Windsurf says Anthropic is limiting its direct access to Claude AI models

Windsurf, an emerging coding startup rumored to be on the verge of acquisition by OpenAI, has announced that Anthropic has drastically curtailed its first-party access to its sought-after AI models, Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Claude 3.5 Sonnet. CEO Varun Mohan expressed his disappointment in a post on X, revealing that the company received minimal notice regarding the change, which now forces Windsurf to seek alternative third-party computing resources to operate Claude AI models on its platform. "We have been very clear with Anthropic that this is not what we wanted – we were prepared to compensate them for full access," Mohan stated. The abrupt decision, made with less than five days of notice, has left Windsurf scrambling to accommodate its users, as it may face temporary availability issues with Claude models. The shift comes just weeks after Anthropic chose to overlook Windsurf during the unveiling of Claude 4, its latest model series boasting top-tier performance for software engineering tasks. While competitors like Anysphere's Cursor, Cognition's Devin, and Microsoft's GitHub Copilot were granted immediate access to Claude 4 and Claude Opus 4, Windsurf has yet to receive similar privileges, forcing it to rely on a more complex and costly workaround. Anthropic's AI models have quickly gained traction among developers, and previously, the company collaborated with Windsurf to enhance its coding tools. The competitive landscape for AI-assisted coding, also known as vibe coding, has intensified in recent months. In April, OpenAI reportedly finalized a deal to acquire Windsurf, while Anthropic has been ramping up its investment in AI coding applications, launching its own platform, Claude Code, and hosting its inaugural Code with Claude developer conference. An Anthropic spokesperson, Steve Mnich, emphasized that the company is focusing on sustainable partnerships that benefit the wider developer community. He noted that while Windsurf can still access Claude 4 via an API key, this has not alleviated frustrations among its users. Windsurf has seen rapid growth, reaching a $100 million annual recurring revenue in April, but the constraints on access to Anthropic's models could hinder its expansion. Users have expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of direct access to Anthropic's cutting-edge AI coding models. Ronald Mannak, a founder specializing in Apple’s Swift programming language, shared his experience, stating that he switched to Cursor to leverage the enhanced capabilities of Claude 4 after being a Windsurf customer since late 2024. To help users access Claude 4 in the interim, Windsurf has implemented a workaround that allows users to link their Anthropic API keys to their accounts. However, developers have criticized this “bring your own key” solution as more complex and costly than if Windsurf had direct access to the models. In the fast-evolving world of vibe coding, flexibility is crucial, and with frequent releases of superior AI models from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, it's essential for coding startups to support a variety of leading technologies. Windsurf spokesperson Payal Patel reiterated the company's commitment to offering users flexibility, but recent developments indicate that Anthropic's decision may complicate that mission.