---¶
title: CLI, SDKsSDKs, CLI, 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, the ant CLI, and framework-specific libraries."¶
---¶
¶
Anthropic provides three kinds of official tooling for building with the Claude API:¶
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* **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.¶
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<Info>¶
For the full API specification, see the [API reference](https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/api/overview).¶
</Info>¶
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## CLI¶
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<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>¶
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## Client SDKs¶
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<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>¶
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<Card title="TypeScript" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/typescript">¶
Node.js, Deno, Bun, and browser support¶
</Card>¶
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<Card title="C#" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/csharp">¶
.NET Standard 2.0+, IChatClient integration¶
</Card>¶
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<Card title="Go" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/go">¶
Context-based cancellation, functional options¶
</Card>¶
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<Card title="Java" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/java">¶
Builder pattern, CompletableFuture async¶
</Card>¶
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<Card title="PHP" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/php">¶
Value objects, builder pattern¶
</Card>¶
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<Card title="Ruby" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/cli-sdks-libraries/sdks/ruby">¶
Sorbet types, streaming helpers¶
</Card>¶
</CardGroup>¶
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## Libraries and integrations¶
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Libraries and integrations expose Claude through another framework's API surface. They are not general-purpose Messages API clients.¶
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<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>¶
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<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>¶
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## Building agents or using Claude Code?¶
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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.¶
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<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>¶
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<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>¶
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<Card title="Claude Managed Agents" href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/managed-agents/overview">¶
Run agents in Anthropic's managed infrastructure¶
</Card>¶
</CardGroup>¶