Anthropic's Code with Claude Conference Unveils Major MCP Expansion and Claude 4 Models

<p><strong>San Francisco, 22 May 2025</strong> — Anthropic hosted "Code with Claude," their inaugural developer conference, delivering significant announcements that reshape the AI development landscape. The hands-on event showcased real-world implementations using Anthropic's API, CLI tools, and the Model Context Protocol (MCP).</p> <h2>Claude 4 Models Lead the Charge</h2> <p>CEO Dario Amodei announced the immediate availability of Claude 4 Opus and Claude 4 Sonnet, positioning Claude 4 Opus as "the world's best coding model." The new models, identified as <code>claude-opus-4-20250514</code> and <code>claude-sonnet-4-20250514</code>, demonstrate substantial improvements in coding capabilities, with Claude Sonnet 4 achieving a state-of-the-art 72.7% on SWE-bench coding tasks.</p> <p>Claude 4 Opus notably features extended autonomous operation capabilities, enabling it to work independently for nearly a full workday — a significant leap in AI agent functionality.</p> <h2>MCP Integration Goes Mainstream</h2> <p>The conference's most significant infrastructure announcement was the integration of Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers directly through Anthropic's API. This development allows developers to connect specialised services like Stripe, Cloudflare, Supabase, and Blender directly to Claude, dramatically expanding its capabilities.</p> <p>Initial MCP partnerships include industry leaders such as:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Atlassian:</strong> Enabling Claude to summarise and create Confluence pages</li> <li><strong>Zapier:</strong> Connecting Claude to app automation workflows</li> <li><strong>Cloudflare, Intercom, Square, and PayPal:</strong> Various service integrations</li> </ul> <p>The MCP ecosystem's rapid growth was highlighted when GitHub's official MCP server became "the most popular repo on all of GitHub" during its launch week.</p> <h2>Enhanced Developer Experience</h2> <h3>API Enhancements</h3> <ul> <li><strong>Extended prompt caching:</strong> TTL increased from five minutes to one hour for premium tier users</li> <li><strong>Files API:</strong> Now available through the Anthropic API</li> <li><strong>Web search capability:</strong> Accessible via the API</li> <li><strong>Server-side code execution environment:</strong> New sandboxed execution capabilities</li> </ul> <h3>IDE Integration</h3> <p>Claude Code is expanding beyond its CLI origins with native integrations for VS Code and JetBrains IDEs, displaying edits directly within developer environments for seamless pair programming experiences.</p> <h3>GitHub Partnership</h3> <p>GitHub announced same-day integration, allowing Copilot users to switch to Claude Sonnet 4 and Claude Opus 4 models. The integration includes beta functionality for Claude Code to respond to PR feedback, fix CI errors, and modify code directly on GitHub.</p> <h2>Claude Code Reaches General Availability</h2> <p>Following extensive positive feedback during its research preview, Claude Code has achieved general availability. The platform now supports background tasks via GitHub Actions and functions as both an MCP server and client, capable of connecting to multiple MCP servers simultaneously.</p> <p>Anthropic cited Instagram's engineering team as an example, noting they could have produced mobile platform prototypes "in days and not weeks" using Claude Code's capabilities.</p> <h2>Industry Impact</h2> <p>The announcements position Anthropic as a serious competitor in the AI development tools space, directly challenging established players. The MCP protocol's adoption by major partners suggests a standardisation effort that could reshape how AI tools integrate with existing development workflows.</p> <p>The conference's emphasis on practical, hands-on development tools rather than theoretical capabilities signals Anthropic's focus on immediate developer productivity improvements.</p> <h2>Looking Forward</h2> <p>With Claude Code's SDK in development and the growing MCP ecosystem, Anthropic appears to be building a comprehensive developer platform rather than just an AI model provider. The company's first developer conference establishes a new tradition likely to continue as the platform evolves.</p> <p>The combination of more powerful models, standardised integrations, and enhanced developer tools positions Claude as a formidable platform for AI-assisted development, particularly for teams seeking autonomous coding capabilities and seamless workflow integration.</p>

Anthropic's Code with Claude Conference Unveils Major MCP Expansion and Claude 4 Models

Pete Gypps

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