Claude Agent SDK

Claude Agent SDK is Anthropic's official AI agent development toolkit, providing developers with a complete toolset for building production-grade AI assistants. Initially launched as "Claude Code SDK" in February 2025, it was rebranded to Claude Agent SDK around September 2025 to reflect its broader applications beyond coding.

Core Features

1. Tool Calling System

• Code Execution: Secure server-side Python code execution sandbox
• API Integration: Interact with external APIs and services
• Information Access: Access various data sources and knowledge bases
• Bash Execution: Run shell commands and scripts programmatically

2. Files API

• Direct file reading, writing, and modification
• Data persistence and manipulation
• File system management
• Working directory control

3. Model Context Protocol (MCP)

• Integrate custom tools and external data sources
• Standardized connector interface
• Extensible tool ecosystem
• Seamless integration with MCP servers

4. Context Management

• Prompt Caching: Reduce latency and costs
• Automatic Compaction: Manage long conversations by summarizing history
• Session Management: Maintain context across multiple interactions
• Token Optimization: Avoid hitting token limits

5. Subagents System

• Parallel task execution
• Isolated context windows
• Improved efficiency for complex workflows
• Specialized agent architectures

6. Guardrails

• Permission management system
• Tool access control
• Working directory definition
• Safe operation guarantees

Technical Features

Supported Languages

• Python: Full SDK support, ideal for data science and backend development
• TypeScript: Type-safe development experience for frontend and full-stack applications

AI Models

• Claude Sonnet 4.5: Released September 29, 2025, excels in complex agent tasks, coding, reasoning, and math
• Claude Opus 4.5: More powerful model option
• Other Claude Models: Choose different performance levels based on needs

Platform Integration

• Amazon Bedrock support
• IDE integration (JetBrains, VS Code)
• Custom deployment environments

Quick Start

Python Installation

pip install anthropic

Basic Usage Example

from anthropic import Anthropic

client = Anthropic(api_key="your-api-key")

# Create agent session
response = client.messages.create(
    model="claude-sonnet-4.5",
    max_tokens=1024,
    messages=[
        {"role": "user", "content": "Help me analyze this code"}
    ]
)

Use Cases

1. Engineering Copilots

• Code review and optimization suggestions
• Automated refactoring and test generation
• Technical documentation writing

2. SRE Diagnostics

• System monitoring and log analysis
• Troubleshooting and root cause analysis
• Automated operations tasks

3. Financial Analysis

• Data analysis and report generation
• Risk assessment and forecasting
• Automated trading strategies

4. Personal Assistants

• Task management and scheduling
• Information retrieval and organization
• Automated workflows

5. Customer Support

• Intelligent chatbots
• Issue diagnosis and resolution
• Knowledge base management

6. Workflow Orchestration

• Multi-step task automation
• System integration and data flow
• Business process optimization

Best Practices

Architecture Design

• Use specialized architectures with orchestrators and subagents
• Properly divide tasks and responsibilities
• Design clear agent communication protocols

Permission Control

• Precise tool permission management
• Principle of least privilege
• Secure resource access control

Context Management

• Effectively utilize prompt caching
• Reasonably compress conversation history
• Optimize token usage

Development Process

• Iterative coding and testing
• Comprehensive observability and logging
• Continuous monitoring and optimization

Key Advantages

• Official Support: Maintained by Anthropic with deep Claude model integration
• Production Ready: Enterprise-grade stability and performance
• Feature Complete: Covers all core needs for AI agent development
• Easy Integration: Standardized APIs and rich documentation
• Continuous Updates: Evolves alongside Claude models
• Active Community: Rich examples and best practice sharing

Technical Specifications

• Language Support: Python 3.8+, TypeScript/JavaScript
• Models: Claude Sonnet 4.5, Claude Opus 4.5, etc.
• Deployment: Local, cloud, serverless
• Integration: MCP, Amazon Bedrock, IDE plugins
• Security: Sandbox execution, permission control, audit logs