What is the Claude Certified Architect – Foundations exam?
It is Anthropic's certification for people who design and build production applications with Claude. It tests judgment about tradeoffs, not memorized trivia.
The exam covers four technologies: Claude Code, the Claude Agent SDK, the Claude API and the Model Context Protocol (MCP), the open standard for connecting Claude to tools and data. Every question sits inside a realistic project, such as a customer support agent, a multi-agent research system, or Claude Code running in a CI pipeline (CI means continuous integration: the automated checks that run on every code change).
Anthropic describes the ideal candidate as a solution architect with about six months of hands-on work across those four technologies.
Official guide §1–2
How many questions are on the exam, and how long is it?
60 questions in 120 minutes, about two minutes per question.
| Detail | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Exam code | CCAR-F |
| Questions | 60, multiple choice and multiple response (each question says how many answers to pick) |
| Time | 120 minutes |
| Structure | 4 project scenarios, picked at random from a set of 6 |
| Delivery | Proctored by Pearson VUE, online or at a test center |
| Passing score | 720 on a scale of 100 to 1,000 |
| Fee | $125 USD (your partner tier may lower it at checkout) |
| Valid for | 12 months, then a free renewal check |
Official guide §3
What are the five exam domains and their weights?
Agentic architecture is the biggest share at 27%. Claude Code and prompt engineering are 20% each, tool design and MCP is 18%, and context management and reliability is 15%.
| Domain | Weight | About |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Agentic Architecture & Orchestration | 27% | Agent loops, coordinators and subagents, hooks, sessions |
| 2. Tool Design & MCP Integration | 18% | Tool descriptions, errors, which agent gets which tool, MCP setup |
| 3. Claude Code Configuration & Workflows | 20% | CLAUDE.md, commands and skills, rules, plan mode, CI |
| 4. Prompt Engineering & Structured Output | 20% | Clear criteria, examples, schemas, validation, batches |
| 5. Context Management & Reliability | 15% | Long conversations, escalation, errors, human review, sources |
Across the five domains there are 30 task statements, the specific skills the questions are written against. Each one has its own study page.
Official guide §4, §6
What are the exam scenarios?
Questions come in groups, each framed by a realistic project. You get 4 of these 6 projects, chosen at random.
- A customer support agent that resolves returns and billing issues and knows when to hand off to a person.
- Claude Code used by a development team for writing, refactoring and documenting code.
- A multi-agent research system where a coordinator delegates to search, analysis and writing agents.
- Developer tools that help engineers explore and understand an unfamiliar codebase.
- Claude Code inside a CI pipeline, reviewing pull requests and writing tests.
- A system that pulls structured data out of messy documents and checks it against a schema.
Because you can't know which four you'll get, prepare for all six. Each one leans on two or three domains.
Official guide §5
What score do you need to pass?
A scaled score of 720 out of 1,000. You are measured against a fixed standard, not against other candidates.
Scaled scoring evens out small differences in difficulty between versions of the exam, so 720 means the same thing whichever version you sit. Your report shows pass or fail, your scaled score, and the percentage you got right in each domain. Those domain percentages help you see weak spots, but only the overall score decides the result.
There is no published rule like "72% correct". Treat 720 as a target for consistent, well-reasoned answers across all five domains. How our readiness score works.
Official guide §10
Who can take the exam?
People at Claude Partner Network organizations. Registration runs through the Anthropic Partner Academy, and the price shown depends on your company's partner tier.
If your company is already in the Claude Partner Network, sign in to the Partner Academy with your work account and find the exam's certification page there. If your company is joining, the official prep courses on the same Academy are the place to start while that's in progress.
Official guide §11
How do you register and schedule?
Register and pay on the Anthropic Partner Academy, then book a date with Pearson VUE, online or at a test center.
- Open the exam's certification page on the Partner Academy and read the exam guide, terms and exam policy.
- Register and check out.
- Create your Pearson VUE account from the confirmation email and pick a date, online or at a test center.
- You can cancel or move the booking up to 24 hours before. Inside 24 hours, the fee is lost.
- Bring a valid government photo ID whose name matches your registration exactly.
- If you need accommodations, get them approved by Pearson VUE before you book.
Official guide §11–12
What happens if you fail?
You can retake it after a wait: 14 days after the first attempt, 30 after the second and 90 after the third, with at most four attempts in 12 months.
Each attempt costs the full fee. Use the domain percentages on your score report to decide what to study before the next try.
Official guide §12
How long does the certification last?
12 months. Renewing on time is free: you review what changed and pass a short, unproctored check on the Partner Academy.
If the credential lapses, you sit the full exam again at full price. If the exam content changes a lot, Anthropic may ask everyone to take the full exam rather than the renewal check.
Official guide §15
What is not on the exam?
Model training and fine-tuning, API billing and authentication, cloud hosting, vision, computer use, streaming and token counting are all out of scope.
Knowing what's out of scope saves study time. The exam stays on architecture decisions: loops, tools, configuration, prompts, context and reliability. Prompt caching only needs to be recognized, not implemented.
Official guide §17
How should you prepare?
Start with Anthropic's free official course, then build things and drill the 30 task statements until the decisions feel automatic.
1. Take the official course first. Claude Certified Architect – Foundations Prep Courses on the Anthropic Partner Academy is free and is the authoritative starting point.
2. Build small real projects. An agent loop with tools, a Claude Code setup with CLAUDE.md, rules and a skill, an MCP tool with clear errors, and an extraction pipeline with a JSON schema.
3. Drill every task statement. Flashcards, matching and scenario questions on all 30 tasks, focusing on the domains where you score lowest.
4. Practice under time. Full 60-question timed mocks, so two minutes per question feels normal.
Take the free 10-question check to see where you stand, or read the 2-week study plan.
Official guide §7