Who Copies Whom? AI Coding Tool Feature Adoption Timeline
Across 18 of 20 tracked features shipped by two or more AI coding tools, the median rival followed the first mover by 250 days, and 3% of follows landed within 45 days. Claude Code shipped first most often (9 features).
Trendsetters vs. followers
- Claude Code: shipped first 9×, followed 8×, median 159 days behind when following
- Devin Desktop: shipped first 8×, followed 7×, median 180 days behind when following
- OpenAI Codex CLI: shipped first 1×, followed 15×, median 230 days behind when following
- Cursor: shipped first 0×, followed 9×, median 259 days behind when following
- Gemini CLI: shipped first 0×, followed 5×, median 328 days behind when following
- Kiro CLI: shipped first 0×, followed 6×, median 276 days behind when following
- GitHub Copilot CLI: shipped first 0×, followed 17×, median 279 days behind when following
- Antigravity CLI: shipped first 0×, followed 6×, median 407 days behind when following
Who shipped each feature first
- Custom Slash Commands — User-definable "/command" shortcuts / reusable prompts. Claude Code (v0.2.31, Mar 2025, first) → Devin Desktop (v1.8.2, May 2025, +61 days) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.23.0, Aug 2025, +168 days) → Cursor (v1.6, Sep 2025, +190 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.329, Sep 2025, +208 days) → Gemini CLI (v0.28.0, Feb 2026, +342 days) → Kiro CLI (v2.7.0, Jun 2026, +464 days) → Antigravity CLI (v1.1.3, Jul 2026, +497 days)
- Planning Mode — A dedicated mode that plans/proposes before editing or executing. Devin Desktop (v1.10.1, Jun 2025, first) → Cursor (v1.7, Sep 2025, +111 days) → Kiro CLI (v1.23.0, Dec 2025, +191 days) → Claude Code (v2.1.9, Jan 2026, +220 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.387, Jan 2026, +224 days) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.90.0, Jan 2026, +230 days) → Antigravity CLI (v1.1.0, Jul 2026, +393 days)
- Subagents / Parallel Agents — Spawning independent sub-agents or running multiple agents in parallel. Claude Code (v0.2.74, Apr 2025, first) → Devin Desktop (v1.12.20, Oct 2025, +180 days) → Kiro CLI (v1.23.0, Dec 2025, +243 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.374, Jan 2026, +259 days) → Cursor (v2.4, Jan 2026, +278 days) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.90.0, Jan 2026, +282 days) → Gemini CLI (v0.36.0, Apr 2026, +348 days)
- Skills / Plugins — Packaged, reusable skills or a plugin system. Claude Code (v2.0.12, Oct 2025, first) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.69.0, Dec 2025, +62 days) → Devin Desktop (v1.13.6, Jan 2026, +95 days) → Gemini CLI (v0.25.0, Jan 2026, +104 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.389, Jan 2026, +104 days) → Cursor (v2.5, Feb 2026, +130 days) → Antigravity CLI (v1.0.9, Jun 2026, +250 days)
- Sandboxing / Permission Modes — Sandboxed execution or granular permission/approval modes. Claude Code (v0.2.67, Apr 2025, first) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.15.0, Aug 2025, +120 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.381, Jan 2026, +279 days) → Cursor (v2.5, Feb 2026, +313 days) → Antigravity CLI (v1.0.5, Jun 2026, +420 days) → Devin Desktop (v3.2.16, Jun 2026, +432 days)
- MCP Support — Model Context Protocol client/server support to connect external tools & data. Devin Desktop (v1.3.3, Feb 2025, first) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.9.0, Jul 2025, +160 days) → Kiro CLI (v1.23.0, Dec 2025, +308 days) → Gemini CLI (v0.23.0, Jan 2026, +328 days) → Cursor (v2.6, Mar 2026, +383 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.421, Mar 2026, +384 days)
- Hooks — User-defined scripts that run on lifecycle events (pre/post tool, etc.). Claude Code (v1.0.38, Jun 2025, first) → Cursor (v1.7, Sep 2025, +90 days) → Devin Desktop (v1.12.41, Dec 2025, +162 days) → Gemini CLI (v0.24.0, Jan 2026, +198 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.402, Feb 2026, +218 days) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.130.0, May 2026, +312 days)
