Parallel agents build a C compiler
Claude Code: A team of 16 parallel Claude Opus 4.6 agents wrote a Rust-based C compiler from scratch, coordinating through git locks with no orchestration agent.
Across nearly 2,000 sessions and about $20,000 in API costs, the agents produced a 100,000-line compiler that builds Linux 6.9 on x86, ARM, and RISC-V.
Overview
How it was set up
Claude Code in an infinite bash loop, one Docker container per agent, a shared bare git repo, text-file task locks, GCC as a known-good oracle, and a continuous integration pipeline.
Worth knowing
Cost nearly $20,000 over two weeks, and the author says the approach hits a ceiling. Success depended on very high-quality tests built by hand.
A prompt to start from
The source does not show the prompt.
Sources 1
History
- Source published
- 2026-02-05
- Added to Agentic Feats
- 2026-10-13
- Pick
- No
- Markdown copy
- /c/parallel-agents-build-a-c-compiler-claude-code.md
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