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In a plot twist blending technical achievement with existential irony, the creator of the open-source input simulation library enigo discovered his code powers Anthropic's flagship Claude Desktop application—only to be rejected for a job at the $60B AI giant months later. The revelation exposes the hidden dependencies of commercial AI systems and the complex dynamics of open-source contributions.

The Discovery: enigo Under Claude's Hood

Grell, enigo's maintainer, reverse-engineered Claude Desktop's binaries this spring and found definitive proof of his library's role:

# macOS verification
7z x Claude.dmg
perl -nle 'print $& while /.{0,67}enigo.{0,30}/g' Claude/.../claude-native-binding.node

# Windows verification
7z x Claude-Setup-x64.exe
7z x AnthropicClaude-0.11.6-full.nupkg
perl -nle 'print $& while /.{0,75}enigo.{0,26}/g' .../claude-native-binding.node

The output confirmed Anthropic used enigo v0.2.1 for cross-platform input simulation—letting Claude control keyboards/mice across macOS and Windows. This wasn't trivial: input simulation battles undocumented OS quirks, and enigo uniquely supports Windows, macOS, Linux, and *BSD without root access.

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Why Anthropic Chose a Hobby Project

Despite Anthropic's "infinite budget," enigo offered compelling advantages:
- Cross-Platform Parity: Seamless input control across operating systems
- Rust Foundation: Memory safety and performance
- Proven Adoption: 300K+ downloads on crates.io, 1.2K+ GitHub stars

Yet Grell earns nothing—enigo uses the permissive MIT license. "The only thing I get is more stars on GitHub," he notes, "the nerd equivalent of street cred."

The Rejection Paradox

The irony deepened when Grell applied to an Anthropic role expanding Claude's input capabilities—a perfect fit given his niche expertise. Months later, a rejection arrived: "The team doesn't have capacity to review additional applications." The creator of the library giving Claude its "arms and legs" was turned away by the very system he enabled.

The Open-Source Dilemma

This case underscores tensions in modern software:
1. Commercial Reliance: Giants like Anthropic build on freely licensed OSS without obligation
2. Maintainer Vulnerability: Solo developers shoulder security/performance risks for critical infrastructure
3. Cross-Platform Gaps: Despite enigo's Linux support, Claude Desktop remains Windows/macOS-only—forcing community workarounds

Grell remains proud of enigo's role ("I tell everyone who listens") but reflects wryly: "Did the very AI I helped equip reject me? On the bright side, I should now be safe from Roko's Basilisk."

Source: grell.dev