A coding agent can bootstrap itself. Starting from a 926-word specification and a first implementation produced by an existing agent (Claude Code), a newly generated agent re-implements the same specification correctly from scratch. This reproduces, in the domain of AI coding agents, the classical bootstrap sequence known from compiler construction, and instantiates the meta-circular property known from Lisp. The result carries a practical implication: the specification, not the implementation, is the stable artifact of record. Improving an agent means improving its specification; the implementation is, in principle, regenerable at any time.
Figures & tables
Figure 1: The coding-agent bootstrap sequence. Claude Code implements agent0 from the specification; agent0 then bootstraps agent1 from the same specification. Dashed arrows show where the specification is consumed. Both implementations satisfy s , denoted ⊨s .
Figure 2: Structural analogy between the classical compiler bootstrap (top) and the coding-agent bootstrap (bottom). The first self-generated artifact is equivalent to the first-generation one.