3 ms·

Is Claude Code the first CLI tool to have a $1BN ARR?

CSSer 11mo ago
I don't know for sure, but it's definitely the first tool of that value to have a persistent strobing (scroll position) bug so bad that passersby ask me if I'm okay when they see it.
- epiccoleman 11mo ago
  Man, I had never even put words to that problem but you are right that it is beyond annoying. It seems to me like it worsens the longer the Claude instance has run - I don't seem to see it early in the session.
  - CSSer 11mo ago
    Yeah, issues have been open on GitHub for months. I've tried shortening my scrollback history and using other emulators but it doesn't seem to make a difference. It's pretty frustrating for a paid tool.
  - thomasfromcdnjs 11mo ago
    ha I thought it was just a me thing and had have accepted my fate.
jedixit 11mo ago
This graph from the SemiAnalysis blog suggests that GitHub Copilot reached it earlier this year: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BGEe!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F118c4f46-97ed-4343-9e24-f90eae892038_1638x849.png https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BGEe!,f_auto,q_auto:...
- simonw 11mo ago
  "GitHub Copilot" encompasses so many different products now that it's hard to see it as a CLI tool.
  - altmanaltman 11mo ago
    It doesn't make a lot of sense that they'll compare Microsoft 365 Copilot with Claude Code, though? Like it is a legit CLI tool but we should ignore it because it shares the name with something else?
    - simonw 11mo ago
      The GitHub Copilot CLI tool is brand new, they only launched that in September: https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-25-github-copilot-cli-is-now-in-public-preview/ https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-25-github-copilot-cli-... Prior to that GitHub Copilot was either the VS Code IDE integration or the various AI features that popped up around the GitHub.com site itself.
      - altmanaltman 11mo ago
        Yeah but my point was it's pretty clear which Copilot the article was talking about and pretending like it could be anything beacuse "everything's copilot" is a L take sorry.
fragmede 11mo ago
Terraform gets to $600mm if you squint really hard make up stuff. Kubectl though. Whatever you want to say about kubernetes complexity, it does get a bunch of money run through it. We could also look at aws-cli, gcloud and az, and if we assign cloud budgets that get run through there, I'm sure it's in the hundreds of millions. Then there's git. Across the whole ecosystem, there's probably a cool couple billion floating through there. gh is probably much smaller. Other tools like docker and ansible come to mind, though those are not quite as popular. Cc only hits $1B ARR if you squint really hard in the first place, so I think in this handwavy realm, I'd say aws-cli comes first, then kubectl, then git, with maybe docket and terraform in the mix as well. Nonetheless, Claude is a really awesome cli tool that I use most days, I find.

CSSer 11mo ago

I don't know for sure, but it's definitely the first tool of that value to have a persistent strobing (scroll position) bug so bad that passersby ask me if I'm okay when they see it.

epiccoleman 11mo ago
Man, I had never even put words to that problem but you are right that it is beyond annoying. It seems to me like it worsens the longer the Claude instance has run - I don't seem to see it early in the session.
- CSSer 11mo ago
  Yeah, issues have been open on GitHub for months. I've tried shortening my scrollback history and using other emulators but it doesn't seem to make a difference. It's pretty frustrating for a paid tool.
- thomasfromcdnjs 11mo ago
  ha I thought it was just a me thing and had have accepted my fate.

jedixit 11mo ago

This graph from the SemiAnalysis blog suggests that GitHub Copilot reached it earlier this year: https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BGEe!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F118c4f46-97ed-4343-9e24-f90eae892038_1638x849.png https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!BGEe!,f_auto,q_auto:...

simonw 11mo ago
"GitHub Copilot" encompasses so many different products now that it's hard to see it as a CLI tool.
- altmanaltman 11mo ago
  It doesn't make a lot of sense that they'll compare Microsoft 365 Copilot with Claude Code, though? Like it is a legit CLI tool but we should ignore it because it shares the name with something else?
  - simonw 11mo ago
    The GitHub Copilot CLI tool is brand new, they only launched that in September: https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-25-github-copilot-cli-is-now-in-public-preview/ https://github.blog/changelog/2025-09-25-github-copilot-cli-... Prior to that GitHub Copilot was either the VS Code IDE integration or the various AI features that popped up around the GitHub.com site itself.
    - altmanaltman 11mo ago
      Yeah but my point was it's pretty clear which Copilot the article was talking about and pretending like it could be anything beacuse "everything's copilot" is a L take sorry.

fragmede 11mo ago

Terraform gets to $600mm if you squint really hard make up stuff. Kubectl though. Whatever you want to say about kubernetes complexity, it does get a bunch of money run through it. We could also look at aws-cli, gcloud and az, and if we assign cloud budgets that get run through there, I'm sure it's in the hundreds of millions. Then there's git. Across the whole ecosystem, there's probably a cool couple billion floating through there. gh is probably much smaller. Other tools like docker and ansible come to mind, though those are not quite as popular. Cc only hits $1B ARR if you squint really hard in the first place, so I think in this handwavy realm, I'd say aws-cli comes first, then kubectl, then git, with maybe docket and terraform in the mix as well. Nonetheless, Claude is a really awesome cli tool that I use most days, I find.