OpenAI giving free Codex? Is this for real?

I cam across this Tweet Is this true?

Real if you are core maintainer of a big open source AI project
The tweet is just for farming engagement and has been given a community note

Real? Yes. But “any repo + 5 min” = hype. It’s a reviewed grant for active maintainers of projects people actually use → the form · terms. Here’s how people actually got in :backhand_index_pointing_down:

╔════════════════════════════╗
║  WHO'S IN vs WHO'S GHOSTED ║
╚════════════════════════════╝

:white_check_mark: Got it:

  • Discourse (Sam Saffron) — accepted overnight · forum
  • dbcli/mycli (~11.7k​:star:) — “OpenAI asked for nothing in return” · HN
  • vLLM — got Codex Security

:cross_mark: Ghosted (no reply, months): a 29k​:star: repo · EasyInvoicePDF (900​:star:, applied twice) · FlowMVI (750​:star:)

👉 STARS DON'T DECIDE IT. Being depended-on does.

:key: The cheat code — how to get picked:

  • Apply as primary/core maintainer (write access, public repo + profile)
  • Pitch = “credits to cut my maintainer grind — PR review, triage, releases, security, all human-checked” — NOT “I want free Pro”
  • Flag downloads + who depends on you, not stars
  • Below the bar? Form literally allows “apply anyway and explain why” + you can nominate another maintainer

:warning: Don’t fake a repo / maintainer status — they verify “repository control” and decisions are final.
:coin: Bonus: also hit Anthropic’s Claude for OSS (5k​:star: or 1M downloads, closes Jun 30) — one ghosted-by-OpenAI dev got in there instead.

Simple-pimple: real grant, no star wall — be a genuinely useful maintainer, pitch the workload not the freebie, apply here. :magic_wand:

My OSS was not accepted, but I received $100 in credits as a student.