streaming

build-with-claude/streaming First recorded · 1531 lines, first recorded

## Streaming with SDKs ## Get the final message without handling events ## Event types ### Ping events ### Error events ### Other events ## Content block delta types ### Text delta ### Input JSON delta ### Thinking delta ## Full HTTP stream response ### Basic streaming request ### Streaming request with tool use ### Streaming request with thinking ### Streaming request with web search tool use ## Error recovery ### Claude 4.5 and earlier ### Claude 4.6 and later ### Error recovery best practices ## Next steps

The first capture of this source. The page was already there, and this is what it said.

---
title: Streaming messages
url: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/build-with-claude/streaming
description: Stream Messages API responses incrementally with server-sent events, including text, tool use, and extended thinking deltas.
---

When creating a Message, you can set `"stream": true` to incrementally stream the response using [server-sent events](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Web/API/Server-sent%5Fevents/Using%5Fserver-sent%5Fevents) (SSE).

## Streaming with SDKs

The [Python SDK](https://github.com/anthropics/anthropic-sdk-python) and [TypeScript SDK](https://github.com/anthropics/anthropic-sdk-typescript) offer multiple ways of streaming. The [PHP SDK](https://github.com/anthropics/anthropic-sdk-php) provides streaming through `createStream()`. The Python SDK allows both sync and async streams. See the documentation in each SDK for details.

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash CLI
  ant messages create --stream --format jsonl \
    --model claude-opus-5 \
    --max-tokens 1024 \
    --message '{role: user, content: "Hello"}' \
    | jq -rj 'select(.delta.type? == "text_delta") | .delta.text'
  ```

  ```python Python
  client = anthropic.Anthropic()

  with client.messages.stream(
      max_tokens=1024,
      messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}],
      model="claude-opus-5",
  ) as stream:
      for text in stream.text_stream:
          print(text, end="", flush=True)
  ```

  ```typescript TypeScript
  const client = new Anthropic();

  await client.messages
    .stream({
      messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello" }],
      model: "claude-opus-5",
      max_tokens: 1024
    })
    .on("text", (text) => {
      console.log(text);
    });
  ```

  ```csharp C#
  AnthropicClient client = new();

  var parameters = new MessageCreateParams
  {
      Model = Model.ClaudeOpus5,
      MaxTokens = 1024,
      Messages = [new() { Role = Role.User, Content = "Hello" }]
  };

  await foreach (var msg in client.Messages.CreateStreaming(parameters))
  {
      Console.Write(msg);
  }
  ```

  ```go Go
  client := anthropic.NewClient()

  stream := client.Messages.NewStreaming(context.TODO(), anthropic.MessageNewParams{
  	Model:     anthropic.ModelClaudeOpus5,
  	MaxTokens: 1024,
  	Messages: []anthropic.MessageParam{
  		anthropic.NewUserMessage(anthropic.NewTextBlock("Hello")),
  	},
  })

  for stream.Next() {
  	event := stream.Current()
  	switch eventVariant := event.AsAny().(type) {
  	case anthropic.ContentBlockDeltaEvent:
  		switch deltaVariant := eventVariant.Delta.AsAny().(type) {
  		case anthropic.TextDelta:
  			fmt.Print(deltaVariant.Text)
  		}
  	}
  }
  if err := stream.Err(); err != nil {
  	log.Fatal(err)
  }
  ```

  ```java Java
  AnthropicClient client = AnthropicOkHttpClient.fromEnv();

  MessageCreateParams params = MessageCreateParams.builder()
      .model(Model.CLAUDE_OPUS_5)
      .maxTokens(1024L)
      .addUserMessage("Hello")
      .build();

  try (var streamResponse = client.messages().createStreaming(params)) {
      streamResponse.stream().forEach(event -> {
          event.contentBlockDelta().ifPresent(deltaEvent ->
              deltaEvent.delta().text().ifPresent(td ->
                  System.out.print(td.text())
              )
          );
      });
  }
  ```

  ```php PHP
  $client = new Client();

  $stream = $client->messages->createStream(
      maxTokens: 1024,
      messages: [
          ['role' => 'user', 'content' => 'Hello']
      ],
      model: 'claude-opus-5',
  );

  foreach ($stream as $message) {
      echo $message;
  }
  ```

  ```ruby Ruby
  client = Anthropic::Client.new

  stream = client.messages.stream(
    model: "claude-opus-5",
    max_tokens: 1024,
    messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Hello" }]
  )

