Claude Code creator Boris Cherny says to give AI harder tasks

Boris Cherny, who created Claude Code, said on the podcast Lightcone that people should give AI harder tasks than they think it can handle. Diana Hu hosted the episode, which was posted July 27.

Claude Code is an AI tool that writes software. The advice reaches anyone who uses AI at work. Cherny said many people give it overly specific, step by step instructions. He said newer AI systems do better when you describe the goal, the guardrails and when the job is done. Then you come back later.

Cherny gave an example. Bun is a faster alternative to Node.js, and Claude Code runs on it. It was written in a language called Zig, and the Bun team had Claude rewrite it in Rust. Cherny said it was one prompt, with some steering along the way.

He described the run this way. "it ran for 11 days and it rewrote the entire code base". Cherny said the new version is in production now and is what Claude Code uses.

XDA Developers published a story on Oct. 23 headlined "I rebuilt my Claude Code workflow around its creator's advice, and the difference surprised me." The outlet says Cherny just shared more tips on getting the most from the tool.

Anthropic makes Claude and sells Claude Code, so Cherny has a plain interest in people trying it. The details of the Bun rewrite come from him alone. He also said the AI can draw images without being trained to.

Watch the 5 minutes where he walks through the Bun rewrite.14:31