{
  "id": "uc_2026_000026",
  "slug": "rakuten-claude-code-engineering",
  "title": "How did Rakuten speed up feature delivery with a coding agent?",
  "answer": "Rakuten uses Anthropic's Claude Code, an agentic coding tool, across engineering; in one test it worked autonomously for seven hours on a complex vLLM implementation and achieved 99.9% numerical accuracy versus the reference method. Anthropic reports Rakuten's average time to market for new features fell from 24 working days to 5 (79%).",
  "industry": "software-internet",
  "sub_industry": "E-commerce & internet services",
  "roles": [
    "software-engineering"
  ],
  "function": "it",
  "tasks": [
    "code-generation",
    "refactoring",
    "feature-delivery"
  ],
  "agent_pattern": "autonomous-agent",
  "autonomy_level": 3,
  "tools": [
    {
      "name": "Claude Code",
      "vendor": "Anthropic",
      "url": null,
      "affiliate": false
    }
  ],
  "models": [
    "Claude"
  ],
  "deployment_status": "production",
  "organization": {
    "name": "Rakuten",
    "type": "technology company",
    "named": true
  },
  "outcomes": [
    {
      "metric": "time to market",
      "value": "24 working days to 5 days (79% reduction)",
      "source_ref": 1,
      "self_reported": true
    },
    {
      "metric": "autonomous run accuracy",
      "value": "99.9% numerical accuracy vs reference method",
      "source_ref": 1,
      "self_reported": true
    }
  ],
  "evidence_grade": "B",
  "grade_rationale": "Named organization with quantified outcomes on the vendor's customer page.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "ref": 1,
      "url": "https://claude.com/customers/rakuten",
      "publisher": "Anthropic",
      "title": "Rakuten accelerates development with Claude Code",
      "published": null,
      "type": "vendor-customer-story",
      "quote": "Engineering teams saw their average time to market for new features drop from 24 working days to 5 days—a 79% reduction that changed how Rakuten delivers innovation.",
      "independent": false,
      "accessed": "2026-10-17"
    }
  ],
  "how_it_works": [
    "Engineer assigns a complex task in natural language.",
    "Claude Code works through a large codebase (vLLM, 12.5M lines) with occasional guidance.",
    "Output is validated against a reference implementation."
  ],
  "risks_compliance": [
    "Code review and testing remain required"
  ],
  "notes": [
    "Source page is undated; accessed 2026-10-17."
  ],
  "integrations": [],
  "medtech_relevance": null,
  "related": [],
  "first_seen": "2026-10-17",
  "last_verified": "2026-10-17",
  "sponsored": false,
  "license": "CC BY 4.0 (summary text); quotes and sources belong to their owners",
  "verification": {
    "checked": "2026-10-17",
    "checker": "pipeline.verify (quote match + outcome-number match)",
    "methods": [
      "auto:fetch"
    ],
    "quotes_matched": 1,
    "quotes_total": 1,
    "claims_matched": 2,
    "claims_total": 2,
    "passed": true
  },
  "url": "https://agentcasefile.com/cases/rakuten-claude-code-engineering/",
  "industry_label": "Software, Internet & Media",
  "role_labels": [
    "Software Engineering"
  ],
  "vertical": null
}