Codex Custom Pet Tutorial: Create Your Personal IP Desktop Pet from Your Avatar
If you want to turn your avatar, brand mascot, or even your cat or dog into an animated Codex desktop pet, this guide covers everything you need.
You will learn the three most practical parts:
- Adopt a ready-made pet and start using it immediately
- Generate a custom desktop pet using your own image
- Back it up so you can keep using it when switching computers
Path A: Adopt a Ready-Made Pet First
If you just want to get a feel for it, the easiest way is to head over to Petdex and pick one. The community gallery is quite large and supports browsing, installing, and submitting.
Once you find a pet you like, copy the install command shown on the page:
npx petdex@latest install eveAfter installation, open Codex and go to:
Settings -> Pets
Select it under custom pets, then click wake up and you are done.
Path B: Create Your Own Pet
1. Prepare a Reference Image
First, create a new regular conversation in Codex and upload your reference image. Do not rush into generating the desktop pet yet -- first lock down the character's appearance.
You can upload these kinds of assets:
- An avatar or front-facing photo
- A cartoon character you are already using
- A brand logo or mascot
- A product character design sheet
- A hand-drawn sketch
- A pet photo
It is best to pick an image where the subject is complete, the silhouette is clear, and the lighting is normal. A full-body shot from the front or at a slight angle usually works better than a partial-face selfie.
If the image contains multiple subjects, try to crop out unrelated people or objects first. If cropping is not possible, make sure to explicitly tell Codex: only pick the most prominent, most complete subject in the frame.
2. Generate a Base Image First
This step organizes the features from your photo into a stable, easily recognizable character image.
You can use this prompt directly:
Based on the image I uploaded, please create a base character image suitable for a Codex desktop pet.
Requirements: single subject, full-body or half-body complete, clear silhouette, no background, no text, unified color scheme, still recognizable when scaled down.This image is responsible for locking in the hairstyle, eyes, color scheme, silhouette, and overall feel. The animation part will be handled by Codex later.
3. Generate the Desktop Pet with Hatch Pet
In your Codex conversation, type:
$skill-installer hatch-petThen press Cmd/Ctrl + K, search for and execute Force Reload Skills.
Next, enter or modify the following prompt:
Help me create a Codex desktop pet.
Character source: use the base character image I just confirmed.
Requirements: no background, no text, complete subject, clear silhouette, still recognizable when scaled down, suitable for desktop pet display.
Action states should cover as many as possible: idle, working, waiting for input, thinking, completed, failed, sleeping.If you already have a reference image you are really happy with, you can also hand it directly to Codex and have it continue generating the desktop pet version.
The action effects will look roughly like this:
Once generation is complete, go to Settings -> Pets and you will see your newly created pet.
Click to select it and you will see the effect -- your pet will appear in the bottom-right corner.
How to Back Up and Share After Creating
Once your pet design is complete, you can open the custom pet folder in Codex pet settings and copy the entire pet folder out.
- When switching computers, place it back in
~/.codex/pets/ - Windows users can think of this as
.codex\petsunder your user directory - You can also send it directly to a friend and have them import it
If Petdex still supports submissions, you can follow the instructions on its page to submit. If you have already installed its CLI, refer to the official prompts to log in and submit.
npx petdex login
npx petdex submit ~/.codex/pets/your-pet-nameCommon Pitfalls
- Subject too small -- silhouette becomes unclear after generation
- Background too cluttered -- character boundaries get disrupted
- Multiple subjects in one image -- Codex does not know which one to pick
- Too much text, logos, or fine decorations -- they blur when scaled down
- Reference image too dark -- colors and details become unstable
If you run into these problems, go back to the "Reference Image" step and redo it. That is usually faster than trying to salvage things later.
Your Personal IP Can Start with a Pet
When many people think about building a personal IP, their first instinct is logo, brand colors, typeface, and sticker packs.
But you can also flip the approach: first create a character you would want to see every day, bring it to life, then gradually extend it into an avatar, article illustrations, video watermarks, and a complete visual system.
A Codex desktop pet is just one piece of that, but it is very concrete: every day when you open your computer, you see this IP.
Give it a try now -- create your own cartoon avatar first, or turn your cat or dog into a desktop pet too.