Felix Rieseberg

Accomplishments

• Has led engineering for Claude.ai, Cowork and Claude Code Desktop at Anthropic.¹²
• Has helped maintain Electron since 2016 and sits on its Administrative Working Group.¹⁵
• Built windows95 and macintosh.js, emulated classic operating systems packaged as Electron apps.¹⁴
• Removed the traditional coding interview from the hiring loops for Rieseberg's team at Anthropic in October 2026.²³

Career

Rieseberg's site lists five employers. At Microsoft (2011–2016), Rieseberg evangelized Windows Phone in Munich and San Francisco, then worked on open source, mostly making npm install work on Windows through windows-build-tools. At Slack (2016–2021), Rieseberg spent nearly five years on the desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux, first writing code and later managing the team. At Stripe (2021–2023) the work was on core payments APIs, and at Notion (2023–2025) on the desktop apps for Mac and Windows. Since 2025 Rieseberg has been at Anthropic, where the site says Rieseberg has "led engineering for Claude.ai, Cowork, and Code Desktop."¹

Open-source work

Rieseberg has helped maintain Electron since 2016 and has worked on Electron Fiddle, a tool for small Electron experiments on any version without setup, since 2018. Electron's governance page lists Rieseberg as a member of the Administrative Working Group.¹⁵

Rieseberg's GitHub profile pins windows95, Windows 95 packaged as an Electron app with emulation by v86 (about 24,300 stars when checked on October 29, 2026), and macintosh.js, which runs Mac OS 8 in an Electron app through the Basilisk II emulator. Since 2025 Rieseberg has built Clippy, described as "Clippy from Office 97" running a language model on the user's own computer, and in 2026 released Language Model Builder, a free Mac app that explains how language models work and lets users train a small one. The GitHub profile also pins claude-coach.¹⁴

Hiring and the coding interview

On October 27, 2026 Rieseberg published "Hunger beats tenure", an essay of advice for junior engineers. Writing as a hiring manager at Anthropic, Rieseberg said, "This month, I laid the traditional coding interview to rest", arguing that "there's no more point in giving you a little React challenge than there is in quizzing people about assembly; Claude is now better at both." As an example of building quickly, the essay cites Anthony Morris and Alice Zhao building a working Claude Code GUI prototype over one weekend, with the first public version shipping roughly eight days later. Rieseberg wrote that the team now scans resumes and portfolios "for little prototypes that exhibit taste, empathy, and principled thinking."²

The same day Rieseberg posted on X: "The coding interview is dead, at least for my team at Anthropic. I've seen enough to know that it no longer provides signal. I removed it from loops this month." The post and essay were covered on October 28 by The Next Web, Business Insider and The Register.³⁶⁷⁸

Writing and talks

Rieseberg's site lists 2026 podcast appearances on Latent Space (March), The MAD Podcast (April), How I AI (May), Summation (July), Hanselminutes (August), and MTS and Silicon Valley Girl (October). Recent essays include "Made by mechanical means" (September 27, 2026) and "How to be more ambitious: A tutorial for humans with models" (October 13, 2026).¹

Work and contributions

• Electron Fiddle Open-source code

  A quick way to try Electron: small experiments on any version, with no setup.¹

• windows95 Open-source code

  Windows 95 in an Electron app, with the emulation done by v86.¹⁴

• macintosh.js Open-source code

  Mac OS 8 in an Electron app, with the emulation done by Basilisk II.¹⁴

• Clippy Open-source code

  Clippy from Office 97 on the desktop, running a language model on the user's own computer.¹

• Language Model Builder

  A free Mac app that explains how language models work, then lets users train a small one.¹

• windows-build-tools Open-source code

  Open-source work at Microsoft to make npm install work on Windows.¹

Timeline

1. 2011Joined Microsoft, evangelizing Windows Phone before moving to open-source work.¹
2. 2016Joined Slack to work on its desktop app and began helping maintain Electron.¹
3. 2018Started Electron Fiddle and windows95.¹
4. 2020Released macintosh.js.¹
5. 2021Joined Stripe to work on core payments APIs.¹
6. 2023Joined Notion to work on its desktop apps.¹
7. 2025Joined Anthropic and started the Clippy project.¹
8. 2026Released Language Model Builder.¹
9. Oct 27, 2026Published "Hunger beats tenure" and posted on X that the coding interview is "dead" for Rieseberg's team.²³
10. Oct 28, 2026The essay and post were covered by The Next Web, Business Insider and The Register.⁶⁷⁸

Other documented roles

Roles the sources document that are not confirmed as current.

• Desktop apps for Mac and Windows, Notion (2023 – 2025)¹
• Core payments APIs, Stripe (2021 – 2023)¹
• Desktop app engineer, later team manager, Slack (2016 – 2021)¹
• Windows Phone evangelism, then open source, Microsoft (2011 – 2016)¹

Where they work

• Anthropic 49 people in the wiki

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