agent-sdk

# Claude Agent SDK - Comprehensive Skill

## Overview

The **Claude Agent SDK** is Anthropic's official framework for building production-ready AI agents with Claude. It provides a high-level abstraction over the Messages API, handling the agent loop, tool orchestration, context management, and extended-thinking patterns automatically.

### When to Use the Agent SDK

**Use the Agent SDK when:**

- Building autonomous agents that need to use tools iteratively
- Implementing agentic workflows with verification and iteration
- Creating subagent hierarchies for complex task decomposition
- Integrating MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers for standardized tools
- Need production patterns like hooks, permissions, and context management

**Don't use when:**

- Simple single-turn API calls suffice (use Messages API directly)
- No tool use required (standard chat)
- Custom agent loop logic needed (SDK loop is opinionated)

### Language Support

- **Python**: `claude-agents` package (recommended for most use cases)
- **TypeScript**: `@anthropics/agent-sdk` package (Node.js environments)

Both implementations share the same core concepts and API patterns.

## Quick Start

### Installation

**Python:**

```bash
pip install claude-agents
```

**TypeScript:**

```bash
npm install @anthropics/agent-sdk
```

### Authentication

Set your API key as an environment variable:

```bash
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"
```

Or pass it explicitly in code:

```python
from claude_agents import Agent

agent = Agent(api_key="your-api-key-here")
```

### Basic Agent Creation

**Python Example:**

```python
from claude_agents import Agent

# Create agent with default settings
agent = Agent(
    model="claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929",
    system="You are a helpful assistant focused on accuracy."
)

# Run simple task
result = agent.run("What is 2+2?")
print(result.response)
```

**TypeScript Example:**

```typescript
import { Agent } from "@anthropics/agent-sdk";

const agent = new Agent(