Hey Devs! Another wave of agentic AI innovations rolled in this week.
<h3>Claude Opus 4.7 (Anthropic)</h3>
Anthropic’s latest flagship model significantly improves coding abilities: SWE‑bench Verified scores jump from 80.8 % to 87.6 %, and CursorBench scores rise from 58 % to 70 %. The update increases vision resolution to 3.75 MP and introduces an “xhigh” effort level plus a new /ultrareview command for deeper analysis. However, it shows a regression on Terminal‑Bench and adds stricter safety filters to block prohibited cybersecurity exploits.
Read More about the model: <a href="https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-4-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-4-7</a>
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<h3>Grok 4.3 Beta (xAI)</h3>
xAI quietly launched Grok 4.3 Beta, a large pre‑trained model matching the scale of Grok 4.20. It introduces agents that can create presentations, spreadsheets, and documents, moving beyond simple chat to deliver real downloadable files. The beta is available via an early‑access subscription priced around US$300 per month.
Read more: <a href="https://grok.com/release-notes/apr-17-2026" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">https://grok.com/release-notes/apr-17-2026</a>
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<h3>Major OpenAI Codex update</h3>
On April 16, OpenAI rolled out a major update to its Codex assistant. Codex can now operate the user’s computer, seeing, clicking, and typing on applications, and includes an in‑app browser. It supports multiple terminal tabs and remote dev boxes, integrates more than 90 plugins (e.g., Atlassian Rovo, CircleCI, CodeRabbit), and can generate images via gpt‑image‑1.5. A preview of memory lets Codex remember user context and preferences for long‑running tasks.
Read more: <a href="https://openai.com/index/codex-for-almost-everything/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">https://openai.com/index/codex-for-almost-everything/</a>
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<h3>Agents SDK 0.14.0 (OpenAI)</h3>
OpenAI’s April 15 update to the Agents SDK introduces a more capable harness for multi‑step agent loops, native sandbox execution, and separation of the harness from compute for better security and scalability. The SDK allows developers to give agents a controlled workspace to inspect files and run commands safely in sandboxed environments.
Read more: <a href="https://openai.com/index/the-next-evolution-of-the-agents-sdk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">https://openai.com/index/the-next-evolution-of-the-agents-sdk/</a>
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<h3>Hermes Agent open‑sourced (Nous Research)</h3>
Nous Research released Hermes Agent, a self‑improving agent designed to co‑evolve with users. Part of the Hermes model series, it aims to transition from static large language models to “Large Action Models” (LAMs) by enabling adaptive, tool‑using agents. The open‑source project emphasizes user adaptability and encourages community contributions.
Read more: <a href="https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/</a>
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<h3>GitHub Copilot Agents Explained: How to Build a Custom Agent</h3>
In this video, I’ll show you how to design custom AI agents in VS Code or Copilot CLI using GitHub Copilot and explain why GitHub Copilot AI agents for beginners is the most important skill to learn this year.
Watch on YouTube: <a href="https://youtu.be/PBPypdvlVQo" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">GitHub Copilot Agents</a>
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See you next week! Cheers, proflead!

Helping devs stay ahead with WebDev, AI & productivity tools.

proflead

A developer-focused newsletter roundup covering major AI coding tool updates this week. Claude Opus 4.7 boosts SWE-bench scores from 80.8% to 87.6% and adds an 'xhigh' effort level. OpenAI Codex gains computer-use capabilities, 90+ plugin integrations, in-app browser, and memory preview. OpenAI's Agents SDK 0.14.0 adds multi-step agent loops and sandboxed execution. xAI launched Grok 4.3 Beta with document/presentation generation agents. Nous Research open-sourced Hermes Agent, a self-improving 'Large Action Model'. Also includes a tutorial on building custom GitHub Copilot agents in VS Code.

AI News for Developers #20: OpenAI Codex, Claude Opus 4.7 & Hermes Agent