Why 80% of Anthropic Engineers Ditched IDEs for Claude Code CLI — And Why We Didn’t

TL;DR: Claude Code excels at terminal-native workflows (scaffolding, CI/CD, scripts) but its simulator-based debugging and lack of IDE context make it a poor daily driver for existing codebases. We keep it for greenfield + automation only. Full comparison →

The Context

Two-dev team maintaining a mature Next.js/Postgres SaaS. Heard Anthropic engineers use Claude Code as primary interface. Tested for 2 weeks: incredible for init projects, writing GitHub Actions, generating OpenAPI specs. Painful for debugging existing React components — simulator can’t see browser state, no inline diffs, context switching kills flow.

What We Tested

Tool	Use Case	Verdict	Why
Claude Code CLI	Greenfield scaffolding	✅	claude init → working Next.js + auth + DB in 15 min
Claude Code CLI	CI/CD pipelines	✅	Writes correct GitHub Actions, Dockerfiles, Terraform first try
Claude Code CLI	Debugging existing React	❌	Simulator can’t inspect browser DOM/state, no hot reload view
Claude Code CLI	Multi-file refactors in existing codebase	❌	Loses IDE context (refs, types, jump-to-def), manual file reads
Cursor + Cline	Daily coding on existing codebase	✅	Full IDE context, inline diffs, debugger integration
Windsurf Cascade	Parallel FE/BE agents	✅	Multi-agent dashboard, shared context across agents

The Pivot Point

Tried debugging a hydration mismatch in a 12-file Next.js app. Claude Code’s simulator ran the dev server but couldn’t inspect React DevTools state, network tab, or console. Had to paste errors manually, lost 40 minutes. Same task in Cursor: inline error overlay, jump to component, fix in 3 minutes. Realized Claude Code is a terminal agent, not an IDE agent — different mental model, different sweet spot.

What We Use Now

Claude Code CLI — exclusively for:

• claude init new services (API workers, docs sites, scripts)
• Writing CI/CD (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Dockerfiles)
• Generating OpenAPI/GraphQL schemas from specs
• One-off scripts (migrations, data transforms, ETL)

Cursor (configured) + Cline — for all existing codebase work:

• React component debugging (browser DevTools integration)
• Multi-file refactors (IDE jump-to-def, type checking)
• Test generation (inline, run in IDE test runner)

Windsurf — when we need parallel agents on FE + BE simultaneously.

When You’d Choose Differently

• Greenfield-only teams: Claude Code as daily driver makes sense
• Terminal-first developers: Vim/tmux users prefer CLI-native flow
• Automation-heavy workflows: If >50% work is scripts/CI/scaffolding

Tool Crucible Rating

Overall	Ease	Value	Support
⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐⭐	⭐⭐⭐

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This is part of our AI Coding Assistant evaluation series. See full comparison: Claude Code CLI 2026