# anthropics/claudes-c-compiler

Claude Opus 4.6 wrote a dependency-free C compiler in Rust, with backends targeting x86 (64- and 32-bit), ARM, and RISC-V, capable of compiling a booting Linux kernel.

Repository: https://github.com/anthropics/claudes-c-compiler
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/claudes-c-compiler
Language: Rust
License: CC0-1.0
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-02-05T17:14:51+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 45/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 66, release rhythm 35, longevity 15
- inputs: {"age_days": 210, "days_push": 209, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2771, forks 243 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:18.942812+00:00)

## What it is
A C compiler written entirely from scratch in Rust by Claude Opus 4.6, with no external toolchain dependencies. It includes a frontend, SSA-based IR, optimizer, code generators for x86-64, i686, AArch64, and RISC-V 64, plus its own assembler, linker, and DWARF debug info generation, producing Linux ELF executables.

## Use cases
- compile C programs without GCC or Clang installed
- cross-compile C code for ARM, RISC-V, or 32-bit x86
- build the Linux kernel with an alternative C compiler
- drop-in GCC replacement for make, CMake, or configure-based builds
- study how a complete compiler toolchain is implemented from scratch
- evaluate LLM-generated compiler code quality

## When to choose
- you want a dependency-free C compiler that emits ELF binaries on Linux
- you need to cross-compile C for x86-64, i686, AArch64, or RISC-V 64 with sysroots available
- you are experimenting with alternative compilers or researching AI-written software

## When to avoid
- you need a validated, production-grade compiler - correctness has not been verified and the maintainer explicitly discourages production use
- you develop on macOS or Windows - it was only tested on Linux hosts
- you rely on full GCC/Clang language extensions, diagnostics, or optimization maturity

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: experimental
- function: compiler, developer-tools
- domain: compilers, programming-languages, developer-tools
- platform: rust, cli
- tags: c-compiler, llm-generated-code, elf, cross-compilation, optimizer, assembler, linker, dwarf-debug-info, gcc-replacement, linux

## Member repositories
- anthropics/claudes-c-compiler (main) score 45

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:18.942812+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T08:16:38.812803+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/anthropics/claudes-c-compiler (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:18.942812+00:00, sha 377fade082c6)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.