Get started¶
It looks like you're installing a pet. Would you like help with that? (This time the answer is actually useful.)
Getting a paperclip takes three steps and about thirty seconds:
- Install: one command on any Unix-like system, or a double-click installer on macOS and Linux.
- Pick it: choose Clippy Pet in the ChatGPT desktop app, the Codex CLI, or upload the web build to ChatGPT.
- Enjoy: it idles, waves, and follows your pointer. When your run fails, it looks appropriately concerned.
If step 2 doesn't show the pet, troubleshooting covers reloads, CODEX_HOME, Gatekeeper, and terminal image support. If you ever want it gone, uninstall is one command and leaves nothing behind.
What "install" means here¶
Clippy Pet is data, not a program. Installing means placing exactly two files in your Codex configuration directory:
${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.codex}/pets/clippy-pet/
├── pet.json # 236 bytes: id, name, description, spriteVersionNumber: 2
└── spritesheet.webp # 1.5 MB: 1536×2288 transparent atlas, 8 columns × 11 rows
Every installer on this site (the one-liner, the .dmg, the .deb, the Homebrew formula when it lands) does that and only that. The clippy-pet command-line tool that ships with the packages exists to copy those files into the right place, tell you whether they're current, and remove them again.