Training course · OpenAI Codex · SAP & ABAP

OpenAI Codex for SAP ABAP Developers

Delegate development work with OpenAI Codex: CLI and cloud agent, AGENTS.md, sandboxing, approvals and team PR workflows.

Duration
2 days (14 hrs)
Format
Online or on-site
Language
German or English
Participants
open dates or exclusive for your team
Certificate
Certificate of attendance

Overview

“OpenAI Codex for SAP ABAP Developers” is designed for roles such as ABAP developers in in-house IT and SAP consultancies, SAP technical consultants and development architects and Teams working on S/4HANA conversion and clean core projects and shows step by step how to use OpenAI Codex productively, safely and transparently in SAP & ABAP – from the fundamentals to advanced workflows.

OpenAI Codex is a coding agent that runs both locally, as a command-line tool and IDE extension, and as a cloud agent. Locally, Codex reads your repository, proposes changes and runs commands inside a sandboxed environment. In the cloud, it works on delegated tasks in parallel inside isolated containers and returns results as traceable diffs or pull requests. Over two days you will learn how to combine both modes effectively and how to scope tasks so that the agent can complete them reliably and with minimal back-and-forth.

Control and security sit at the heart of the course. With AGENTS.md you hand Codex project knowledge, build and test commands, and conventions. You configure approval modes and sandboxing so that the agent only does what you permit, and you set up cloud environments with suitable setup scripts. You will also integrate Codex into your pull request workflows, use automated code review, and define team rules on which tasks are delegated and how results are checked before they are merged into the main branch.

Few development landscapes carry as much accumulated logic as SAP. Custom reports, user exits, BAdIs and Z programmes built up over many years must be assessed, adapted or replaced with clean core extensions for S/4HANA. AI coding assistants and agents help you make sense of undocumented ABAP, resolve ABAP Test Cockpit findings, move classic ABAP to modern ABAP with CDS views and the RESTful Application Programming Model, and retrofit unit tests. Because ABAP is tightly woven into dictionary objects, customising and business processes, precise context and disciplined reviews are essential. In this course you learn to apply AI to analysis, refactoring and new development in SAP, aligned with your transport system, namespaces and the quality standards of your SAP operations.

The course is delivered live – either online in a virtual classroom or on-site in our training rooms in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run it exclusively for your team.

Who is this course for?

  • ABAP developers in in-house IT and SAP consultancies
  • SAP technical consultants and development architects
  • Teams working on S/4HANA conversion and clean core projects
  • SAP Basis and integration specialists who also write code
  • Fiori and RAP developers

Typical challenges we address

  • Large volumes of poorly documented Z code with unclear usage and many dependencies
  • Heavy adaptation effort for simplification items and data model changes during S/4HANA migration
  • Low test coverage because ABAP Unit was rarely used in legacy code
  • Skills shortages and knowledge loss when experienced developers leave

What you will be able to do

  • You use Codex locally and in the cloud for the development tasks each mode suits best.
  • You write an AGENTS.md that guides the agent reliably through your project.
  • You configure approval modes and sandboxing to match your security requirements.
  • You delegate tasks to the cloud agent and review the results systematically.
  • Use AI agents to systematically analyse, document and assess existing ABAP for S/4HANA.
  • Modernise classic ABAP in line with clean core principles and secure refactoring with generated ABAP Unit tests.
  • Integrate AI tools with ADT, abapGit and your transport and review process.

Course outline

Day 1

Module 1 Codex at a glance: CLI, IDE and cloud
  • Comparing how Codex works locally and in the cloud
  • Installing the Codex CLI, signing in and starting it in a repository
  • Interactive sessions, non-interactive execution and model choice
  • Distinguishing tasks that suit a coding agent from those that do not
Module 2 Project knowledge with AGENTS.md
  • Building an AGENTS.md with build, test and lint commands
  • Stating conventions, architectural notes and prohibitions precisely
  • Using nested AGENTS.md files for monorepos and sub-projects
  • Checking effectiveness and refining instructions iteratively
Module 3 Sandboxing, approvals and security
  • Choosing approval modes deliberately, from read-only to largely autonomous
  • Understanding sandbox boundaries for file system and network access
  • Handling secrets, dependencies from the internet and prompt injection
  • Configuration files for team standards and safe defaults
Module 4 Delegating tasks to the cloud agent
  • Configuring cloud environments with setup scripts and dependencies
  • Writing tasks with a clear goal, context and acceptance criteria
  • Launching several tasks in parallel and comparing the results
  • Using logs and test output to understand the proposed solutions

Day 2

Module 5 PR workflows and code review in the team
  • Turning results into pull requests and requesting follow-up changes
  • Using automated Codex code review on GitHub
  • Embedding Codex in scripts and CI pipelines
  • Setting team rules for delegation, review duties and accountability
Module 6 Practice lab: SAP & ABAP
  • Analysing ABAP for S/4HANA
  • Documenting legacy code
  • Moving towards clean core
  • Retrofitting ABAP Unit
  • Resolving ATC findings
  • Building RAP and OData services
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • ABAP code often contains business logic, pricing conditions and personal data structures: you learn to assess source code before sharing it with AI services, respect the licence and usage terms of your SAP contracts and comply with GDPR rules for test data.
  • Ground rules for safe AI use in your team
  • Checking results: facts, sources, tests and the four-eyes principle
  • Personal action plan for the next 30 days
  • Open questions, outlook and resources for further learning

Practical scenarios from your field

Analysing ABAP for S/4HANA

Scan Z programmes for access to obsolete tables, changed data models and unreleased APIs, group findings by simplification item and generate concrete remediation proposals with effort estimates.

