Dries Buytaert Tests Claude Code for Real-World Module Development and Refactoring

According to Drupal founder Dries Buytaert, Claude Code, an AI-powered tool from Anthropic, has shown strong potential in assisting with real-world Drupal development. In a recent video, Dries demonstrated how he used Claude Code to build features and modernize code on his personal Drupal site—all without touching his IDE or writing a single line of code himself.

Over a 30-minute session, the AI helped create a new feature that displayed the most recent photo from a custom photo album module on his homepage. It also handled technical tasks such as creating custom Drush commands, refactoring constructors, and converting plugin annotations to modern PHP attributes. Dries emphasized that these updates typically take hours of manual work but were completed in minutes using the AI assistant.

Claude Code analyzed the Drupal codebase, interpreted complex module interactions, and executed tasks including PHPStan analysis, PHPUnit testing, and syntax refactoring. It even used local development tools like DDEV and Drush, running tests and clearing caches autonomously. One highlight was the AI’s ability to improve return type consistency and implement PHP’s constructor property promotion feature across files.

The tool’s ability to read from existing documentation, suggest changes, validate code, and iterate based on test results significantly boosted development speed and reliability. While not free—an estimated $5–$10 per hour depending on usage—Buytaert described the productivity gains as substantial, especially for maintenance and refactoring tasks.

Dries concluded the session by noting the broader implications of using Claude Code at scale, citing its ability to automate repetitive tasks and enforce modern coding standards across a codebase.

For a full walkthrough of the experience, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p44qzbNvxi0