# How Linus Torvalds actually uses coding agents

Creator of Linux and Git

**If you take one thing:** `Pedals in a ring`, a bench that tests itself. he had Opus turn three pedals and a signal generator into an automated test bench, so agent changes get measured on real hardware instead of eyeballed on a scope.

- **Agent:** Claude ([source, 2026-09-30](https://github.com/torvalds/GuitarPedal/commit/10a96b1bf60a8d0f33bdae7af0a410bb78bd0fa7))
- **Model:** Claude Opus ([source, 2026-08-10](https://github.com/torvalds/GuitarPedal/commit/42983ff047a56e5d8aeae8cc98665febe3c20d28))
- **Review:** Opus writes verification scripts; the AI checks its own output ([source, 2026-08-04](https://github.com/torvalds/GuitarPedal/commit/d1b95dc5e71e0a2d42912001c5fa4469bbc88766))
- **Harness:** Issue tracker on a separate git side branch, plus a hardware validation bench Opus drives ([source, 2026-08-04](https://github.com/torvalds/uemacs/commit/a66fbc3243a971f3e78196805ab013ce762483b8))
- **Rules file:** CLAUDE.md, not in the public tree ([source, 2026-09-19](https://github.com/torvalds/GuitarPedal/commit/e8cfc09a0495f365c708467d5598aea7515eddfc))

## In their words

> And honestly, the other part of that was definitely Claude. It's just much easier to experiment with different approaches

> I'm back to doing some sanity checking of the guitar pedal using Claude Opus

> And, incidentally, it also ends up being really useful to have the AI validate its own output. Win-win.

> I copied over my issue tracking infrastructure that keeps track of things in a separate side branch, and the general rules, and hey presto - productive AI sessions with Opus.

> CLAUDE.md calls capture-rat.py the worked example for bench captures.


Archetype (our label): Toolsmith. Newest source: 2026-09-30.
Card: https://www.prehistoriq.com/stacks/torvalds/ · Data: https://github.com/prehistoriq/stacks/blob/main/data/stacks/torvalds.json