Claude Code, released in February 2025, was Anthropic’s first successful attempt at building an AI agent—a system that takes actions on the user’s behalf, rather than merely conversing in a chat interface. Claude Code can access files and programs on a user’s computer, and even run “sub-agents” for specific tasks, such as those that analyzed different parts of Schirano’s genome. It has steadily accrued a devoted following of tinkerers using it to file their taxes, design knitting patterns, and even autonomously grow a tomato plant.