The Anthropic API, also called the Claude API, lets developers call Claude models from their own code over the web.
In plain words
A program sends a request to Anthropic's servers with an API key and gets Claude's reply back. The main endpoint is the Messages API, used for conversations. Other parts let you count tokens before sending, upload files, and run large jobs in batches. Official libraries exist for Python, TypeScript and several other languages, and Claude is also reachable through cloud platforms.
A quick example
Imagine a support team that wants draft replies to customer emails. Their help-desk tool sends each email to the Messages API with instructions about tone, then shows the draft to a human agent, who edits it before sending.
Where you'll meet it
- Apps and internal tools built on Claude.
- Large offline jobs, such as sorting thousands of documents, using batches.
Related
Sources
- DocsAPI overview, Anthropic · read 5 Nov 2026
- DocsClient SDKs, Anthropic · read 29 Sept 2026
Checked by WhatIsAI against the sources above · 5 Nov 2026. Spotted an error? Report it.