Simon Willison’s Weblog: Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Claude Code

Source URL: https://simonwillison.net/2025/Feb/24/claude-37-sonnet-and-claude-code/#atom-everything
Source: Simon Willison’s Weblog
Title: Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Claude Code

Feedly Summary: Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Claude Code
Anthropic released Claude 3.7 Sonnet today – skipping the name “Claude 3.6" because the Anthropic user community had already started using that as the unofficial name for their October update to 3.5 Sonnet.
As you may expect, 3.7 Sonnet is an improvement over 3.5 Sonnet – and is priced the same, at $3/million tokens for input and $15/m output.
The big difference is that this is Anthropic’s first "reasoning" model – applying the same trick that we’ve now seen from OpenAI o1 and o3, Grok 3, Google Gemini 2.0 Thinking, DeepSeek R1 and Qwen’s QwQ and QvQ. The only big model families without an official reasoning model now are Mistral and Meta’s Llama.
I’m still working on adding support to my llm-anthropic plugin but I’ve got enough working code that I was able to get it to draw me a pelican riding a bicycle. Here’s the non-reasoning model:

And here’s that same prompt but with "thinking mode" enabled:

Here’s the transcript for that second one, which mixes together the thinking and the output tokens. I’m still working through how best to differentiate between those two types of token.
Anthropic’s other big release today is a preview of Claude Code – a CLI tool for interacting with Claude that includes the ability to prompt Claude in terminal chat and have it read and modify files and execute commands. This means it can both iterate on code and execute tests, making it an extremely powerful "agent" for coding assistance.
Tags: llm, anthropic, claude, ai-agents, inference-scaling, ai, llms, ai-assisted-programming, generative-ai, pelican-riding-a-bicycle

AI Summary and Description: Yes

Summary: The text discusses the release of Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Claude Code, highlighting significant advancements in AI reasoning models. This new release not only showcases improved performance over previous versions but also emphasizes capabilities for programming assistance, which are particularly relevant for professionals in AI and cloud computing security.

Detailed Description:
Anthropic’s release of Claude 3.7 Sonnet marks an important step forward in the development of AI models, particularly focusing on reasoning capabilities which have been a trend among major AI models. The Claude 3.7 Sonnet is priced similarly to its predecessor, which could impact budget considerations for businesses using these AI solutions. In addition, the Claude Code tool introduces functionality for coding assistance, enhancing the utility of AI in software development.

Key Points:

– **Release of Claude 3.7 Sonnet**:
– Skipped the expected version name “Claude 3.6” due to community usage; reflects community engagement in the development process.
– Priced at $3 per million tokens for input and $15 per million tokens for output, maintaining accessibility for developers.
– It is termed the first “reasoning” model by Anthropic, which may set new standards in AI capabilities alongside similar developments from competitors like OpenAI and Google.

– **Performance Improvements**:
– Significant improvements over 3.5 Sonnet, suggesting that users can expect enhanced output quality and functionality.
– Introduces inference scaling which may provide efficiency advantages in AI processing.

– **Introduction of Claude Code**:
– A command-line interface (CLI) tool for interacting with Claude, enabling direct interaction in terminal chat formats.
– Capable of reading, modifying files, and executing commands, which can assist in real-time coding tasks.
– Functions both as a coding assistant and a testing agent, potentially transforming workflows in software development.

– **Strategic Impact**:
– The reasoning enhancements in Claude may inspire greater trust and reliance on AI systems for complex decision-making processes.
– The integration of coding capabilities indicates a shift towards more collaborative AI tools, catering to developers’ needs for efficiency and support.

This progression in AI models, particularly with reasoning and coding functionalities, highlights significant implications for security and compliance professionals who must navigate the complexities of integrating such AI tools into existing frameworks while ensuring data protection and adherence to regulations.