Anthony Morris, whose X profile says Morris “created claude code on desktop” at Anthropic, said in a post on X on 24 October 2026 that Morris has left the company. “Yesterday was my last day at Anthropic,” Morris wrote. Morris gave no reason for leaving and did not name a next role; Morris wrote that Morris will “share what’s next soon.”
Morris is the second person who worked on Claude Code to post on 24 October that Morris has left Anthropic: Thariq Shihipar wrote earlier that day that Thariq had left after more than a year on the product. Both posts come as Anthropic prepares to go public. IFR reported on 15 October, citing one person familiar with the process, that Anthropic plans to file publicly with the Securities and Exchange Commission on 26 October and aims to list in mid-November. Anthropic has not commented on either departure in anything we read.
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The key insight: As we read it, Morris’s post turns the second name in our earlier piece from a report into a confirmed exit: two people who built Claude Code have now said in their own words, on the same day, that they have left Anthropic.
Morris described why Morris built the desktop product. “I created Claude Code on desktop because I believe everyone can be a builder,” Morris wrote. Morris credited users for shaping it: “Every feature request and bug report we got from this community was a gift that impacted millions of lives.”
Morris was warm about the company Morris is leaving. “Anthropic is doing some of the most important work of our time,” Morris wrote, adding that contributing to its mission “will forever be a career highlight for me.”
Morris called leaving “the hardest thing I’ve done in my career”, describing it as walking away from “my best friends, a product I poured my heart into, and the mission.” Morris wrote that Morris now has “some free time for GTA VI” and is “already itching to get back to addressing all your feedback.”
Two exits in one day. Thariq said on X at 04:04 UTC on 24 October 2026 that Thariq has left Anthropic after more than a year on Claude Code; Anthony Morris, who says Morris created Claude Code on desktop, said at 12:33 UTC that Morris’s last day was 23 October. Neither gave a reason or named a next role. IFR reported on 15 October, citing one person, a public SEC filing on 26 October and a mid-November listing. Sources: Morris and Thariq on X; IFR via our 20 October piece.
What Was Posted on X
Yesterday was my last day at Anthropic.
I created Claude Code on desktop because I believe everyone can be a builder. Every feature request and bug report we got from this community was a gift that impacted millions of lives. Iโm eternally grateful for those gifts, the product wouldnโt be what it is without you.
Anthropic is doing some of the most important work of our time. Contributing to that mission will forever be a career highlight for me. I never imagined Iโd get to contribute to something so special in my lifetime.
Walking away from my best friends, a product I poured my heart into, and the mission was the hardest thing Iโve done in my career. But now I have some free time for GTA VI.
I’m already itching to get back to addressing all your feedback. I’ll share what’s next soon!
Anthony Morris’s own post of 24 October 2026, the primary source for this piece. Morris says Morris’s last day at Anthropic was the day before, that Morris created Claude Code on desktop, and that Morris will share what is next soon.
Two Exits in One Day
Thariq posted at 04:04 UTC on 24 October: “I’ve left Anthropic after more than a year of working on Claude Code and seeing it scale larger than I ever imagined.” Thariq said it is “time for a bit of a break before diving into something new.”
Morris posted at 12:33 UTC the same day. A tracking account on X, Arfur Grok, had reported at 00:39 UTC that Morris “has left Anthropic”, before Morris said so. When we published our Thariq piece at 12:45 UTC, we treated the Morris report as unconfirmed; Morris’s own post now confirms it. Morris’s X profile, read on 24 October, still reads “created claude code on desktop @anthropicAI”.
Neither post gives a reason for leaving or names a next employer, and neither mentions the IPO.
What We Know, Source by Source
The table separates what each person said from what was reported about the company.
Claim
Source
Status
Morris has left; Morris’s last day was 23 October
Morris’s own X post, 24 Oct, 12:33 UTC
Confirmed by Morris
Morris created Claude Code on desktop
Morris’s X post and profile
In Morris’s words
Thariq has left after more than a year on Claude Code
Thariq’s own X post, 24 Oct, 04:04 UTC
Confirmed by Thariq
Public SEC filing on 26 Oct, listing mid-November
IFR, 15 Oct, one unnamed person
Reported plan
Connecting the Coverage
Our Thariq piece of 24 October covered the first exit and named Morris only as a reported, unconfirmed second; what’s new is that Morris has now confirmed it in Morris’s own words. On 20 October we covered the IPO timetable alongside the draft prospectus revenue figures that IFR and The Wall Street Journal reported.
Our Ramp piece of 14 October reported that Claude Code was the most-used coding agent among businesses on Ramp, at 87% of coding-agent buyers, according to Ramp Rate data. Our code-review piece of 17 October covered the team’s own post saying Claude writes about 90 percent of Claude Code’s code. Our YipitData piece of 23 October reported the data firm’s figures on Anthropic’s business retention ahead of the IPO.
The Structural Read
As we read it, both posts say what each of them chose to say and no more: Morris wrote that Morris’s last day was 23 October and that Morris will share what is next soon; Thariq wrote that Thariq is taking a break. Neither names a reason or a destination.
As we read it, the link to the IPO is one of timing on the calendar, not of cause: IFR’s source put the public SEC filing on 26 October, and nothing we read connects either departure to it.
As we read it, the two men built different surfaces of the same product: Thariq worked on Claude Code for more than a year, and Morris says Morris created Claude Code on desktop.
Anthony Morris, on X, 24 October 2026
“I created Claude Code on desktop because I believe everyone can be a builder.”
Three Implications
FOR ANTHROPIC No statement from the company about either departure appears in anything we read; IFR’s source put its public SEC filing on 26 October.
FOR CLAUDE CODE USERS Morris wrote that Morris is “already itching to get back to addressing all your feedback” and will share what is next soon; Morris named no new employer.
FOR OUR EARLIER REPORT Our Thariq piece treated the Morris report as unconfirmed at 12:45 UTC; Morris’s own post, at 12:33 UTC, now confirms it.
The framework states: “The surface, not the model, governs autonomy.”
As we read it, Claude Code is the kind of agentic surface the framework describes: in our Ramp piece, 87% of businesses that bought a coding agent bought it. The framework was published on 1 July 2026 and does not discuss these departures.
What Is Not Established
In the texts we read, neither Morris nor Thariq said why they left or where they are going; Morris said only that Morris will share what is next soon. Whether other members of the Claude Code team have left is not established. Anthropic has said nothing about either departure in anything we read, and none of the IPO reports we cite mentions either person.
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Anthony Morris says 23 October was Morris’s last day at Anthropic, where Morris created Claude Code on desktop, making Morris the second Claude Code builder to announce an exit on 24 October after Thariq. Neither gave a reason. IFR’s source puts Anthropic’s public filing on 26 October and its listing in mid-November.
A note on sourcing. This piece rests on Anthony Morris’s and Thariq’s own posts on X of 24 October 2026, a tracking account’s post (Arfur Grok), Morris’s X profile and our own earlier pieces, all read on 24 October. Their words are as they posted them. IPO timing is as IFR reported it from one unnamed person. We did not contact Anthropic, Morris or Thariq.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
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