Free Online Courses
Free certificateIntermediateAI & Machine Learning

Building with the Claude API

Anthropic's free developer course on the Claude API: prompting, tools, RAG, MCP and agents.

Taught byAnthropic Academy
Start free on Anthropic Academy

About this course

A comprehensive course from Anthropic on integrating Claude into applications. It covers API basics, prompt evaluation, prompt engineering, tool use, retrieval-augmented generation, extended thinking and other features, Model Context Protocol, and agent and workflow patterns.

Best for: Developers building applications on Claude.

What you will be able to do

  • Call the Claude API with system prompts and streaming
  • Evaluate prompts with test datasets
  • Give Claude tools and build RAG pipelines
  • Design agents and workflows

Syllabus and your progress

Tick modules off as you finish them on Anthropic Academy.

0 of 7 modules done

Plan your pace

At 4 hours a week you would finish in about 2 weeks, using the course time estimate above.

Progress is saved in this browser only. No account needed.

Cost and certificate

Free certificate

Free on Anthropic Academy, with a completion certificate after the final assessment.

Before you start: Python programming

Anthropic Academy sets the terms and can change them. Check the course page before you commit serious time, and tell us if something changed.

Quick answers

Is Building with the Claude API really free?
Yes, the course material is free on Anthropic Academy. Free on Anthropic Academy, with a completion certificate after the final assessment.
How long does Building with the Claude API take?
Plan for about 8 hrs in total (Third-party review lists over 8 hours (84 lectures); provider page states no total.). It is self-paced, so you can go faster or slower.
Do I need experience before Building with the Claude API?
It helps to have: Python programming.

Part of these learning paths

Featured in

Topics

About Anthropic Academy

Free courses from Anthropic on using and building with Claude.

All free Anthropic Academy courses

Keep going on AltFTool

Building with the Claude API

Free certificate

Start on Anthropic Academy