Building with the Claude API by Anthropic

This course covers fundamental API operations, advanced prompting techniques, tool integration, and architectural patterns for building AI-powered systems using Claude and the Anthropic API. Through hands-on exercises and practical examples, learn how to implement conversational AI, retrieval-augmented generation, and automated workflows. Plus, find out how to leverage Claude's multimodal capabilities for processing text, images, and documents.

Prerequisites
Proficiency in Python programming
Basic knowledge of handling JSON data

Learning objectives
Set up and authenticate with the Anthropic API, including API key management and request configuration.
Implement single and multi-turn conversations with proper message formatting and context handling.
Configure system prompts and control model behavior using temperature, response streaming, and structured output formats.
Design and execute prompt evaluation workflows with test dataset generation and automated grading systems.
Apply prompt engineering techniques including XML tag structuring, example-based learning, and clear directive formulation.
Integrate Claude’s tool usage capabilities to extend functionality with custom tools, batch operations, and web search.
Build retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems with text chunking, embeddings, BM25 search, and contextual retrieval.
Utilize Claude’s extended features including extended thinking mode, image analysis, PDF processing, and citation generation.
Implement prompt caching strategies to optimize API usage and reduce latency.
Develop model context protocol (MCP) servers and clients for standardized tool and resource integration
Deploy Anthropic Apps including Claude Code for automated development tasks.
Architect agent-based systems with parallelization, chaining, and routing workflows.