Claude 4: New Coding, Memory, and Tool Features

 

Introduction

Claude 4, launched by Anthropic on May 22, 2025, marks a significant leap in artificial intelligence, building on the foundation laid by its predecessors: Claude, Claude 2, Claude 3, Claude 3.5, and Claude 3.7. Designed to be safe, interpretable, and highly capable, Claude 4 introduces two powerful models: Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4. These models excel in coding, reasoning, vision processing, and agentic tasks, making them ideal for developers, businesses, and industries seeking reliable AI solutions. This article provides a detailed exploration of Claude 4’s features, compares it with previous models, and highlights its superior coding capabilities. It also includes a practical guide to help users get started with Claude 4, ensuring accessibility for beginners and experts alike.

What is Claude 4?

Claude 4 is Anthropic’s latest family of large language models, designed to provide safe, helpful, and value-aligned AI assistance. Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI researchers, emphasizes ethical AI development, and Claude 4 reflects this commitment with enhanced safety features and robust performance. The model comes in two variants:

• Claude Opus 4: The most powerful model, optimized for complex tasks like advanced coding, long-horizon workflows, and scientific research. It’s the top choice for users needing high precision and deep reasoning.

• Claude Sonnet 4: A faster, cost-efficient model that balances performance and speed, ideal for high-throughput tasks like customer support automation and real-time applications.

Released on May 22, 2025, Claude 4 builds on the strengths of Claude 3.7 Sonnet, introducing groundbreaking features like extended thinking, memory capabilities, and parallel tool use. These advancements make it a leader in AI-driven coding, agentic workflows, and multimodal interactions.

New Features of Claude 4

Claude 4 introduces several innovative features that set it apart from previous models. Below, we explore these advancements in detail, keeping the explanations clear and straightforward.

1. Extended Thinking with Tool Use

Claude 4’s extended thinking feature allows the model to alternate between reasoning and using external tools, improving its ability to solve complex problems. For example, when tasked with writing code, Claude 4 can think step-by-step, access a code repository, and refine its output based on real-time feedback. This feature is particularly useful for tasks requiring deep analysis, such as debugging large codebases or solving multi-step math problems.

• How It Works: Claude 4 pauses to reflect before responding, ensuring more accurate and contextually relevant answers. Users can control how long the model “thinks” (up to 128,000 tokens via the API), balancing speed and quality.

• Benefit: This makes Claude 4 more reliable for tasks requiring precision, as it can cross-check its reasoning and incorporate external data.

2. Memory Capabilities

Claude 4 can store and recall key information across sessions, a significant upgrade from earlier models. When given access to local files, it creates “memory files” to maintain continuity in long-running tasks. For example, while playing a game like Pokémon, Claude Opus 4 records key game states to improve its gameplay over time.

• How It Works: The model extracts critical facts from interactions or files and saves them for future reference, ensuring consistency in tasks like project management or game simulations.

• Benefit: This feature is ideal for developers working on ongoing projects, as Claude 4 can “remember” previous code changes or task requirements.

3. Parallel Tool Execution

Claude 4 can use multiple tools simultaneously, streamlining complex workflows. For instance, it can perform a web search, analyze a codebase, and run a code execution tool in parallel to deliver a comprehensive solution.

• How It Works: The model integrates with tools like web search, GitHub, and command-line interfaces, executing tasks concurrently to save time.

• Benefit: This reduces the time needed for multi-step tasks, making Claude 4 highly efficient for agentic workflows.

4. Claude Code

Claude Code, now generally available, is a dedicated tool for developers, integrating seamlessly with development environments like VS Code, JetBrains (beta), and GitHub Actions. It supports tasks like code generation, debugging, and automated code reviews.

• How It Works: Developers can use Claude Code in their terminal or IDE to delegate tasks like writing tests, refactoring code, or committing changes to GitHub.

• Benefit: It reduces development time by automating repetitive tasks, with early tests showing tasks that took 45+ minutes manually completed in a single pass.

5. Thinking Summaries

For complex tasks, Claude 4 generates thinking summaries to condense lengthy reasoning processes into concise explanations. This feature is used about 5% of the time, ensuring clarity without overwhelming users. Developers needing raw reasoning can access it via Anthropic’s Developer Mode.

• How It Works: A smaller model summarizes Claude 4’s thought process, making outputs easier to understand.

• Benefit: This enhances usability for non-technical users while preserving advanced functionality for experts.

6. New API Capabilities

Claude 4 introduces four new API features to empower developers:

• Code Execution Tool: Runs and tests code directly, ensuring functional outputs.

• MCP Connector: Integrates with Anthropic’s Managed Compute Platform for scalable AI applications.

• Files API: Processes local files for tasks like document analysis or code extraction.

• Prompt Caching: Stores prompts for up to one hour, reducing costs for repetitive tasks.

7. Enhanced Vision Capabilities

Claude 4 can process and analyze images, building on Claude 3.5’s vision features. It excels at tasks like generating code from flowcharts, extracting text from charts, or describing images for accessibility.

• How It Works: The model interprets visual inputs and integrates them with text-based reasoning, enabling multimodal workflows.

