Analysis of Claude Code usage in 2026
A study of 2500 public repositories found that 85% of users create a CLAUDE.md file to outline project rules. However, only 25% of developers go on to create specialized sub-agents, and 13% use hooks for automation.
The average CLAUDE.md file size is 6.2 KB, which corresponds to 100-150 lines of instructions. In 10% of cases, the file size exceeds 24 KB, with the largest instances reaching 341 KB. This suggests that the file is being used as a project knowledge base.
Among repositories with sub-agents set up, the median number of agents per project is 6. The main programming languages in the ecosystem are TypeScript (30.2%) and Python (22.7%). 78% of the analyzed repositories showed activity in the last 90 days.
Up next
Anthropic taps Persona for user verification
Anthropic is using Persona to verify user identities. Certain features may now require users to upload a government ID. This is part of the security measures the company started rolling out in July 2026.
Related stories
- Claude Code adopters merged 24% more PRs, study finds
- Enforce your CLAUDE.md rules in CI, not in a markdown file
- Scientists use Claude least where they say it matters most
- Claude helped a physicist draft 36 manuscripts in 18 fields
- Only 20% of brand mentions overlap in Claude vs Claude Code
- Coding-agent prompt files grow 226% and never shrink
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first.
Join the conversation
Sign in to leave a comment. It appears after moderation.