Claude Code has seen three key members depart in the past two weeks, and product lead Cat Wu has also left.

Beating AI News Flash: Anthropic's Claude Code team has seen a series of recent departures. On November 4, Cat Wu, 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 their goodbyes on October 24.

When Thariq left, he specifically recommended that people follow Cat Wu, saying she could provide updates on Claude Code's future developments. Unexpectedly, 11 days later, Cat also announced her departure.

Cat had actually already left Anthropic once before. In July 2025, she and Claude Code creator Boris Cherny jumped ship to Cursor together, only to both return two weeks later. This July, Claude and Cowork design lead Jenny Wen also moved to Cursor, taking on the role of head of design.

However, Anthropic as a whole is still expanding rapidly. Its IPO filing shows that headcount grew from approximately 940 employees at the end of 2024 to about 5,300 by the end of September this year. Over the past 12 months, the company disclosed a "regretted attrition rate" of approximately 1%, referring to the share of employees the company hoped to retain but who left voluntarily.