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This is either brilliant or scary: Anthropic accidentally leaked the TS source code of Claude Code (which is closed source). Repos sharing the source are taken down with DMCA. BUT this repo rewrote the code using Python, and so it violates no copyright & cannot be taken down!

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The repo: github.com/instructkr/cla The brilliance: copyright does not protect derived works. Rewriting TypeScript code in Python means copyright no longer applies. The scary thing: it can be done in trivial amount of time, with AI agents. This one was done with Codex. This can

GitHub - instructkr/claude-code: Claude Code Snapshot for Research. All original source code is the...

From github.com

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You can imagine Anthropic being in a pickle: 1. Do they just leave this, and look the other way, ignoring that it's not exactly fair to transform their code and leave it up there 2. Do they claim copyright applies... but this could be bad for their own business in much bigger ways: eg imagine regulation coming into play that bans this. Claude Code and other tools would have to refuse this kind of generation. Lawsuits against AI labs could spike etc So my bet is #1 happens. Not the interest of an AI lab to expand copyright protections to derived work cretated by an LLM...

10:38 AM · Mar 31, 2026

Worth asking btw if code fully written with AI has copyright protection? Anthropic is big in saying most of Claude Code is generated by AI. Not 100%, but close, and the last few months pretty much all. Another interesting copyright question.

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Gergely Orosz

@GergelyOrosz

Mar 31

Replying to @zeeg

Yes, but two things: 1. Does AI-generated code have copyright? Anthropic is big on claiming Claude Code is close to 100% AI-generated, using high-level prompts. 2. Assuming it’s copyrighted (some questions on #1 ofc!) would Anthropic try to prove it, given the obvious backlash

Artem Russakovskii

They should just open source Claude Code to end this.

For research purposes only

The 4 AM Clean-Room Rewrite: Inside instructkr/claw-code preview image

The 4 AM Clean-Room Rewrite: Inside instructkr/claw-code

From repo-explainer.com

ignoring it makes sense from a risk/reward perspective. Courts haven’t decided if training on or transforming code counts as infringement. Anthropic can’t afford a test case right now

well.

Option 1 is the only real choice. Any AI lab that pushes for stricter copyright on LLM-generated code is basically arguing against its own product.

Why wouldn't it be a copyright violation. Translating a book into another language without permission is a copyright violatoin... This is another language.

@LubiePlacki_13

They would have to admit that stealing someones code and generating something similar is not cool. But then they do not exist anymore.

Although it was against was/their terms (to my understanding at the point that it was impl.*) in regards to the OpenCode debarkle... I am bearish on them going for the #1... Publically, they might not acknowledge it but behind the scenes I'm sure legal will try pursue / get it

@srinathkrishna

The irony here is just amazing!

#3 they'll ban users for modding claude code thanks to their bun attestation.zig

They can make the entire Claude code source code - open source and gain support from the community

they could just open source Claude Code and gain incredible support from community, given the fact that so many projects just branched from the leak.

Tashfeen Mahmud

i think Claude Code is now effectively open source, whether

likes it or not.

were in a similar pickle with Llama, and they eventually did the right thing

Why would 2 imply the tool makers are liable?

All AI companies already argue that they can steal work and can’t be stolen from. There is no cognitive dissonance. They don’t care if it’s consistent.

Their entire business model is based on the theft of actual IP that was created by humans and I would be 95% of this dogshit code is generated based off of that stolen code. What goes around comes around. Welcome to the world you've created, Anthropic. Hope it tanks your company.

They can't really do anything. It's how Linux was written after all

The most obvious option, but no one really thinks anthropic would do it anyway, is to release claude code as open source.

The cherry in the cake of that they used codex to migrate the code to Python

AI companies complain about users not adopting AI fast enough. Wait for the legal system to catch up.

@creatine_queen

this does not even come near to a derived work. imagine you wrote a book in english, another guy translated it into spanish. would you consider the spanish version as a derivative under copyright law?

Chris' Novelty Account

Hunh. This is interesting. It’s a faster Chinese wall. I would be the say play for reverse engineering. Would you even need to do a Chinese wall?

@ervin_szilagyi

At this point they should just open source it. I don't understand why it needs to be closed source in the first place.

bcherny said they replace the whole code inside claude code every couple of months, so they just need to wait it out

ForeverPatriotic

Im going to say 2 because they there is "selfish ego" back of them. All the *humanity* stuff is bullshit when things done go perfectly.

Werner Kasselman

April Fools = Marketing Gold, we meant to do it, Open Source to everybody!

This isn’t derived work tho. It’s a translation, can someone just translate an English book into some other language without paying the original authors permission?

It is unethical to release this. Anthropic’s negligence is to blame. That is a legal issue they also face.

Learning Curves AI

anthropic is in a tough spot with derived code. they either ignore it or risk nuking their own business model by pushing for stricter copyright.

There is not really anything that makes their harness amazing. Nothing that is genuinely unique in terms of functionality. Harnesses do what they do. They might as well have it be open source non-commercial. then move forward.

anthropic's in a real bind here ngl

Quote

Jarred Sumner

@jarredsumner

Mar 30

Replying to @mckaywrigley

sometimes when I see a feature added in esbuild that’s missing in bun I send Claude esbuild’s .patch and it implements it in bun

@threadreaderapp

unroll

Yeah this is so interesting! I think you’re right