OpenAI Acquires Astral: Boost for AI Coding with Ruff, uv, and ty Tools

March 19, 2026 Rachel Kim – Technology Editor Technology

OpenAI has agreed to acquire Astral, a developer tooling startup responsible for popular open-source Python utilities, the companies announced Thursday. The acquisition will integrate Astral’s team into OpenAI’s Codex group, which focuses on AI-powered coding assistance.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. OpenAI stated the move is intended to “accelerate our work on Codex and expand what AI can do across the software development lifecycle,” and to allow AI agents to interact more directly with tools used by developers.

Astral’s suite of tools includes uv, a Rust-based Python package manager with over 126 million monthly downloads; Ruff, a Python linter and code formatter boasting 179 million monthly downloads; and ty, a fast Python type-checker currently in beta with 19 million monthly downloads. Astral founder Charlie Marsh, who launched the company three years ago with $4 million in seed funding, affirmed in a blog post that OpenAI will continue to support these open-source projects following the acquisition.

“We’ll keep building in the open, alongside our community – and for the broader Python ecosystem – just as we have from the start,” Marsh wrote. OpenAI echoed this commitment, stating it will “continue to support these open source projects while exploring ways they can work more seamlessly with Codex.”

The acquisition occurs as OpenAI and Anthropic compete for dominance in the rapidly expanding market for AI coding assistants. Anthropic acquired Bun, a JavaScript runtime, in November, citing goals of “faster performance, improved stability and new capabilities” for its Claude Code platform. OpenAI’s Codex currently has more than 2 million weekly active users, with user growth tripling since the beginning of the year, according to the company.

OpenAI’s recent acquisition activity as well includes the purchase of Promptfoo, a cybersecurity startup focused on large language models, earlier this month, and a $6.4 billion deal for Jony Ive’s AI devices startup io in May 2025. The company hired Albert Lee from Google in December to lead corporate development, signaling a continued focus on mergers and acquisitions.