Claude Certified Architect – Foundations - Exam Guide - Version 1

Sep 26, 2026

Uploaded by Sarah

Claude Certiﬁed Architect – Foundations certification assesses practitioners’ ability to make informed architecture tradeoffs when implementing production solutions with Claude. The exam covers foundational knowledge across Claude Code, the Claude Agent SDK, the Claude API, and Model Context Protocol (MCP). It evaluates practical judgment through scenario-based questions involving agentic systems, multi-agent research pipelines, CI/CD integration, prompt engineering for structured output, and reliability decisions such as error handling and human-in-the-loop workflows.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages39

Reading Time1 h 38 min

AccessFree to download

About This Certification

Intended Audience

Exam Details at a Glance

Exam Content Outline (Blueprint)

Exam Scenarios

| Claude Certification Program | Exam guide | | --- | --- | Claude Certified Architect – Foundations Exam Guide Version 1.0 · Effective July 2026 · Exam code: CCAR-F · This guide is subject to change without notice. 1. About This Certification The Claude Certiﬁed Architect – Foundations certiﬁcation validates that practitioners can make informed decisions about tradeoffs when implementing real-world solutions with Claude. This exam tests foundational knowledge across Claude Code, the Claude Agent SDK, the Claude API, and Model Context Protocol (MCP), the core technologies used to build production-grade applications with Claude. Questions on this exam are grounded in realistic scenarios drawn from actual customer use cases, including building agentic systems for customer support, designing multi-agent research pipelines, integrating Claude Code into CI/CD workﬂows, building developer productivity tools, and extracting structured data from unstructured documents. Candidates must demonstrate not only conceptual knowledge but practical judgment about architecture, conﬁguration, and tradeoffs in production deployments. This guide is the authoritative reference for candidates preparing to sit the exam. It describes the exam content, lists the domains and task statements tested, provides sample questions, and recommends preparation strategies. Read it in full before scheduling your exam. 2. Intended Audience The ideal candidate for this certiﬁcation is a solution architect who designs and implements production applications with Claude. This candidate has hands-on experience with: • Building agentic applications using the Claude Agent SDK, including multi-agent orchestration, subagent delegation, tool integration, and lifecycle hooks • Conﬁguring and customizing Claude Code for team workﬂ[ows using CLAUDE.md](ows using CLAUDE.md) ﬁles, Agent Skills, MCP server integrations, and plan mode • Designing Model Context Protocol (MCP) tool and resource interfaces for backend system integration • Engineering prompts that produce reliable structured output, leveraging JSON schemas, few-shot examples, and extraction patterns | Claude Certification Program | Exam guide | | --- | --- | | • Managing context windows effectively across long documents, multi-turn conversations, and multiagent handoffs
• Integrating Claude into CI/CD pipelines for automated code review, test generation, and pull request feedback
• Making sound escalation and reliability decisions, including error handling, human-in-the-loop workﬂows, and self-evaluation patterns
The candidate typically has 6+ months of practical experience building with Claude APIs, Agent SDK, Claude Code, and MCP, understanding both the capabilities and limitations of large language models in production environments.
3. Exam Details ata Glance | | | Credential | Claude Certiﬁed Architect – Foundations | | --- | --- | | Exam code | CCAR-F | | Number of items | 60 | | Item format | Multiple-choice and multiple-response items; each item states how many responses to select | | Exam structure | 4 scenarios drawn from a bank of 6 | | Time limit | 120 minutes | | Delivery | Proctored: online proctored and/or test center, per program policy | | Passing score | Scaled score of 720 on a scale of 100–1,000 | | Exam fee | $125 USD | | Validity period | 12 months from the date the credential is awarded | | Result reporting | Pass/fail with scaled score (100–1,000), plus percent-correct by domain on the score report | | Claude Certification Program | Exam guide | | | --- | --- | --- | | 4. Exam Content Outline (Blueprint) | | | | The exam blueprint deﬁnes the content domains measured and the approximate weight of each domain on the exam. Weights reﬂect the relative importance of each domain to competent performance as determined through the job task analysis. The percentages indicate the approximate proportion of scored items drawn from each domain. | | | | Domain

FAQs

What does the Claude Certified Architect – Foundations exam validate?

It validates that practitioners can make informed decisions about tradeoffs when implementing real-world production solutions with Claude.

Which core technologies does the exam test?

It tests foundational knowledge across Claude Code, the Claude Agent SDK, the Claude API, and Model Context Protocol (MCP).

What is the exam format and time limit?

The exam includes multiple-choice and multiple-response items across 4 scenarios, with a 120-minute time limit.

Sep 26, 2026

Uploaded by Sarah

Claude Certified Architect – Foundations - Exam Guide - Version 1_Page 1

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