at any point to check everything the crew needs.

Your answers are kept on Tares, so you do not repeat them each time the crew starts.

What you get

• A working crew without installing or paying for anything beyond Claude Code and the tools in the checklist.
• One login to manage. The stations use your Claude Code login and there is no separate model API key.
• The same flow either way. You plan with tares factory spec, answer questions in the orchestrator’s session, and the crew builds the tickets into pull requests merged on main.
• A choice you control. The second-model check is a single answer at crew up, so you decide whether the extra commit check is worth setting up.
• A record that survives restarts. Tares holds the plan, tickets, reviews and your answers, so a crew that restarts carries on where it stopped.

When something else fits

Turn on the second-model check if you want another model to look at every commit on top of the reviewer’s verdict on each pull request. That is the one case where you need the Codex CLI.

The software factory for Claude Code itself requires Claude Code. If you do not use Claude Code, the crew has nothing to run on, and Codex does not replace it. If you only want to work on one project in your own Claude Code session, you can skip the crew and use tares factory session. The same Codex answer applies: it is optional.

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