- Image / Vision Input — Pasting or attaching images as input. Devin Desktop (v1.0.5, Nov 2024, first) → Claude Code (v0.2.59, Apr 2025, +126 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.333, Oct 2025, +310 days) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.64.0, Dec 2025, +371 days) → Antigravity CLI (v1.0.14, Jun 2026, +580 days)
- Extended Thinking — A visible/toggleable extended-reasoning ("thinking") mode. Devin Desktop (v1.3.9, Feb 2025, first) → Claude Code (v0.2.44, Mar 2025, +18 days) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.4.0, Jul 2025, +134 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.375, Jan 2026, +316 days) → Kiro CLI (v2.6.0, Jun 2026, +465 days)
- Background Tasks — Long-running work executed in the background/async. Claude Code (v1.0.71, Aug 2025, first) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.353, Oct 2025, +82 days) → Devin Desktop (v2.0.44, Apr 2026, +250 days) → Cursor (v3.2, Apr 2026, +259 days) → Antigravity CLI (v1.0.15, Jul 2026, +328 days)
- Web Search / Fetch — Built-in web search or fetching a URL for live context. Devin Desktop (v1.2.1, Jan 2025, first) → Claude Code (v0.2.53, Mar 2025, +64 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.374, Jan 2026, +351 days) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.139.0, Jun 2026, +509 days)
- Project Memory Files — Persistent instruction/memory files (AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md, rules). Devin Desktop (v1.1.0, Dec 2024, first) → Claude Code (v0.2.54, Mar 2025, +105 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.385, Jan 2026, +405 days) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.100.0, Feb 2026, +429 days)
- Git / PR Integration — First-class git operations or opening/reviewing pull requests. Devin Desktop (v1.6.1, Apr 2025, first) → Claude Code (v2.1.20, Jan 2026, +300 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.420, Feb 2026, +332 days) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.129.0, May 2026, +401 days)
- Headless / Non-interactive Mode — Running non-interactively for scripting/CI (print mode, -p, exec). Claude Code (v0.2.66, Apr 2025, first) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.8.0, Jul 2025, +101 days) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v1.0.33, Apr 2026, +377 days) → Devin Desktop (v2.1.29, Apr 2026, +384 days)
- Voice Input — Speaking to the tool (speech-to-text input). Devin Desktop (v1.11.0, Jul 2025, first) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.105.0, Feb 2026, +224 days) → Claude Code (v2.1.71, Mar 2026, +233 days) → Cursor (v3.1, Apr 2026, +270 days)
- Checkpoints / Rewind — Snapshotting session state to roll back to an earlier point. OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.73.0, Dec 2025, first) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.393, Jan 2026, +39 days) → Kiro CLI (v2.7.0, Jun 2026, +179 days) → Claude Code (v2.1.191, Jun 2026, +191 days)
- Todo / Task List — A visible, tracked task/todo list the agent maintains. Claude Code (v0.2.93, Apr 2025, first) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.404, Feb 2026, +281 days) → OpenAI Codex CLI (rust-v0.133.0, May 2026, +386 days)
- VS Code Extension — A first-party Visual Studio Code integration. Claude Code (v2.0.0, Sep 2025, first) → GitHub Copilot CLI (v0.0.409, Feb 2026, +136 days)
Not copied yet
- JetBrains Support: only Devin Desktop (v1.0.2, Nov 2024) so far
- Subscription Login (Pro/Max): only Claude Code (v0.2.96, May 2025) so far
Methodology
An LLM reads every tracked release note and tags the release that introduces each notable capability (not mere mentions or fixes). Per tool and feature, the earliest such release is the ship date; ordering tools by that date gives each feature's leader and its followers' lag in days. Dates reflect what vendors published in their own changelogs. See the methodology page.
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