Documenting legacy code

Have undocumented reports, function modules and user exits explained, summarise programme logic in business terms and produce technical documentation and flow diagrams for knowledge transfer and audits.

Moving towards clean core

Convert classic modifications and SELECT loops into modern ABAP with inline declarations, CDS views and released APIs, and identify candidates for RAP-based side-by-side or developer extensibility.

Retrofitting ABAP Unit

Extract testable interfaces from existing classes, prepare test doubles for database access using the SQL test double framework and generate meaningful unit tests as a safety net for refactoring.

Resolving ATC findings

Prioritise messages from ABAP Test Cockpit and Code Inspector, detect performance issues such as nested SELECTs and propose compliant corrections with an explanation for code review.

Building RAP and OData services

Design CDS data models, behaviour definitions and service bindings from business requirements, implement validations and determinations and generate suitable Fiori elements annotations. The agent follows your naming conventions and package structure.

Possible hands-on projects

Z code inventory

A script that processes exported ABAP sources, classifies objects by usage, complexity and migration relevance and produces a prioritised overview for project planning.

Custom code explainer

A small web app where you paste a report and receive a business-level summary, its table dependencies and migration risks.

RAP scaffolder

A generator that creates CDS views, a behaviour definition and a service skeleton from a table definition, following your naming conventions.

Prerequisites

You have hands-on programming experience, are comfortable with Git and the command line, and know pull-request-based workflows. You develop in ABAP on a regular basis and are familiar with ABAP Development Tools in Eclipse or the classic ABAP Workbench.

Technical requirements

Your own laptop with a terminal, Git and a Node.js runtime; a ChatGPT plan with Codex access or an OpenAI API key, plus a GitHub account for the cloud exercises.

Data protection & compliance

ABAP code often contains business logic, pricing conditions and personal data structures: you learn to assess source code before sharing it with AI services, respect the licence and usage terms of your SAP contracts and comply with GDPR rules for test data.

Suggested dates

All dates are suggestions – your preferred date is always possible.

  • Thu, 26 November 2026 – Fri, 27 November 2026 Online Request
  • Wed, 9 December 2026 – Thu, 10 December 2026 Stuttgart Request
  • Wed, 13 January 2027 – Thu, 14 January 2027 Online Request
  • Mon, 18 January 2027 – Tue, 19 January 2027 Berlin Request
  • Mon, 1 February 2027 – Tue, 2 February 2027 Online Request
  • Tue, 9 February 2027 – Wed, 10 February 2027 Munich Request

Frequently asked questions

When should I use Codex locally and when in the cloud?

Locally you work interactively and close to the code, for example when debugging or making exploratory changes where you want to follow every step. The cloud agent suits well-defined tasks that can run independently, such as adding tests or fixing smaller bugs. You can start several of these in parallel and review each one as a pull request.

What belongs in a good AGENTS.md?

A good AGENTS.md explains how the project is built, tested and checked, which conventions apply and which areas must not be touched. It is concise, concrete and kept up to date. Notes on architecture and common pitfalls also help. During the course you write an AGENTS.md for a project of your own and test how it changes the agent’s behaviour.

How safe is it to let Codex run commands?

By default Codex works inside a sandbox with restricted file and network access and asks for approval before risky steps. You decide how much autonomy to grant through approval modes and configuration. In the course you learn to choose these settings deliberately and to limit risks such as prompt injection or running unfamiliar dependencies.

Do AI assistants really understand ABAP?

Current models read and write ABAP competently, but they know nothing about your custom tables, customising or namespaces. Quality improves markedly when you supply dictionary definitions, interfaces and conventions as targeted context. In the course you practise exactly that, for example with sources exported via abapGit and project-specific rule files for the agent.

How does AI-generated code get into the SAP system?

A proven route runs through ADT or abapGit: the assistant works on exported sources or directly in the IDE, changes are reviewed, validated with ATC and ABAP Unit and transported as usual. This preserves the transport system, the four-eyes principle and traceability, and no agent ever writes to production systems unchecked.

How much does “OpenAI Codex for SAP ABAP Developers” cost?

The course costs a flat €949 plus VAT per participant – whether online or on-site. This includes 2 training day(s) with a live trainer, course materials, a lab environment and a certificate of attendance.

Can I suggest my own date?

Yes. Our suggested dates are just a guide. In the request form you can always describe your preferred date or period in free text – we check availability and confirm within one working day.

Is the course online or on-site?

Both are possible: live online in a virtual classroom or on-site in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart or Kaiserslautern. We can also run the course exclusively for your team.

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