Codex tutorial: start with spreadsheets, files and small tools

On November 3, 2026, at 13:02, a beginner-oriented tutorial titled '普通人怎么用 Codex：从表格、文件和小工具开始' appeared on Juejin. It targets people who know a little programming and suggests starting with two exercises: processing a batch of local files and building a small tool you can verify yourself. Tasks named include checking a weekly spreadsheet, organizing a pile of files, and making a local searchable page for your notes. The tutorial also cites a development write-up by Sudeepa Kolli, who says he built roughly eight applications with Codex; one of them, sewna, a custom-clothing product, has already brought in real customer revenue, and his projects involved Flutter, Firebase, and Next.js.

The article stresses stating matching rules and inputs and outputs explicitly, and keeping intermediate steps inspectable. Its example is to first export a small desensitized CSV sample, describe the matching rules, and have Codex write a script, without modifying anything at the start. A first step could be producing only a mapping between original and new filenames, so you can spot duplicate names and directories to skip, and only run changes on a copy after confirming. It also suggests building a local page that searches by title and filters by tag, using a sketch or screenshot as the layout reference and iterating by pointing at what feels cramped or hard to find. On verification, the tutorial distinguishes 'works on my machine' from 'safe for colleagues to access', noting the latter involves deployment, permissions, and data storage. The material ends mid-sentence on the case of an old Python script that no longer runs after a spreadsheet format change, without giving the follow-up solution.