Transcription
Claude code has spyware. Someone just pulled apart the Claude code binary and found that it's hiding invisible markers in its system prompt using a seemingly innocent line, today's date.
If Claude code detects that you're from a time zone such as Shanghai, it'll actually change the separator that it uses in that date from hyphens to forward slashes. Then it'll also look if you change the Anthropic base URL variable to point at a custom endpoint, and if that endpoint matches a hard-coded list or contains keywords like deep seek or moon shot, it'll change the apostrophe in today's to a different nearly identical Unicode character based on which of those tests is true or both of them.
This is obviously aimed at spotting resellers and unofficial gateways, which fair enough, but hiding it in invisible punctuation just seems like a weird way to earn trust. Let me know what you think in the comments down below and follow for more developer and AI news.