overview

cli-sdks-libraries/overview First recorded · 87 lines, first recorded

## CLI ## Client SDKs ## Libraries and integrations ## Building agents or using Claude Code?

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---
title: CLI, SDKs, and libraries
url: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/overview
description: "Official tools for building with the Claude API: the ant CLI, client SDKs in seven languages, and framework-specific libraries."
---

Anthropic provides three kinds of official tooling for building with the Claude API:

* **CLI:** The `ant` command-line tool for shell scripting and interactive use.
* **Client SDKs:** General-purpose Messages API clients for Python, TypeScript, C#, Go, Java, PHP, and Ruby. Each SDK provides idiomatic interfaces, type safety, and built-in support for streaming, retries, and error handling.
* **Libraries and integrations:** Packages and compatibility layers that expose Claude inside another framework's API surface rather than the Messages API directly.

<Info>
  For the full API specification, see the [API reference](https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/api/overview).
</Info>

## CLI

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="ant CLI" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/cli/quickstart">
    Shell scripting, typed flags, response transforms
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Client SDKs

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Python" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/python">
    Sync and async clients, Pydantic models
  </Card>

  <Card title="TypeScript" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/typescript">
    Node.js, Deno, Bun, and browser support
  </Card>

  <Card title="C#" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/csharp">
    .NET Standard 2.0+, IChatClient integration
  </Card>

  <Card title="Go" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/go">
    Context-based cancellation, functional options
  </Card>

  <Card title="Java" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/java">
    Builder pattern, CompletableFuture async
  </Card>

  <Card title="PHP" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/php">
    Value objects, builder pattern
  </Card>

  <Card title="Ruby" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/ruby">
    Sorbet types, streaming helpers
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Libraries and integrations

Libraries and integrations expose Claude through another framework's API surface. They are not general-purpose Messages API clients.

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Apple Foundation Models" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/libraries/apple-foundation-models">
    Swift package for Apple's `LanguageModelSession` API
  </Card>

  <Card title="OpenAI SDK compatibility" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/libraries/openai-sdk">
    Use Claude through the OpenAI SDK surface
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Building agents or using Claude Code?

The CLI, client SDKs, and libraries are for calling the Claude API yourself: you send each request and handle each response. Claude Code, the Claude Agent SDK, and Claude Managed Agents work at a higher level, providing the agent loop, tool execution, and runtime.

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Claude Code" href="https://code.claude.com/docs/en/overview">
    Agentic coding tool for delegating coding tasks to Claude
  </Card>

  <Card title="Claude Agent SDK" href="https://code.claude.com/docs/en/agent-sdk/overview">
    Build agents that run in a process you operate
  </Card>

  <Card title="Claude Managed Agents" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/managed-agents/overview">
    Run agents in Anthropic's managed infrastructure
  </Card>
</CardGroup>