Spotify’s top engineers haven’t written a single line of computer code since December, according to co-CEO Gustav Söderström, a startling revelation during a recent earnings discussion. This shift signals a dramatic change in how tech companies approach software development.
AI Powers a New Era of Development at Spotify
The music streaming giant is now building features directly through Slack, thanks to artificial intelligence.
- Spotify engineers are leveraging AI tools like Claude Code and Honk to create new features.
- Developers can now request code changes or new features via Slack on their phones.
- The company launched over 50 new features in 2025, largely due to this AI-driven approach.
- Co-CEO Gustav Söderström noted the change has freed up engineers’ personal time.
It’s not that engineers have stopped working; they’ve simply traded traditional coding for a more streamlined process. Through a combination of Claude Code and Honk—a specialized internal system—Spotify’s engineers can now develop new features directly through Slack. “As a concrete example, an engineer at Spotify on their morning commute from Slack on their cellphone can tell Claude to fix a bug or add a new feature to the iOS app,” Söderström told analysts on the company’s February 10 earnings call.
The process is remarkably efficient. Once Claude completes the work, a new version of the app is pushed to the engineer’s phone via Slack, allowing them to merge it into production—all before arriving at the office. This represents a significant leap in developer productivity.
What’s the biggest benefit of using AI in software development? The integration of new AI-fueled developments—traced to the December release of Antropic’s Claude Opus 4.5 within Claude Code—is “just the beginning” for Spotify, according to Söderström. The company has been aggressively adding new user tools, launching more than 50 features in 2025, with most rolling out in recent weeks.
Söderström credits Claude Code and Honk with “speeding us up tremendously,” fundamentally changing how developers operate. He even shared a personal anecdote, stating, “Certainly [before AI tools] I spent my entire vacation coding rather than being on holiday, and I think most people in tech did.”
This shift isn’t just about speed; it’s about reclaiming valuable time for engineers and potentially unlocking new levels of innovation within the company. The future of software development at Spotify, and perhaps beyond, appears to be increasingly reliant on the power of artificial intelligence.
