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What is Claude Code? Definition and CIO question

Claude Code is Anthropic's developer CLI tool, launched in preview in February 2025 and generally available in May 2025. It implements an autonomous coding agent that reads, writes, and executes code via the Claude API. To distinguish from the Claude model itself: Claude Code is the tool, Claude the model that drives it.

Launched in limited preview in February 2025, generally available in May 2025 with the release of Claude 4, Claude Code has become in 2026 one of the most adopted agentic tools by development teams. Architecture: MCP-compatible CLI agent, capable of reading and modifying project files, executing shell commands, running tests, creating Git commits. Tool slash commands distinct from model prompts. The official built-in commands include /init (project initialisation with CLAUDE.md), /clear (clear context), /compact (compress history), /help, /permissions, /mcp, /cost, /review, /agents, /loop. Available on Pro subscription (USD 20/month), Max 5x (USD 100/month), Max 20x (USD 200/month), or Team Premium (USD 100/seat/month on annual billing, minimum 5 seats). Team Standard (USD 20/seat) does not include Claude Code.

Concrete example

A French tech mid-cap (180 employees, 10 developers) compares in May 2026 two options. Option A: GitHub Copilot Business at USD 39/seat × 10 = USD 390/month. Option B: Claude Code via Team Premium at USD 100/seat × 10 = USD 1,000/month, differential USD 610/month. Measurement over 3 months: 35% of PRs delivered more per developer on option B (consistent with Cui et al. 2025 study), thanks to agentic autonomy (multi-file reading, planning, execution). Net positive ROI after 6 months if the team maintains review discipline. On low-sensitivity code. For high-confidentiality code, arbitration tips in favour of self-hostable alternatives.

See also

Further reading

Claude Code overview, official documentation (external resource)

Sources

  1. Claude Code overview, official Anthropic documentation, code.claude.com (continuously updated, version 2.1 of May 2026). https://code.claude.com/docs/en/overview (accessed 2026-06-06)
  2. Introducing Claude 4 (general availability announcement of Claude Code), Anthropic, 22 May 2025. https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-4 (accessed 2026-06-06)

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