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In the battle between two \u201cagentic\u201d coding tools \u2014 Anthropic\u2019s Claude Code<\/a> and OpenAI\u2019s Codex CLI<\/a> \u2014 the latter appears to be fostering more developer goodwill than the former. That\u2019s at least partly because Anthropic has issued takedown notices to a developer trying to reverse-engineer Claude Code, which is under a more restrictive usage license than Codex CLI.<\/p>\n Claude Code and Codex CLI are dueling tools that accomplish much of the same thing: allow developers to tap into the power of AI models running in the cloud to complete various coding tasks. Anthropic and OpenAI released them within months of each other \u2014 each company racing to capture valuable developer mindshare.<\/p>\n The source code for Codex CLI is available under an Apache 2.0 license that allows for distribution and commercial use. That\u2019s in contrast to Claude Code, which is tied to Anthropic\u2019s commercial license. That limits how it can be modified without explicit permission from the company.<\/p>\n Anthropic also \u201cobfuscated\u201d the source code for Claude Code. In other words, Claude Code\u2019s source code isn\u2019t readily available. When a developer de-obfuscated it<\/a> and released the source code on GitHub, Anthropic filed a DMCA complaint<\/a> \u2014 a copyright notification requesting the code\u2019s removal.<\/p>\n Developers<\/a> on social media weren\u2019t<\/a> pleased<\/a> by the move, which they said compared unfavorably with OpenAI\u2019s rollout of Codex CLI. In the week or so since Codex CLI\u2019s release, OpenAI has merged dozens of developer suggestions into the tool\u2019s codebase, including one that lets Codex CLI tap AI models from rival providers<\/a> \u2014 including Anthropic.<\/p>\n Anthropic didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment. To be fair to the lab, Claude Code is still in beta (and a bit buggy<\/a>); it\u2019s possible Anthropic will release the source code under a permissive license in the future. Companies have many reasons for obfuscating code, security considerations being one of them.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a somewhat surprising PR win for OpenAI, which in recent months has shied away from open-source releases in favor of proprietary, locked-down products. It may be emblematic of a broader shift in the lab\u2019s approach; OpenAI CEO Sam Altman earlier this year said he believed<\/a> that the company has been on the \u201cwrong side of history\u201d when it comes to open source.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n