  stream.text.each { |text| print(text) }
  ```
</CodeGroup>

## Get the final message without handling events

If you don't need to process text as it arrives, the SDKs provide a way to use streaming internally while returning the complete `Message` object, identical to what `.create()` returns. This is especially useful for requests with large `max_tokens` values, where the SDKs require streaming to avoid HTTP timeouts.

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash CLI
  # The ant CLI's --stream flag emits one event per line and does not
  # accumulate into a final Message. For long generations, stream the
  # raw events:
  ant messages create --stream --format jsonl <<'YAML'
  model: claude-opus-5
  max_tokens: 128000
  messages:
    - role: user
      content: Write a detailed analysis...
  YAML
  ```

  ```python Python
  client = anthropic.Anthropic()

  with client.messages.stream(
      max_tokens=128000,
      messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Write a detailed analysis..."}],
      model="claude-opus-5",
  ) as stream:
      message = stream.get_final_message()

  for block in message.content:
      if block.type == "text":
          print(block.text)
  ```

  ```typescript TypeScript
  const client = new Anthropic();

  const stream = client.messages.stream({
    max_tokens: 128000,
    messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Write a detailed analysis..." }],
    model: "claude-opus-5"
  });

  const message = await stream.finalMessage();
  const textBlock = message.content.find((block) => block.type === "text");
  if (textBlock && textBlock.type === "text") {
    console.log(textBlock.text);
  }
  ```

  ```csharp C#
  AnthropicClient client = new();

  var parameters = new MessageCreateParams
  {
      Model = Model.ClaudeOpus5,
      MaxTokens = 128000,
      Messages = [new() { Role = Role.User, Content = "Write a detailed analysis..." }]
  };

  var fullText = "";
  await foreach (var msg in client.Messages.CreateStreaming(parameters))
  {
      fullText += msg;
  }

  Console.WriteLine(fullText);
  ```

  ```go Go
  client := anthropic.NewClient()

  stream := client.Messages.NewStreaming(context.TODO(), anthropic.MessageNewParams{
  	Model:     anthropic.ModelClaudeOpus5,
  	MaxTokens: 128000,
  	Messages: []anthropic.MessageParam{
  		anthropic.NewUserMessage(anthropic.NewTextBlock("Write a detailed analysis...")),
  	},
  })

  message := anthropic.Message{}
  for stream.Next() {
  	event := stream.Current()
  	if err := message.Accumulate(event); err != nil {
  		log.Fatal(err)
  	}
  }
  if err := stream.Err(); err != nil {
  	log.Fatal(err)
  }

  for _, block := range message.Content {
  	if textBlock, ok := block.AsAny().(anthropic.TextBlock); ok {
  		fmt.Println(textBlock.Text)
  	}
  }
  ```

  ```java Java
  AnthropicClient client = AnthropicOkHttpClient.fromEnv();

  MessageCreateParams params = MessageCreateParams.builder()
      .model(Model.CLAUDE_OPUS_5)
      .maxTokens(128000L)
      .addUserMessage("Write a detailed analysis...")
      .build();

  MessageAccumulator accumulator = MessageAccumulator.create();
  try (var streamResponse = client.messages().createStreaming(params)) {
      streamResponse.stream().forEach(accumulator::accumulate);
  }

  Message message = accumulator.message();
  message.content().stream()
      .flatMap(block -> block.text().stream())
      .forEach(textBlock -> System.out.println(textBlock.text()));
  ```

  ```php PHP
  $client = new Client();

  $stream = $client->messages->createStream(
      maxTokens: 128000,
      messages: [
          ['role' => 'user', 'content' => 'Write a detailed analysis...']
      ],
      model: 'claude-opus-5',
  );

  $fullText = '';
  foreach ($stream as $event) {
      if ($event->type === 'content_block_delta' && $event->delta->type === 'text_delta') {
          $fullText .= $event->delta->text;
      }
  }

  echo $fullText;
  ```

  ```ruby Ruby
  client = Anthropic::Client.new

  message = client.messages.stream(
    model: "claude-opus-5",
    max_tokens: 128000,
    messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Write a detailed analysis..." }]
  ).accumulated_message

  message.content.each do |block|
    puts block.text if block.type == :text
  end
  ```
</CodeGroup>

The `.stream()` call keeps the HTTP connection alive with server-sent events, then `.get_final_message()` (Python) or `.finalMessage()` (TypeScript) accumulates all events and returns the complete `Message` object. In Go, you call `message.Accumulate(event)` inside the stream loop to build the same complete `Message`. In Java, use `MessageAccumulator.create()` and call `accumulator.accumulate(event)` on each event. In C#, await the stream's `.Aggregate()` extension method to get the complete `Message`, or pass a `MessageContentAggregator` to `.CollectAsync()` to aggregate while handling events. In Ruby, call `.accumulated_message` on the stream. In the PHP SDK, you iterate over stream events manually to accumulate the response.

## Event types

Each server-sent event includes a named event type and associated JSON data. Each event uses an SSE event name (for example, `event: message_stop`), and includes the matching event `type` in its data.

Each stream uses the following event flow:

1. `message_start`: contains a `Message` object with empty `content`.

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