• Benefit: This makes Claude 4 versatile for applications like automated design analysis or content creation.

8. Expanded Language Support

While Claude 3 supported multiple languages, Claude 4 is expected to offer near-native proficiency in underrepresented languages, enhancing its global applicability.

• How It Works: Advanced language models improve translation and real-time interaction in diverse linguistic contexts.

• Benefit: Businesses can deploy Claude 4 in multilingual customer support or content localization.

Why Claude 4 is Better at Coding

Claude 4, particularly Opus 4, is hailed as the world’s best coding model, with significant improvements over previous Claude models. Below, we explore why it excels in coding, supported by real-world examples and benchmark data.

1. Top Performance on Coding Benchmarks

• SWE-bench: Measures the ability to solve real software issues. Claude Opus 4 scores 72.5%, and Sonnet 4 scores 72.7%, outperforming Claude 3.7 (~70%) and competitors like GPT-4.

• Terminal-bench: Tests terminal-based task execution, with Opus 4 at 43.2%, a significant leap from earlier models.

• Other Benchmarks: Strong performance on GPQA Diamond (74.9% for Opus 4) and MMMLU (87.4% for Opus 4), showcasing its reasoning and coding prowess.

2. Real-World Coding Excellence

Companies and developers have praised Claude 4’s coding capabilities:

• Cursor: Calls Claude Opus 4 “state-of-the-art” for coding, excelling in complex codebase understanding.

• Replit: Reports improved precision for complex code changes across multiple files.

• Block: Notes Claude 4 boosts code quality during editing and debugging, maintaining reliability in its agent, codename goose.

• iGent: Highlights Sonnet 4’s ability to develop autonomous multi-feature apps with near-zero navigation errors.

• Sourcegraph: Praises Claude 4 for staying on track longer and providing elegant code.

3. Claude Code Integration

Claude Code, now generally available, transforms the coding experience:

• IDE Integration: Works seamlessly in VS Code and JetBrains, displaying edits directly in files for pair programming.

• GitHub Actions: Automates code reviews and commits, reducing manual effort.

• Task Automation: Handles test-driven development, debugging, and large-scale refactoring, completing tasks in a single pass that would take 45+ minutes manually.

4. Advanced Reasoning for Coding

Claude 4’s extended thinking and memory capabilities enhance its coding performance:

• Step-by-Step Reasoning: The model breaks down complex coding tasks into manageable steps, reducing errors and improving code quality.

• Memory Files: Stores project-specific information, ensuring consistency in long-term coding projects.

• Tool Use: Integrates with code execution tools to test and refine code in real time, ensuring functional outputs.

5. Reduced Errors

Claude 4 minimizes navigation errors (from 20% to near zero) and produces “surgical” code edits, making it ideal for complex tasks like full-stack updates or large-scale refactoring.

Example: Writing a Python Function

Here’s how Claude 4 might handle a coding task compared to Claude 3.5:

• Task: Write a Python function to calculate the Fibonacci sequence.

• Claude 3.5: Generates accurate code but may lack detailed comments or optimization for large inputs.

• Claude 4: Produces optimized code with clear comments, handles edge cases, and can integrate with a testing tool to verify performance.

Practical Applications of Claude 4

Claude 4’s features make it suitable for a wide range of applications. Below are some key use cases, explained in simple terms:

1. Software Development

• Use Case: Automate code writing, debugging, and testing.

• Example: A developer uses Claude Code to refactor a 10,000-line codebase, reducing errors and completing the task in hours instead of days.

• Benefit: Saves time and improves code quality.

2. Customer Support

• Use Case: Deploy Claude 4 as a chatbot to handle complex customer queries.

• Example: A retail company uses Sonnet 4 to answer multilingual customer inquiries, leveraging its expanded language support.

• Benefit: Reduces response time and improves customer satisfaction.

3. Content Creation

• Use Case: Generate marketing copy, technical documentation, or creative content.

• Example: A marketing team uses Claude 4 to create personalized ad copy that aligns with their brand voice.

• Benefit: Produces high-quality content at scale.

4. Data Analysis

• Use Case: Analyze large datasets or extract insights from documents and images.

• Example: A financial firm uses Claude 4 to process reports and generate forecasts, using its vision capabilities to interpret charts.

• Benefit: Accelerates analysis and improves accuracy.

5. AI Agents

• Use Case: Build autonomous agents for multi-step tasks.

• Example: A research team uses Opus 4 to manage a long-term project, with the model maintaining memory across sessions and using tools to gather data.

• Benefit: Enables complex workflows with minimal human intervention.

Conclusion

Claude 4 represents a monumental step forward in AI, with its advanced coding capabilities, memory features, and parallel tool use setting a new standard for the industry. By building on the strengths of Claude 3, 3.5, and 3.7, it offers unmatched performance for developers and businesses. Whether you’re writing code, automating tasks, or analyzing data, Claude 4 provides the tools to work smarter and faster. With its user-friendly integrations and commitment to safety, it’s an accessible and reliable choice for anyone looking to harness AI’s potential.