Anthropic’s AI agents merge over 30,000 code updates every single day, triggering a staggering 25 million automated testing jobs. Under standard Git, every single test machine had to clone gigabytes of repository history just to verify a one-file bug fix, generating an unsustainable 600 petabytes of network traffic daily. Because Git was designed decades ago for offline human developers who download an entire codebase to their local laptops, it completely buckled under the rapid-fire demands of automated AI development.
To eliminate this bottleneck, Anthropic built Scion, a custom version control system where full code history stays on central servers while test runners fetch only the exact folder they need. Using content-based file IDs paired with smart multi-tier caching, Scion answers over 99% of file requests instantly, slashing checkout times from minutes to seconds and saving 25% of testing CPU power. Incredibly, a tiny team of just seven engineers built the entire replacement system using Claude in only five months.
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