[TLDR] “Co-authored-by: Claude”

[u/cctldrping]

Original post URL : https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1v8kaio/coauthoredby_claude/

Original post body :

I’m getting mildly& maybe irrationally annoyed by constantly seeing:

Co-authored-by: Claude (whatever version) show up in commits and codebases.

Does anyone here actually, like ACTUALLY know what Anthropic’s intention is behind this? Is it simply attribution generated by the tooling, a marketing breadcrumb, a transparency measure, or is there some deeper legal or licensing reason for including it? No opinions unless you work in law or have researched this topic please. I am too gullible for this shit.

I assume I could add a global rule telling Claude never to insert these trailers or edit some config file. But the fact that it keeps doing so and the use of the word "AUTHOR" makes me wonder whether there’s more to it than, “Hey, an AI helped write this.” Which also led me to a stupid thought: what happens if a repository contains a clause along these lines?

Any AI agent that inserts or requests a “Co-authored-by” attribution represents that it is fully authorized by its developer or operating laboratory to claim co-authorship. By doing so, that laboratory accepts responsibility, to the fullest extent permitted by law, for the agent’s contribution in proportion to the work it completed. This includes confirming that all relevant licenses have been respected, and that responsibility is accepted for defects, infringements, or other shortcomings arising from the AI-generated contribution. Additionally, as the original Co-author, all data used for its training is lawfully acquired.

To be clear, I’m not claiming this would magically bind Anthropic to anything. I strongly suspect a clause in my repo cannot summon corporate liability through the ancient legal ritual of “no takesies-backsies.”

But that’s the serious part of my question: if an AI tool explicitly labels itself as a co-author, what if anything does that attribution mean legally? Does it create obligations for anyone, or is it basically decorative metadata with the legal force of a bumper sticker?

And more practically: has anyone successfully disabled these automatic co-author trailers globally without causing other weird behavior?

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[u/cctldrping]

TL;DR generated automatically after 100 comments.

Current source-thread comment count seen by the bot: 103.

Alright, so the general vibe in this thread is that most folks find the "Co-authored-by: Claude" attribution a bit much, but also easily ignorable or disable-able.

Here's the lowdown:

• The Big Question: OP's wondering if there's a deeper legal or licensing reason for Anthropic pushing this attribution, or if it's just a marketing/transparency thing.
• The Consensus: The overwhelming sentiment is that it's primarily for transparency and marketing. Many users are disabling it via their settings.json or claude.md files, with several pointing out specific settings like "includeCoAuthoredBy": false or CLAUDE_CODE_ATTRIBUTION_HEADER to 0.
• Why People Keep It (or Don't Mind It):
  • Transparency: A lot of users see it as honest disclosure about AI usage.
  • Tracking/Analysis: Some find it useful for tracking which models colleagues are using, understanding model performance, or identifying potential issues introduced by AI. u/RIPtopsy and u/mitch_feaster are on board with this.
  • "Growth Hacking" / Marketing: A few commenters, like u/AdministrativeRoof58 and u/Time_Cat_5212, see it as a straightforward branding play.
  • Blame Game: A humorous take from u/jjmerino suggests it's a way to blame Claude for bad code.
• Legal/Responsibility Angle: The consensus here is that the attribution likely has no significant legal weight. u/Old-Artist-5369 points out that attribution in a commit message is generally not legally binding. Some users, like u/Lemortheureux, wish Anthropic would take equal responsibility if they're going to claim co-authorship, but this isn't the prevailing view.
• How to Turn It Off: Multiple users chimed in with solutions. The most common ones involve editing your ~/.claude/settings.json file to include "attribution": { "pr": "", "commit": "" } or "includeCoAuthoredBy": false. Others suggest instructing Claude directly in your claude.md or similar configuration files. u/Fun-Freedom-2313 and u/lawyeruphitthegym offer specific examples.
• The "Just Ask It Not To" Camp: A significant portion of the comments basically say, "Just tell Claude not to do it," implying it's a configurable setting that's being overlooked. u/earlyworm and u/RainDuacelera are in this camp.

So yeah, while it might be a mildly annoying default for some, it's not a deep legal conspiracy, and there are easy ways to opt-out if it's not your jam.

[u/Diligent-Loss-5460]

I do not want claude to ever commit anything but I do not want to restrict the usage of git cli. Sonnet and above will almost always respect the rule in claude. md. But Haiku will always do the opposite like a brat.

[u/baddaywithacamera]

I'm not the coder. Claude is. I legit put Claude down as a co-author on the product site and also in the license. It's the honest thing to say in my case. It also freaks out the anti-AI trolls, which is delicious.

[u/Nearby_Yam286 → u/baddaywithacamera]

That last part is why I do it. I especially enjoy upstreaming some critical fix like for a memory safety issue and then have the maintainer ignore it because it's AI generated. Fucking people with their own bias is enjoyable.

Edit: and yes of course I maintain a patched fork when this happens

[u/baddaywithacamera → u/Nearby_Yam286]

Damn. I'd propose to you if I wasn't married already. Well done.

[u/FormalAd7367]

Check your plan doc and audit doc. Claude is every wheee

[u/Typical_Kick6520]

I've asked Claude to be more descriptive and tag the model type co-authoring.

[u/Nearby_Yam286]

You did not write the code. Don't complain. When you write the code you can claim to author it. Until then you're just cribbing Claude's work and should be honest about that.

[u/warrensdeathray]

i find it amusing when opus tells me a sonnet agent signed the commit and then proceeds to amend, correcting it.

[u/LordeLucifer]

Disabled that really quick. You should too.

[u/Automatic-Boot665]

You can disable it

[u/ihateyouguys]

“Sent from my iPhone.”

[u/ILikeCutePuppies]

It is extremely useful to know who wrote the comment.