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Anthropic Documentation

Integrate your workflow with the Anthropic to leverage powerful AI capabilities powered by Claude. This documentation provides an overview of the integration, key operations, and setup instructions.

Introduction​

The Anthropic API enables seamless interaction with Claude, allowing you to build advanced AI-powered features such as conversational AI, content generation, and more.

This document covers essential details for integration, including supported operations and example usage.

Prerequisites​

To use the Anthropic API, you need:

  • An Anthropic Console account.
  • An API key for secure authentication.
  • Python 3.7+ or TypeScript 4.5+ (if using the SDKs).

For detailed setup instructions, refer to the Anthropic API documentation .

Supported Operations​

Messages API​

The Messages API allows you to interact with Claude to generate responses, complete prompts, or create conversations. It supports both single-turn and multi-turn interactions.

Key Features:

  • Text Input and Output: Send prompts and receive generated responses.
  • Image Input: Use images (in base64 format) for multimodal interactions.
  • System Prompts: Define the tone, personality, or behavior of Claude.

Example Operations​

  1. Create a Message
    Generate the next message in a conversation based on the provided input messages.

    • Endpoint: /v1/messages
    • Method: POST
    • Headers:
      • x-api-key: Your unique API key.
      • Accept: application/json
      • Content-Type: application/json
    • Body Parameters:
      • model: The model to use for the response (e.g., claude-3-5).
      • messages: An array of input messages, alternating between user and assistant roles.
      • system: A system-level prompt to guide Claude’s behavior (optional).
      • temperature: Controls randomness in responses (default: 1.0).
      • max_tokens: The maximum number of tokens to generate.

Response Structure​

The response from the Anthropic API includes the following fields:

  • id: Unique identifier for the request.
  • type: Object type (e.g., message).
  • content: The generated response content (text or other formats).
  • stop_reason: Why the generation stopped (e.g., end_turn, max_tokens).
  • usage: Token counts for the request and response.

System Prompts​

System prompts allow you to define the behavior, tone, or goals for Claude. For example:

  • Example Prompt:

    "system": "You are a helpful and concise assistant."

  • Creative Prompt:

    "system": "You are a world-class poet. Respond only with short poems."

System prompts can be used to:

  • Adjust Claude's personality (e.g., formal, casual, poetic).
  • Restrict responses to specific formats (e.g., bullet points, summaries).

Error Handling​

If the API call fails, an error message is returned in the following structure:

  • Error Response Fields:

    • message: Details of the error.
    • code: HTTP status code.

  • Common Error Codes:

    • 401 Unauthorized: Invalid or missing API key.
    • 429 Too Many Requests: Rate limit exceeded.
    • 500 Internal Server Error: Server issue.

Next Steps​

  1. Set up your API key in your development environment.
  2. Explore the Messages API to create custom workflows.
  3. Experiment with system prompts to fine-tune Claude’s behavior.
  4. Refer to the Anthropic API documentation for more advanced use cases.