Unless you live under a rock, you know that Anthropic is on a tear and Claude is currently the darling model AND stack. Here is a list of feature announcements and releases from Jan 1 2026 through to April 22, 2026. I've never seen this kind of velocity before from any company.

They released 36 major items across three surfaces in 16 weeks — roughly one every three days.

Anthropic Releases: Jan 1 – Apr 22, 2026

Every major feature released across Claude (chat), Claude Cowork, and Claude Code, in chronological order. Each entry is tagged with the surface(s) it affects.

Tags: [Claude] = Claude chat (claude.ai, mobile, desktop chat) · [Cowork] = Claude Cowork · [Code] = Claude Code

January 2026

• Jan 7 · [Code] — Claude Code 2.1.0 ships (1,096 commits). Shift+Enter for newlines with zero setup, hooks declared directly in agent and skill frontmatter, Skills gain forked context, hot reload, custom agent support, and /<skill> invocation, agents no longer stop when you deny a tool use, configurable response language, wildcard tool permissions (e.g. Bash(*-h*)), and /teleport to hand a session off to claude.ai/code.
• Jan 12 · [Claude] — Health and fitness data on iOS and Android. Claude reads activity, sleep, and workout data and returns native charts. Pro/Max, US-only; Android requires Health Connect and Android 14+.
• Jan 12 · [Claude] — HIPAA-ready Enterprise plans for organizations processing PHI through Claude.
• Jan 12 · [Cowork] — Cowork research preview launches on Claude Desktop (macOS only) for Max plans. Runs locally in an isolated VM with access to local files and MCP integrations.
• Jan 14 · [Code] — MCP Tool Search (lazy loading). Auto-enables when MCP tool descriptions exceed ~10% of context; loads tool schemas on-demand instead of upfront. ~85% context-token reduction reported by Anthropic engineering.
• Jan 16 · [Cowork] — Cowork research preview expanded to Pro plans (macOS only).
• Jan 16 · [Code] — Claude Code access bundled with every Team plan standard seat (no longer premium-only).
• Jan 16 · [Claude] [Code] — Opus 4 and 4.1 deprecated from the Claude model selector and Claude Code.

February 2026

• Feb 4 · [Claude] — "Claude is a space to think" — Anthropic formally commits that Claude will remain ad-free: no sponsored links, no advertiser influence on responses, no third-party product placements users didn't ask for. Published days after OpenAI announced ads for ChatGPT Free/Go users in AU/NZ/CA.
• Feb 5 · [Claude] — Claude Opus 4.6 launch.
• Feb 5 · [Claude] — Claude for PowerPoint add-in launches.
• Feb 5 · [Claude] — Claude for Excel upgraded to Opus 4.6 with native Excel operations including pivot table editing and conditional formatting.
• Feb 12 · [Claude] [Cowork] [Code] — Self-serve Enterprise plans. Previously sales-only; now purchasable directly on the website. Single seat type covers Claude, Cowork, and Claude Code.
• Feb 13 · [Claude] [Code] — Enterprise Analytics API. Programmatic access to usage and engagement data for Claude and Claude Code Remote, aggregated per organization per day.
• Feb 17 · [Claude] — Claude Sonnet 4.6 launch. Full upgrade across coding, computer use, long-context reasoning, agent planning, knowledge work, and design; 1M token context window in beta.
• Feb 24 · [Cowork] — Cowork plugin marketplace and admin controls for Team and Enterprise plans.
• Feb 24 · [Code] — Remote Control research preview. Run a local Claude Code session on your machine and steer it from claude.ai/code or the Claude iOS/Android app. Session stays local; only chat messages flow through. Requires Claude Code v2.1.51+; Pro/Max; off by default on Team/Enterprise until admin enables.
• Feb 25 · [Cowork] — Scheduled tasks in Cowork (recurring and on-demand), plus a new Customize section in Claude Desktop grouping skills, plugins, and connectors.

March 2026

• Mar 2 · [Claude] — Memory for free users. Chat-history memory extended beyond paid tiers.
• Mar 11 · [Claude] — Claude for Excel and PowerPoint gain cross-app context sharing, skills support, and the ability to connect via LLM gateway for Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud Vertex AI, or Microsoft Foundry.
• Mar 12 · [Claude] — Custom visuals in chat. Claude creates inline charts, diagrams, and other visualizations within responses.
• Mar 17 · [Cowork] — Persistent agent thread to control Cowork from Claude Desktop or iOS/Android (research preview, Pro/Max).
• Mar 23 · [Cowork] [Code] — Computer use research preview in Cowork and Claude Code Desktop (Pro/Max). Claude can open files, run dev tools, click, and navigate your screen. Also improves Dispatch for away-from-keyboard work.
• Mar 23–27 · [Code] — Auto mode lands in research preview (v2.1.83–v2.1.85). A classifier handles permission prompts so safe actions run without interruption and risky ones get blocked — a middle ground between approving everything and --dangerously-skip-permissions. Same week: PR auto-fix on Web, transcript search with /, native PowerShell tool for Windows, and conditional if hooks.
• Mar 25 · [Claude] — Interactive apps in iOS and Android. The Claude mobile app connects to fully interactive connectors — live charts, sketched diagrams, shareable visuals rendered in the conversation.
• Mar 30 – Apr 3 · [Code] — Computer use in the CLI research preview (v2.1.86–v2.1.91). Also this week: /powerup interactive lessons, flicker-free alt-screen rendering, per-tool MCP result-size override up to 500K, and plugin executables on the Bash tool's PATH.

