Original video in Chinese.
I put Codex inside World of Warcraft. Can you believe it?
What you’re seeing now is World of Warcraft: Eternal. The game officially launches on November 4. It’s currently in beta testing. I got beta access by preordering.
In the game, I press Enter and type /wow-codex in the input box to open a Codex conversation window. For example, I ask: Where can I sell things in Tirisfal Glades? Watch—it gets my current coordinates in the game, then tells me which way to go to find an NPC who buys things.
Its core is Codex, but the key is more than moving a chat box into the game. It’s giving Codex access to some of the game context. So it can not only answer my questions normally, but also provide information and suggestions based on my location, character, and current surroundings in the game.
Everything I just demonstrated is implemented through an add-on.
The whole thing started when I saw someone on X who had made an add-on called wow-ai. It lets you call Claude Code from inside the game on Windows.
The add-on is open source. So I built on it, turning it into a Mac add-on that calls Codex from inside the game.
I’m especially curious about what playing World of Warcraft with AI assistance will feel like.
If you were born in the 1980s like me, you probably have a soft spot for World of Warcraft and Blizzard.
Back in college, I played a level-60 Shadow Priest on the Chinese servers. After graduation, the Chinese servers still hadn’t opened level 70, so I went to the Taiwanese servers to play a Fire Mage.
Later, Blizzard declined more and more. The saying “If it’s from Blizzard, it must be a masterpiece” became nothing but a memory.
With World of Warcraft: Eternal coming out, I really want to return. I’m planning to keep playing a Fire Mage, and I’ve even started researching talent builds.
With over a month left before the game launches, I’m planning to do some preparation. For example, buying a new mouse and making an add-on myself.
I’ve been saying this for a while: AI’s next step is to enter your environment.
World of Warcraft has clear rules, lots of context, concrete actions, and quick feedback. So building an add-on like this is fun and gives me a chance to practice.
I just demonstrated that Codex can get in-game context during a conversation. That’s only the most basic part. Last night I had a sudden idea and added an interesting little feature called “Tavern Diary.”
World of Warcraft is fundamentally a role-playing game. To strengthen that sense of playing a role, I have the add-on record the player’s experiences in the game, such as levels gained and places visited. Then Codex turns those experiences into a story. It really feels like the heroic tales passed around in taverns in The Lord of the Rings or Dungeons & Dragons.
And beyond the in-game data, you can add details yourself to make your story in Azeroth richer.
Besides the conversation and Tavern Diary features already implemented, I’m planning to add several more.
For example, I’m working on a macro workbench that lets Codex help us write macros. Players can describe the effect they want, then have Codex add it in the game.
If you play World of Warcraft long enough, whether in PvP or PvE, you’ll definitely need macros. You either find ready-made ones on NGA or write them yourself. With Codex, it becomes much easier.
See, this is what I want to achieve: within a concrete environment, whether for gaming or work, bring AI fully into it so it can understand the state and provide information and suggestions. How I play and what I do ultimately remain my decisions.
I’ve already published this add-on on GitHub. I posted the link on Knowledge Planet (Zhishi Xingqiu), so you can get it there.
OK, that’s it for this episode. If you want to understand AI, reclaim individual sovereignty, and find like-minded people, come join the newtype community. See you next time!