Claude Code has seen three key members leave in the past two weeks

The AI programming product Claude Code team under Anthropic has recently seen a series of departures. On November 4, Cat Wu, the product lead for Claude Code and Cowork, announced her departure from Anthropic. Previously, engineer Thariq Shihipar and Claude Code desktop developer Anthony Morris publicly said goodbye on October 24.

When Thariq Shihipar left, he recommended following Cat Wu, stating that she could provide updates on Claude Code's future developments. Eleven days later, Cat Wu also announced her departure. Cat Wu had previously joined AI programming tool Cursor with Claude Code creator Boris Cherny in July 2025, and both returned two weeks later. In July of this year, Jenny Wen, the design lead for Claude and Cowork, also moved to Cursor to serve as the design director.

Anthropic as a whole is still expanding. Its IPO documents show that the employee count increased from about 940 at the end of 2024 to about 5,300 by the end of September this year. Over the past 12 months, the company reported a regrettable turnover rate of about 1%, which refers to the percentage of employees the company wished to retain but voluntarily left.