April 2026

• Apr 6–10 · [Code] — Ultraplan enters early preview (v2.1.92–v2.1.101). Draft a plan in the cloud from the CLI, review and comment on it in a web editor, then run it remotely or pull it back local. Same window: the Monitor tool streams background events into the conversation, /loop self-paces when interval is omitted, /team-onboarding packages setup into a replayable guide, and /autofix-pr turns on PR auto-fix from the terminal.
• Apr 9 · [Cowork] — Cowork general availability on macOS and Windows through Claude Desktop. Ships with:
  • Cowork data in the Enterprise Analytics API
  • Usage analytics dashboard
  • OpenTelemetry support
• Apr 9 · [Claude] [Cowork] [Code] — Role-based access controls for Enterprise. Admins can organize users into groups (manually or via SCIM) and assign custom roles controlling which Claude capabilities members can use. Includes group spend limits.
• Apr 14 · [Code] — Claude Code desktop app redesign (Mac and Windows) for all Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise users. Multi-session sidebar with Git-worktree isolation between sessions, drag-and-drop pane layout, integrated terminal, in-app file editor, expanded HTML and PDF preview, diff viewer rebuilt for performance on large changesets, side chats via ⌘+;, three view modes (Verbose/Normal/Summary), SSH support extended to macOS, and response streaming. (Note: informally called "2.0" by some commentators, but actual version is in the 2.1.x line; Claude Code 2.0 shipped in September 2025.)
• Apr 14 · [Code] — Routines research preview. Saved Claude Code automations that run on Anthropic's cloud infrastructure without your laptop being on. Three trigger types:
  • Scheduled — cron-like (hourly/nightly/weekly). Existing /schedule CLI tasks auto-migrate.
  • API — each routine gets a dedicated endpoint and auth token for wiring into Datadog, CI/CD, internal tools.
  • Webhook — starting with GitHub; one session per matching PR.
  • Daily limits: Pro 5, Max 15, Team/Enterprise 25.
• Apr 16 · [Claude] [Code] — Claude Opus 4.7 launch. Stronger software engineering on long-running tasks, higher-resolution vision (up to 2,576px / 3.75MP with 1:1 coordinate mapping), new tokenizer (1.0–1.35× more tokens than Opus 4.6), breaking API changes (removes temperature/top_p/top_k, thinking omitted by default).
• Apr 16 · [Code] — Opus 4.7 brings a bundle of Claude Code additions:
  • xhigh effort level between high and max, now default in Claude Code across all plans
  • /effort interactive slider for navigating levels
  • /ultrareview — dedicated review session that reads changes and flags bugs and design issues (3 free per billing cycle for Pro/Max)
  • Auto mode GA for Max subscribers (was research-preview for Teams/Enterprise; no longer requires --enable-auto-mode)
  • Task budgets (public beta) for setting a token spend cap per session
  • "Auto (match terminal)" theme that follows terminal dark/light mode
• Apr 17 · [Claude] — Claude Design launches under the new Anthropic Labs sub-brand. Research preview for Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise; powered by Opus 4.7. Collaborate with Claude on prototypes, slides, and one-pagers via conversation, inline comments, direct edits, or custom sliders; export to PDF, URL, PPTX, or Canva; can read a team's codebase and design files to apply an existing design system.
• Apr 20 · [Claude] — Amazon–Anthropic expanded partnership. Amazon invests a fresh $5B (with up to $20B more tied to commercial milestones), bringing total Amazon commitment to up to $33B. Anthropic commits $100B+ to AWS over 10 years and secures up to 5GW of Trainium2–Trainium4 capacity. Run-rate revenue disclosed at over $30B (up from ~$9B at end of 2025). Also announced: Claude Platform on AWS — the full Claude Platform accessible directly within AWS accounts with no separate credentials, contracts, or billing.
• Apr 20 · [Cowork] — Live Artifacts. In Cowork, Claude builds dashboards, reports, and trackers that connect to your apps and files and auto-refresh with current data every time you open them. Saved to a dedicated Live Artifacts tab with version history, persistent across sessions, and independent of the chat they were created in. Available on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise.
• Apr 22 · [Code] — Claude Code v2.1.117 (today). Forked subagents on external builds via CLAUDE_CODE_FORK_SUBAGENT=1, agent frontmatter mcpServers loaded for main-thread agent sessions via --agent, /model pins persist across restarts with startup header showing pin source, and /resume offers to summarize stale large sessions.

Sources

• Anthropic Claude release notes: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12138966-release-notes
• Claude Code "What's new" weekly digest: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/whats-new
• Claude Code changelog: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/changelog
• Anthropic blog (Apr 14 desktop redesign): https://claude.com/blog/claude-code-desktop-redesign
• Anthropic blog (Apr 14 Routines): https://claude.com/blog/introducing-routines-in-claude-code
• Anthropic blog (Apr 16 Opus 4.7): https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-4-7
• Opus 4.7 API docs: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/models/whats-new-claude-4-7
• Remote Control docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/remote-control
• Claude Code 2.1.0 announcement (Boris Cherny, Jan 7, 2026)
• MCP Tool Search announcement (Thariq Shihipar, Jan 14, 2026)
• Live Artifacts announcement (@claudeai on X, Apr 20, 2026): https://x.com/claudeai/status/2046328619249684989
• "Claude is a space to think" (Feb 4, 2026): https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-is-a-space-to-think
• Amazon–Anthropic expanded partnership (Apr 20, 2026): https://www.anthropic.com/news/anthropic-amazon-compute

Compiled April 22, 2026.