Amir Brooks
Organiser · Melbourne
Amir has been using Codex on client work since early 2025. He hosts the Melbourne chapter and demos documentation workflows more often than anyone else has agreed to.
Run by regulars, for regulars.
codexcommunity is a volunteer-run meetup for people using OpenAI Codex across Australia. We started in Melbourne in March 2025. We run twelve events a year across Melbourne and Sydney. No sponsors, no paid tier, no company behind the community.
How this started.
In March 2025, six people who'd been using Codex on their own work met at Inspire9, Richmond to compare notes. The meeting wasn't planned as a recurring thing — it was one evening, one thread in a group chat, a booked table. People brought their laptops. Someone demoed a workflow. Conversation went on longer than anyone expected.
We met again the next month at the same place. By June 2025 we'd added a Sydney crew who'd been meeting separately, and we merged calendars. The name “codexcommunity” came from the group chat — it started as the channel name and stuck. We picked up the .au domain shortly after.
A year later, the rhythm is third Thursday of each month. Melbourne and Sydney alternate hosting, though both cities usually have at least one person on video when the other is live. The format has barely changed from the first night: one demo, then open conversation. We stopped writing agendas after the third event. No one has asked us to put them back.
We've never taken sponsorship. Venues are hosted by friendly cowork spaces who understand what the evening is. Drinks are BYO or at cost. The website is volunteer-built. Decisions are made by whoever shows up to help make them.
How it works.
Cadence. Third Thursday of the month. Melbourne and Sydney alternate months. Occasional extra events — workshops, holiday dinners — announced on the email list, not the main calendar.
Format. 6:30pm start. One fifteen-minute demo. Open chat until the venue closes. No keynotes, no roundtables, no breakout groups. One conversation, or several small ones.
Decisions. Organisers meet once a quarter to pick venues and rotate who's demoing. Anyone who's come to three events is welcome to join the organiser call. The bar is low and the work is real.
Money. No sponsors, no paid tier, no Patreon. Venues are hosted. Drinks are BYO or at cost. Domain and hosting are paid for out of pocket by the current organisers. Expenses under A$50 a year.
What we expect.
Short on purpose. Five rules, written for regulars rather than lawyers. The full version with escalation paths and contact details lives at /about/code-of-conduct — same rules, more words.
Show up, don't show off.
Demos are for sharing what you actually use. Bring the rough version with the comments you haven't cleaned up yet. Pitch decks, polished reveals, and product launches belong at a different kind of event.
Ask first, sell never.
Vendors and recruiters are welcome to attend and ask questions as people. Not welcome to pitch the room, collect emails, or prospect attendees. If you're here to sell, we'll ask you to leave.
Share context, not secrets.
Bring real work. Don't breach an NDA to do it. Redact what you need to redact. If you're unsure whether something is shareable, the answer is probably no — and we'd rather you tell us about it next month.
Debate the idea, not the person.
Disagreement is the point. Personal attacks, dismissive jokes, or repeatedly talking over someone aren't. Organisers will step in early and quietly if a conversation is going wrong.
Respect the room.
Phones quiet. Laptops considered. One conversation per table. The venue is someone's office the next morning — leave it the way you found it. If you drink, know your limit.
Who's behind this.
Lara Okafor
Organiser · Sydney
Lara hosts the Sydney chapter from Fishburners. Background in platform engineering — she runs the agent-failure post-mortem night that opened the calendar in 2026.
[seed — Sydney organiser]
Organiser · Sydney · [seed]
[seed — organisers replace] Two-sentence bio lives here describing Codex work context and which demos this organiser has hosted.