Head of Claude Code: What happens after coding is solved | Boris Cherny
2/19/20261 hr 28 min
Boris Cherny is the creator and head of Claude Code at Anthropic. What began as a simple terminal-based prototype just a year ago has transformed the role of software engineering and is increasingly transforming all professional work.
We discuss:
1. How Claude Code grew from a quick hack to 4% of public GitHub commits, with daily active users doubling last month
2. The counterintuitive product principles that drove Claude Code’s success
3. Why Boris believes coding is “solved”
4. The latent demand that shaped Claude Code and Cowork
5. Practical tips for getting the most out of Claude Code and Cowork
6. How underfunding teams and giving them unlimited tokens leads to better AI products
7. Why Boris briefly left Anthropic for Cursor, then returned after just two weeks
8. Three principles Boris shares with every new team member
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Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/head-of-claude-code-what-happens
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Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0
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Where to find Boris Cherny:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bcherny
• Website: https://borischerny.com
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Boris and Claude Code
(03:45) Why Boris briefly left Anthropic for Cursor (and what brought him back)
(05:35) One year of Claude Code
(08:41) The origin story of Claude Code
(13:29) How fast AI is transforming software development
(15:01) The importance of experimentation in AI innovation
(16:17) Boris’s current coding workflow (100% AI-written)
(17:32) The next frontier
(22:24) The downside of rapid innovation
(24:02) Principles for the Claude Code team
(26:48) Why you should give engineers unlimited tokens
(27:55) Will coding skills still matter in the future?
(32:15) The printing press analogy for AI’s impact
(36:01) Which roles will AI transform next?
(40:41) Tips for succeeding in the AI era
(44:37) Poll: Which roles are enjoying their jobs more with AI
(46:32) The principle of latent demand in product development
(51:53) How Cowork was built in just 10 days
(54:04) The three layers of AI safety at Anthropic
(59:35) Anxiety when AI agents aren’t working
(01:02:25) Boris’s Ukrainian roots
(01:03:21) Advice for building AI products
(01:08:38) Pro tips for using Claude Code effectively
(01:11:16) Thoughts on Codex
(01:12:13) Boris’s post-AGI plans
(01:14:02) Lightning round and final thoughts
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References: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/head-of-claude-code-what-happens
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsBoris Cherny· Guest0:00
A hundred percent of my code is written by Claude Code. I have not edited a single line by hand since November. Every day, I ship ten, twenty, thirty pull requests. So like at the moment, I have like five agents running.
Lenny Rachitsky· Host0:10
While we're recording this?
Boris Cherny· Guest0:11
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Lenny Rachitsky· Host0:12
Do you miss writing code?
Boris Cherny· Guest0:13
I have never enjoyed coding as much as I do today, because I don't have to deal with all the minutiae. Productivity per engineer has increased two hundred percent.
Lenny Rachitsky· Host0:21
There's always this question: Should I learn to code?
Boris Cherny· Guest0:22
In a year or two, it's not gonna matter. Coding is virtually solved. I imagine a world where everyone is able to program. Anyone can just build software anytime.
Lenny Rachitsky· Host0:29
What's the next big shift to how software is written?
Boris Cherny· Guest0:32
Claude is starting to come up with ideas. It's looking through feedback, it's looking at bug reports, it's looking at telemetry for bug fixes and things to ship. A little more like a coworker or something like that.
Lenny Rachitsky· Host0:41
A lot of people listening to this are product managers, and [chuckles] they're probably sweating.
Boris Cherny· Guest0:44
I think by the end of the year, everyone's gonna be a product manager, and everyone codes. The title software engineer is gonna start to go away. It's just gonna be replaced by builder, and it's gonna be painful for a lot of people.
Lenny Rachitsky· Host0:53
[upbeat music] Today, my guest is Boris Cherny, head of Claude Code at Anthropic. It is hard to describe the impact that Claude Code has had on the world. Around the time this episode comes out will be the one-year anniversary of Claude Code, and in that short time, it has completely transformed the job of a software engineer, and it is now starting to transform the jobs of many other functions in tech, which we talk about. Claude Code itself is also a massive driver of Anthropic's overall growth over the past year. They just raised a round at over three hundred and fifty billion dollars, and as Boris mentions,