Is Claude Code open source?
No. Claude Code's GitHub repository is public, but the code is licensed under "All rights reserved," with use governed by Anthropic's Commercial Terms of Service. Claude, the model behind it, is not open source either. A few related Anthropic projects are open source, listed below.
Claude Code's license: public repo, proprietary code
The anthropics/claude-code repository anyone can browse holds plugins, examples, a devcontainer setup, scripts and the public issue tracker. Its LICENSE.md is one line: "© Anthropic PBC. All rights reserved. Use is subject to Anthropic's Commercial Terms of Service." GitHub reports no open-source license for the repo.
A visible repository is not the same as an open-source license. Open source means a license that grants the right to use, modify and redistribute the code. Claude Code's license reserves those rights to Anthropic.
The README also says installing through npm is deprecated. Anthropic's recommended installs are its native installer, Homebrew and WinGet (see the setup docs).
Is Claude open source?
No. Claude models are hosted services. Anthropic's models overview lists each model by its ID on the Claude API, Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud and Microsoft Foundry. You call the model over an API; you do not download it.
What Anthropic has open-sourced
| Project | License | Open source? |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | All rights reserved | No |
| Claude Agent SDK (Python) | MIT | Yes |
| Claude Agent SDK (TypeScript) | All rights reserved | No |
| Claude Code GitHub Action | MIT | Yes |
| Model Context Protocol | MIT, moving to Apache-2.0 | Yes |
Licenses are read from each repository's LICENSE file. Anthropic announced MCP as open source when it launched the protocol. Anthropic also runs the Claude for Open Source program, which gives eligible maintainers six months of Claude Max 20x. That supports open-source developers; it does not make Claude Code open source.
Can you self-host Claude Code?
Claude Code runs on your machine, but inference does not. Per Claude Code's deployment docs, requests go to Anthropic directly or to a supported cloud provider such as Amazon Bedrock or Google Cloud.
"OpenClaude" and OpenClaudia are different projects
- OpenClaude (Twigpine/openclaude) is a third-party coding-agent CLI that works with other model providers. It is not made by Anthropic, and not by us.
- OpenClaudia is an MIT-licensed library of marketing skills (SEO, content, email, ads, analytics) that run inside Claude Code, Codex and other coding agents. The source is on GitHub.
npx openclaudia install --allFAQ
Is Claude Code open source?
No. The anthropics/claude-code repository on GitHub is public, but its LICENSE.md reads "© Anthropic PBC. All rights reserved. Use is subject to Anthropic's Commercial Terms of Service." That is a proprietary license, not an open-source one.
Is Claude open source?
No. Anthropic offers Claude models as hosted services through the Claude apps, the Claude API and cloud platforms such as Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud and Microsoft Foundry. Its models overview lists model IDs for those platforms, not downloadable weights.
What has Anthropic open-sourced?
The Claude Agent SDK for Python and the Claude Code GitHub Action are MIT-licensed. The Model Context Protocol, which Anthropic created, is moving from the MIT License to Apache-2.0. The TypeScript Agent SDK is not open source; its license is "All rights reserved."
Can I self-host Claude Code?
Claude Code runs on your own machine, but the model does not. Inference goes to Anthropic or to a supported cloud provider such as Amazon Bedrock or Google Cloud, per Claude Code's deployment documentation.