Skill v1.0.0
currentAutomated scan96/100name: claude-api description: Anthropic Claude API patterns for Python and TypeScript. Covers Messages API, streaming, tool use, vision, extended thinking, batches, prompt caching, and Claude Agent SDK. Use when building applications with the Claude API or Anthropic SDKs. origin: ECC metadata: version: "1.0.0"
Claude API
Build applications with the Anthropic Claude API and SDKs.
When to Activate
- Building applications that call the Claude API
- Code imports
anthropic(Python) or@anthropic-ai/sdk(TypeScript) - User asks about Claude API patterns, tool use, streaming, or vision
- Implementing agent workflows with Claude Agent SDK
- Optimizing API costs, token usage, or latency
Model Selection
| Model | ID | Best For | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opus 4.1 | claude-opus-4-1 | Complex reasoning, architecture, research | |
| Sonnet 4 | claude-sonnet-4-0 | Balanced coding, most development tasks | |
| Haiku 3.5 | claude-3-5-haiku-latest | Fast responses, high-volume, cost-sensitive |
Default to Sonnet 4 unless the task requires deep reasoning (Opus) or speed/cost optimization (Haiku). For production, prefer pinned snapshot IDs over aliases.
Python SDK
Installation
pip install anthropic
Basic Message
import anthropicclient = anthropic.Anthropic() # reads ANTHROPIC_API_KEY from envmessage = client.messages.create(model="claude-sonnet-4-0",max_tokens=1024,messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Explain async/await in Python"}])print(message.content[0].text)
Streaming
with client.messages.stream(model="claude-sonnet-4-0",max_tokens=1024,messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Write a haiku about coding"}]) as stream:for text in stream.text_stream:print(text, end="", flush=True)
System Prompt
message = client.messages.create(model="claude-sonnet-4-0",max_tokens=1024,system="You are a senior Python developer. Be concise.",messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Review this function"}])
TypeScript SDK
Installation
npm install @anthropic-ai/sdk
Basic Message
import Anthropic from "@anthropic-ai/sdk";const client = new Anthropic(); // reads ANTHROPIC_API_KEY from envconst message = await client.messages.create({model: "claude-sonnet-4-0",max_tokens: 1024,messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Explain async/await in TypeScript" }],});console.log(message.content[0].text);
Streaming
const stream = client.messages.stream({model: "claude-sonnet-4-0",max_tokens: 1024,messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Write a haiku" }],});for await (const event of stream) {if (event.type === "content_block_delta" && event.delta.type === "text_delta") {process.stdout.write(event.delta.text);}}
Tool Use
Define tools and let Claude call them:
tools = [{"name": "get_weather","description": "Get current weather for a location","input_schema": {"type": "object","properties": {"location": {"type": "string", "description": "City name"},"unit": {"type": "string", "enum": ["celsius", "fahrenheit"]}},"required": ["location"]}}]message = client.messages.create(model="claude-sonnet-4-0",max_tokens=1024,tools=tools,messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "What's the weather in SF?"}])# Handle tool use responsefor block in message.content:if block.type == "tool_use":# Execute the tool with block.inputresult = get_weather(**block.input)# Send result backfollow_up = client.messages.create(model="claude-sonnet-4-0",max_tokens=1024,tools=tools,messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "What's the weather in SF?"},{"role": "assistant", "content": message.content},{"role": "user", "content": [{"type": "tool_result", "tool_use_id": block.id, "content": str(result)}]}])
Vision
Send images for analysis:
import base64with open("diagram.png", "rb") as f:image_data = base64.standard_b64encode(f.read()).decode("utf-8")message = client.messages.create(model="claude-sonnet-4-0",max_tokens=1024,messages=[{"role": "user","content": [{"type": "image", "source": {"type": "base64", "media_type": "image/png", "data": image_data}},{"type": "text", "text": "Describe this diagram"}]}])
Extended Thinking
For complex reasoning tasks:
message = client.messages.create(model="claude-sonnet-4-0",max_tokens=16000,thinking={"type": "enabled","budget_tokens": 10000},messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Solve this math problem step by step..."}])for block in message.content:if block.type == "thinking":print(f"Thinking: {block.thinking}")elif block.type == "text":print(f"Answer: {block.text}")
Prompt Caching
Cache large system prompts or context to reduce costs:
message = client.messages.create(model="claude-sonnet-4-0",max_tokens=1024,system=[{"type": "text", "text": large_system_prompt, "cache_control": {"type": "ephemeral"}}],messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Question about the cached context"}])# Check cache usageprint(f"Cache read: {message.usage.cache_read_input_tokens}")print(f"Cache creation: {message.usage.cache_creation_input_tokens}")
Batches API
Process large volumes asynchronously at 50% cost reduction:
import timebatch = client.messages.batches.create(requests=[{"custom_id": f"request-{i}","params": {"model": "claude-sonnet-4-0","max_tokens": 1024,"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": prompt}]}}for i, prompt in enumerate(prompts)])# Poll for completionwhile True:status = client.messages.batches.retrieve(batch.id)if status.processing_status == "ended":breaktime.sleep(30)# Get resultsfor result in client.messages.batches.results(batch.id):print(result.result.message.content[0].text)
Claude Agent SDK
Build multi-step agents:
# Note: Agent SDK API surface may change — check official docsimport anthropic# Define tools as functionstools = [{"name": "search_codebase","description": "Search the codebase for relevant code","input_schema": {"type": "object","properties": {"query": {"type": "string"}},"required": ["query"]}}]# Run an agentic loop with tool useclient = anthropic.Anthropic()messages = [{"role": "user", "content": "Review the auth module for security issues"}]while True:response = client.messages.create(model="claude-sonnet-4-0",max_tokens=4096,tools=tools,messages=messages,)if response.stop_reason == "end_turn":break# Handle tool calls and continue the loopmessages.append({"role": "assistant", "content": response.content})# ... execute tools and append tool_result messages
Cost Optimization
| Strategy | Savings | When to Use | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prompt caching | Up to 90% on cached tokens | Repeated system prompts or context | |
| Batches API | 50% | Non-time-sensitive bulk processing | |
| Haiku instead of Sonnet | ~75% | Simple tasks, classification, extraction | |
| Shorter max_tokens | Variable | When you know output will be short | |
| Streaming | None (same cost) | Better UX, same price |
Error Handling
import timefrom anthropic import APIError, RateLimitError, APIConnectionErrortry:message = client.messages.create(...)except RateLimitError:# Back off and retrytime.sleep(60)except APIConnectionError:# Network issue, retry with backoffpassexcept APIError as e:print(f"API error {e.status_code}: {e.message}")
Environment Setup
# Requiredexport ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-api-key-here"# Optional: set default modelexport ANTHROPIC_MODEL="claude-sonnet-4-0"
Never hardcode API keys. Always use environment variables.