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Documentation Index

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The Claude Code SDK lets you embed the same agentic coding engine that powers the claude CLI directly into your own scripts, automation pipelines, and applications. Instead of spawning a subprocess or calling the Anthropic API yourself, you import a handful of functions and get a full agent loop — file editing, bash execution, MCP tool support, session persistence, and more — within your process.

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Installation

npm install @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Node.js 18 or later is required.

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Import paths

The package exposes two import paths:
PathPurpose
@anthropic-ai/claude-codeMain SDK export — query(), session helpers, tool(), createSdkMcpServer(), and all public types.
@anthropic-ai/claude-code/bridgeBridge subpath — control-protocol types (SDKControlRequest, SDKControlResponse) used by SDK builders (e.g. alternative language SDKs communicating with the CLI process over stdio).
Most users only need the main export. 
// Main SDK — use for automation scripts and app integrations
import { query, listSessions, tool, createSdkMcpServer } from '@anthropic-ai/claude-code'

// Bridge subpath — only for SDK builders implementing the control protocol
import type { SDKControlRequest, SDKControlResponse } from '@anthropic-ai/claude-code/bridge'

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Key exports

ExportTypeStabilityDescription
query()functionStableRun a single prompt or streaming multi-turn conversation.
unstable_v2_createSession()functionAlphaCreate a persistent multi-turn session.
unstable_v2_resumeSession()functionAlphaResume an existing session by ID.
unstable_v2_prompt()functionAlphaOne-shot convenience wrapper around a session.
listSessions()functionStableList sessions with metadata.
getSessionInfo()functionStableRead metadata for a single session.
getSessionMessages()functionStableRead conversation messages from a session transcript.
renameSession()functionStableRename a session.
tagSession()functionStableTag or untag a session.
forkSession()functionStableFork a session into a new branch.
tool()functionStableDefine a custom MCP tool for in-process use.
createSdkMcpServer()functionStableCreate an in-process MCP server from a set of tools.
AbortErrorclassStableThrown when a query is aborted.

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Stability notes

Functions prefixed with unstable_v2_ are marked alpha. Their signatures may change in minor or patch releases without a major version bump. Pin your dependency to an exact version when using these APIs in production.
All other exports follow semantic versioning — breaking changes only in major releases.

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Quick example

The following script sends a prompt to Claude, streams the response, and prints the final result: 
import { query } from '@anthropic-ai/claude-code'

async function main() {
  const stream = query({
    prompt: 'List the TypeScript files in the current directory and count them.',
    options: {
      cwd: process.cwd(),
      model: 'claude-opus-4-5',
      maxTurns: 5,
    },
  })

  for await (const message of stream) {
    if (message.type === 'assistant') {
      for (const block of message.message.content) {
        if (block.type === 'text') {
          process.stdout.write(block.text)
        }
      }
    }

    if (message.type === 'result') {
      console.log('\n\n--- Done ---')
      console.log(`Turns: ${message.num_turns}`)
      console.log(`Cost: $${message.total_cost_usd.toFixed(4)}`)
    }
  }
}

main().catch(console.error)

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