Build on Ritual: Install Agent Skills in Codespaces with Codex CLI

online5 min read·1 hour ago

No complicated local setup required. Just a browser, GitHub Codespace, and an AI agent that knows how to build professional Web3 dashboards ❖.

The Ritual Testnet went live on April 25, 2025. Community builders quickly moved forward, building dApps on the first chain to guarantee immortality for autonomous agents.

This article is a step-by-step guide to building dApps on the Ritual Testnet using GitHub Codespace as the environment and OpenAI’s Codex CLI as the AI coding agent. You don’t need to install anything on your local computer; everything runs in the cloud.

We’ll build a professional Web3 Dashboard with wallet connect, a mini explorer, and one-click deployment for Ritual smart contracts, NFTs, and token creation, all with a single prompt.

❖ What is Codex CLI?

Before we dive into the tutorial, it’s important to understand the main tool we’ll be using.

Codex CLI is a terminal-based coding agent from OpenAI. Unlike typical AI chatbots that only provide textual responses, Codex CLI can read the filesystem, write code, execute commands, and iterate over the results independently. It works like a junior developer, whom you can give high-level instructions to, and then it executes them.

What makes this so powerful for the Ritual ecosystem are Ritual dApp Skills: a collection of specialized skills that can be loaded into Codex CLI so it understands Ritual’s architecture, how it interacts with its chain, and the best patterns for building dApps on top of it.

❖ Prerequisites

What you need before you start:

- GitHub account (free)
- OpenAI account with API access
- MetaMask or any EVM wallet
- Ritual Testnet tokens from the faucet (available on the Ritual Discord for role holders)

Open your codespaces : https://github.com/codespaces
and click use this template and wait until it’s finished.

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Before installing, we check the environment first (GitHub Codespace usually has everything provided by default, so this step will usually immediately show a valid version.)

node -v
npm -v
git --version

install npm

install npm

install codex-cli

npm install -g @openai/codex
codex --version

set your OPENAI_API_KEY

export OPENAI_API_KEY="YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY"

Replace YOUR_OPENAI_API_KEY with your API key which can be obtained from platform.openai.com. you can deposit $5-$10 for API_KEY.

Verify that the API key is set correctly:

echo $OPENAI_API_KEY

next…

Install Ritual Agent Skills with Codex-CLI

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git clone https://github.com/ritual-foundation/ritual-dapp-skills.git .codex/skills/ritual-dapp-skills

Run Codex-CLI

codex

follow these steps :

login using API no.3
enter
1. yes, continue

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Now we set up the model we want to use. ( I use gpt-5.4-mini )

Go to Profile OpenAI https://platform.openai.com/settings/profile/user > Project : Limits > Allowed your models > choose your model > save.

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Now let’s go back to Codespaces to change the agent model.

Type /model, select your agent, and enter.

/model

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You’ll need to wait 5–10 minutes for the agent to reconnect.

Check ritual agent skill in folder :

❖ Congratulations🥳🥳 , you have installed the ritual skill in codespaces with Codex-CLI.

Now you can contribute by creating dapps using the ritual agent skill.

❖ Why Build on Ritual?

Ritual is faster or cheaper.

It’s the first chain built specifically for expressive heterogeneous computing, where smart contracts can access AI models, ZK proofs, and TEEs natively with a single line of code. Where autonomous agents are guaranteed protocol-level immortality. Where internet access and scheduling are native, without the need for external oracles or keeper services.

Building dApps on Ritual today means you’re at the forefront of an ecosystem that’s laying the foundation for the next era of Web3.

The community is already moving quickly. NFT minting, name services, token launchpads, wallet scorers, and various other tools have been born from the hands of community builders just days after the testnet went live.

Now it’s your turn 🫵🫵.

Building dApps doesn’t have to start with writing code from scratch.

With GitHub Codespace as a ready-to-use cloud environment, Codex CLI as a coding agent that understands the Ritual ecosystem, and one precise prompt, you can have a professional Web3 dashboard in minutes.

The Ritual ecosystem is growing rapidly. Be part of the first wave of builders building on a chain that will define a new standard for on-chain autonomous intelligence.

gRitual ❖

Start building on the Ritual Testnet now at docs.ritualfoundation.org. Explore community builds at skills.ritualfoundation.org. Stay tuned on X @ritualfnd.

This article is based on firsthand experience building on the Ritual Testnet. Always use a new wallet for testnet activities. It does not constitute investment advice.