OpenAI reportedly builds its own alternative to Microsoft’s GitHub

OpenAI is reportedly building its own coding platform and code repository, a project that could eventually compete with Microsoft’s GitHub.

That is an awkward spot for a company in which Microsoft holds roughly a 27% stake.

The effort reportedly began for a practical reason. Repeated GitHub outages disrupted OpenAI’s development workflows, which raised internal concerns about leaning on a single provider for something so central to how the company ships software.

What OpenAI is reportedly building

The project is an internal coding platform paired with a code repository. Think of it as a private version of the place where engineers store, track, and collaborate on code.

As of early March 2026, the project was still in its infancy. There were no clear plans to release it commercially.

The target, if it ever becomes one, is enormous. Microsoft bought GitHub in 2018 for $7.5 billion, and the platform now serves more than 100 million developers worldwide.

A partnership that is quietly being renegotiated

The timing lines up with a broader reshuffle between the two companies. Microsoft and OpenAI amended their agreement to end exclusivity on OpenAI’s models and products.

Under the revised terms, effective April 27, 2026, OpenAI gains the freedom to work with other cloud providers. Microsoft, for its part, keeps a non-exclusive license to use OpenAI technologies through 2032.

Microsoft remains a major owner. It retains approximately 27% of OpenAI’s for-profit entity, a stake valued at about $135 billion following the recapitalization.

OpenAI’s growing footprint in developer tools

The repository project does not exist in isolation. OpenAI has integrated GitHub repository access into ChatGPT, letting users point the chatbot at their code for analysis. It has also expanded Codex support for open-source maintainers.

What this means for Microsoft, OpenAI, and developers

For Microsoft, the near-term threat looks limited. An internal project with no commercial plans is not going to pull 100 million developers away from a platform they already use every day.

The longer-term signal is harder to ignore. OpenAI is showing that it is willing to build around Microsoft where Microsoft’s products fall short. The GitHub outages, by this account, were enough to push one of Microsoft’s most important partners to start drafting a contingency plan.

The things to watch are fairly concrete. One is whether OpenAI ever signals commercial plans for the platform. Another is whether GitHub’s reliability improves in a way that makes the project less urgent. A third is how Microsoft and OpenAI handle overlapping products as their once-exclusive arrangement gives way to a looser, non-exclusive one.

For now, the two companies remain deeply intertwined, with Microsoft holding a large ownership stake and licensed access through 2032.