When was Claude Code released?
Claude Code was announced on 24 February 2025 alongside Claude 3.7 Sonnet, as what Anthropic then called a limited research preview. It reached general availability three months later, on 22 May 2025, announced with the Claude 4 models. It began as a terminal program; the IDE extensions, desktop app and browser version came afterwards.
- Announced
- 24 Feb 2025 limited research preview
- Announced with
- Claude 3.7 Sonnet same-day launch
- Generally available
- 22 May 2025 with the Claude 4 models
- Preview lasted
- ~3 months Feb → May 2025
- First form
- Terminal CLI other surfaces came later
- Version now
- 2.1.x 2.1.220 in Aug 2026
Two dated posts from Anthropic — the preview and the GA.
The first is the Claude 3.7 Sonnet announcement, published 24 February 2025: "Claude Code is available as a limited research preview, and enables developers to delegate substantial engineering tasks to Claude directly from their terminal." That is the tool's public birthday, and the wording matters — it was gated, not open to everyone.
The second is the Claude 4 announcement of 22 May 2025: "Claude Code is now generally available: After receiving extensive positive feedback during our research preview, we're expanding how developers can collaborate with Claude." Roughly three months from preview to GA.
Both dates come from Anthropic's own posts rather than press coverage, which tends to blur the two into a single "launched in 2025". If you need one date, use February 2025 for when it appeared and May 2025 for when anyone could use it.
What happened since.
The February 2025 version was a terminal program and nothing else — the announcement describes delegating engineering tasks "directly from their terminal". Everything you can use today beyond that (the VS Code and JetBrains extensions, the desktop app, the browser version at claude.ai/code, chat and CI integrations) was added afterwards, on top of the same engine.
That's why the product is best understood as one agent with several front doors rather than a family of separate tools.
Claude Code ships constantly — the published build was 2.1.220 when we checked in August 2026, and patch numbers climb by dozens within weeks. Any article that names a version without a date is telling you nothing useful.
The practical consequence is the one on our update page: check claude --version instead of assuming the build you installed is the build you're running.
What it launched against.
Claude Code arrived into a field that was forming at the same time, which is why the comparisons below are all with tools of roughly the same age rather than with established IDEs.
Frequently asked.
Quick follow-ups people search after this question.
Q · 01 Was Claude Code released in 2024 or 2025? +
24 February 2025 with Claude 3.7 Sonnet. Anything claiming a 2024 release is confusing it with Claude the model or the Claude apps, which are older.Q · 02 What's the difference between the preview and GA dates? +
22 May 2025, when Anthropic opened it up alongside the Claude 4 models.