Anthropic inadvertently triggered the removal of thousands of code repositories from GitHub while attempting to withdraw copies of its flagship product's source code from the web. On Tuesday, a software engineer found that Anthropic had unintentionally included access to the source code for its leading Claude Code command line application in a recent release. AI enthusiasts eagerly examined the leaked code for insights into how Anthropic utilizes the underlying large language model, sharing it widely on GitHub.

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In response, Anthropic submitted a takedown notice under U.S. digital copyright law, requesting GitHub to remove repositories containing the code. GitHub's records show the notice affected approximately 8,100 repositories—including legitimate forks of Anthropic's own publicly available Claude Code repository, according to frustrated social media users whose projects were blocked.

Boris Cherny, Anthropic's head of Claude Code, clarified that the action was accidental and that the company retracted most of the takedown notices, restricting them to one repository and 96 forks containing the inadvertently released source code. He stated, "We retracted the notice for everything except the one repo we named, and GitHub has restored access to the affected forks."

This mishap represents another setback for the company as it reportedly prepares for an initial public offering, a process that usually requires meticulous execution and regulatory compliance. Leaking source code as a public company is a serious misstep, and it is highly likely to prompt shareholder litigation.