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Correct answer: B. The engine — the same agentic loop and the same tools
Explanation
The principle — a surface is a way in, not a different product.
Why the key is correct — Anthropic defines a surface as any place you access Claude Code — the CLI, VS Code, JetBrains, Desktop or claude.ai — and states that all surfaces share the same engine. The agentic loop and the tools come from that engine, so what Claude is able to do travels with you between surfaces.
Why the others are wrong — separate builds would drift apart, which is exactly what sharing an engine prevents. The terminal is the oldest way in rather than the most capable. And where you type is not where your code runs, so a desktop app is not by itself a remote service.
Remember this — pick the surface that suits how you work; it does not change what Claude can do.
Sources — Anthropic's Claude Code glossary.
Sources
“Any place you access Claude Code: the CLI, VS Code, JetBrains, Desktop, or claude.ai. All surfaces share the same engine.”
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