Anthropic announced at the Code with Claude Developer Conference that its latest models, Claude Sonnet4 and Claude Opus4, are now fully available, but it explicitly refused to provide direct support for the coding tool Windsurf, making Windsurf the only AI coding platform unable to use the Claude4 series of models. This move has sparked widespread discussion within the developer community and is seen as a signal of increasing competition in the AI market. AIbase has integrated the latest social media trends to conduct an in-depth analysis of the technical background of this event and its impact on the AI coding ecosystem.
Anthropic's Strategic Choice: Limited Support Range for Claude4
Anthropic officially released Claude Sonnet4 and Claude Opus4 on May 22. These two models performed excellently in coding benchmark tests such as SWE-bench (score 72.5%) and Terminal-bench (score 43.2%), surpassing OpenAI's GPT-4.1 (SWE-bench score 54.6%). Claude Sonnet4 became the first choice for developers due to its efficient instruction-following and complex code editing capabilities, while Claude Opus4 set a new industry record with up to 7 hours of autonomous coding ability. These two models have been made available through Anthropic API, Amazon Bedrock, and Google Cloud Vertex AI to platforms like GitHub Copilot and Cursor.
However, social media feedback shows that Anthropic clearly refused to provide direct access to the Claude4 series of models for Windsurf, requiring Windsurf users to call Claude4 via their own API key (Bring Your Own Key, BYOK) method, which increases operational complexity and costs. AIbase analyzes that this might be related to the rumored acquisition plan of Windsurf by OpenAI, highlighting the strategic games between AI model vendors and tool platforms.
Technical Impact: Windsurf's Isolation and Response
Windsurf, as a new AI coding tool, has gained favor from developers due to its lightweight IDE and multi-model support (such as Gemini2.5Pro and LLaMA). However, Anthropic's decision has made Windsurf the only coding tool unable to directly integrate Claude Sonnet4 and Opus4, potentially weakening its market competitiveness in the short term. AIbase observes that Windsurf quickly launched the BYOK feature, allowing users to call Claude4 models via Anthropic API keys, attempting to mitigate the impact, but community feedback described this solution as "complicated to operate and poor experience."
Social media discussions show that Windsurf has enhanced support for Gemini2.5Pro to compensate for the lack of Claude4. Developers stated that Gemini2.5Pro performs close to Sonnet4 in some coding tasks but lacks Opus4's long-term task processing capability. AIbase believes that Windsurf needs to further optimize the BYOK process or seek other model support to maintain its position in the AI coding market.
Industry Background: The Standoff and Competition Among AI Model Vendors
Anthropic's decision was interpreted by the community as a reflection of the "standoff" phenomenon in the AI market. AIbase analyzes that Claude Sonnet4 and Opus4 have already been launched on platforms such as GitHub Copilot and Cursor, showing Anthropic's preference for supporting tools that collaborate with Microsoft and independent ecosystems. Social media speculation suggests that the rumored acquisition of Windsurf by OpenAI may have prompted Anthropic to adopt a conservative strategy to avoid enhancing competitors' ecosystem advantages.
In addition, the outstanding performance of the Claude4 series of models further intensified the market competition. Claude Opus4 stood out in complex code refactoring and long-term tasks, for example, autonomously coding for 7 hours in Rakuten testing, while Claude Sonnet4 achieved a 72.7% SWE-bench score and became the preferred choice for efficient coding. In comparison, the Gemini2.5Pro and LLaMA models that Windsurf relies on are slightly inferior in long-term tasks and instruction accuracy. AIbase predicts that Anthropic's decision may drive Windsurf to accelerate integration with more open-source models such as BAGEL or MMaDA to make up for its ecological disadvantage.
Community Reaction: Developer Discussion and Future Outlook
Social media feedback shows polarized reactions from developers. Some users see this move as "normal commercial competition" and praised Windsurf's BYOK function as a "flexible alternative solution." However, more developers expressed disappointment at Windsurf's isolation, stating that "the absence of Claude4 reduces Windsurf's competitiveness in high-end coding scenarios." Some users even joked that Windsurf was "hurt by the rumored acquisition by OpenAI."
Windsurf's official response indicated that it is actively communicating with Anthropic to争取 future direct support for Claude4, while enhancing the experience of Gemini2.5Pro and LLaMA. AIbase observed that Windsurf's GitHub repository has updated documentation related to BYOK and received over 5000 interactions on X platform, showing the community's attention to its response measures. AIbase recommends that Windsurf users call Claude4 via Anthropic API (pricing: Sonnet4 $3/$15 per million input/output tokens, Opus4 $15/$75) or wait for Windsurf's further optimization.
Industry Impact: The Fragmentation of the AI Coding Ecosystem
Anthropic's decision highlights the complex relationship between AI model vendors and tool platforms. AIbase analyzes that compared to OpenAI's Responses API (supporting MCP and image generation) and Google's Gemini2.5Pro, the leading performance of the Claude4 series in coding tasks makes it the first choice for developers. However, Anthropic's restriction on Windsurf may prompt it to turn to a more open ecosystem, such as Hugging Face's open-source models (BAGEL, MMaDA), thus promoting diversification in the AI coding tool market.
AIbase believes that Anthropic's strategic choice may consolidate its cooperation with platforms like GitHub Copilot in the short term, but it must be cautious of the risk of losing developers due to ecological closure in the long term. Windsurf's BYOK strategy and optimization of Gemini2.5Pro demonstrate its flexibility, but it needs to break through further in user experience and model performance to cope with competitive pressure.
The Business War and Openness of the AI Ecosystem
As a professional media in the AI field, AIbase pays attention to Anthropic's decision not to provide Windsurf with support for Claude4. This event not only reflects the commercial games between AI model vendors and tool platforms but also provides development opportunities for open-source ecosystems. Windsurf's rapid response with BYOK and Gemini2.5Pro demonstrated resilience, but it needs to accelerate the integration of more models to maintain competitiveness. The rise of domestic open-source models such as BAGEL and MMaDA provides new opportunities for China's AI ecosystem to participate in global competition.