Evolutionary Code Generation Tool for Claude Code Unveiled

claude-evolve is a native plugin for the Claude Code CLI that implements the ShinkaEvolve algorithm presented at ICLR 2026. Without any separate API key or cloud infrastructure, it evolves code using an ensemble of Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku models within the existing claude CLI environment.

Key Features:

• Autonomous Optimization: When a user provides an initial program, an evaluation script, and a budget, the model performs code mutations (diff patches, rewrites, crossover) to find the optimal solution.
• Efficient Model Utilization: Through the UCB1 bandit algorithm, it learns which (model × effort level) combination yields the greatest improvement.
• Application of Evolutionary Algorithms: It maintains a population of programs across multiple 'Islands,' exchanges superior individuals, and ensures diversity through AST-based duplicate detection.

Benchmark Results: On the 26-circle packing benchmark, it achieved 99.94% (2.6343 vs 2.6360) of the existing SOTA score within 50 generations.