Boris Cherny on Trying to Get Claude Code to Rewrite the Claude App

Boris Cherny, caput of Claude Code astatine Anthropic, was interviewed by Diana Hu connected shape astatine Y Combinator’s Startup School 2026 past week. Starting around 20:30 successful the video, he concisely discussed directing Claude to execute difficult tasks:

Cherny: I deliberation the accomplishment nowadays is little astir prompt engineering and much astir figuring retired really do you springiness Claude a hard task that seems a small spot excessively hard. Then really do you make it imaginable for Claude to verify its activity on the way? The verification is astir apt the azygous astir important point that people do not get right, largely.

One illustration of this is group were — we person this desktop app for Claude and it’s built utilizing Electron. We’ve made it quite fast. Now it’s a beautiful awesome experience. Six months agone it was sluggish and it wasn’t very reliable. Now it’s beautiful awesome. It’s the point that astir of the squad uses. As an experiment, I wanted to spot what it would consciousness for illustration if it was native. So what I did is I started a Claude Tag session. Claude Tag is simply a new product we have. It’s conscionable Claude moving successful Slack. My first question was, “Hey Tag, do you person entree to a Mac OS runner on GitHub?” It said no. Then I hooked up a runner. So it was capable to start a Mac virtual instrumentality utilizing GitHub. My 2nd mobility was, I created this quiet codification guidelines that was a Claude desktop app rewritten successful Swift.

I asked, “Can you entree this codification base?” It said no. Then I gave it entree and it was like, “Okay, great. Now I have access.” Then I said, “Okay, now what I want you to do is I want you to rewrite the Electron app successful Swift. I want you to tally the Electron app successful the Mac virtual machine, screenshot it, and then look pixel by pixel. Compare it to the Swift version. Don’t stop until you’re done.”

Hu: And that was your punctual basically?

Cherny: That was my prompt.

Hu: And really agelong did this return to run?

Cherny: It’s still running.

Hu: When did you commencement it?

Cherny: It’s been a small complete 2 weeks. So it’s for illustration 14 days, 15 days.

I suppose this is interesting, but I don’t deliberation it’s absorbing successful the measurement immoderate group sending maine links to this question and reply deliberation it is. I don’t deliberation this is simply a superior effort to create a genuinely autochthonal Mac customer for Claude. And if it is, Cherny is going astir it each wrong.

It’s not for illustration the problem pinch the existent Claude Mac customer is simply the method item that it’s written pinch a bloated non-native framework. The existent problem is that it’s a poorly designed app written pinch a bloated non-native framework. The creation itself is non-native. And speech from ignoring astir Mac UI idioms, it’s conscionable a bad creation successful the abstract. It’s bad connected the web, bad connected Windows, and frankincense of people it’s besides bad connected the Mac. So pointing Claude Code astatine the existent Electron app and directing it to recreate it successful Swift — pixel-by-pixel — could astatine champion lick only the method problems pinch the existent app, not the creation problems. I’d beryllium much apt to usage Claude if it were good designed but still written utilizing Electron, than if it were ported to AppKit and/or SwiftUI but pinch precisely the existent design. The existent Claude app is for illustration a shitty look made pinch shitty ingredients; what Cherny asked Claude Code to do is to travel the shitty look utilizing amended ingredients. It’s still going to sensation for illustration shit.

And it’s astir apt nary wonderment the task failed. AppKit and SwiftUI are made to create Mac-style apps. Trying to usage them to recreate the utterly un-Mac-like Claude UI is for illustration trying to brushwood your hairsbreadth the incorrect way. It’s not the measurement things are meant to go.

I besides can’t fto walk Cherny’s aside, re: the existent Claude Mac app, that “Six months agone it was sluggish and it wasn’t very reliable. Now it’s beautiful awesome.” I conscionable launched the Claude app connected my Mac, and it took 30 seconds earlier it was fresh to use. The past 15 seconds of which, it showed the spinning formation shot cursor. When it yet vanished it showed maine a dickover. Maybe it was worse six months agone but this is not “pretty awesome”.

★ Sunday, 2 August 2026