---
id: claude-code-sdk
version: "0.0.25"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# claude-code-sdk — Python SDK for Claude Code

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 624.9K/mo

## What it is and what it does

Claude Code SDK is a Python wrapper for querying Claude Code, an AI agent that can read, write, and execute code. It provides both a simple async query interface and a more advanced client for bidirectional conversations with custom tools and lifecycle hooks. The package depends on anyio for async I/O, mcp for Model Context Protocol support, and typing-extensions for type hints.

The SDK is officially deprecated and no longer maintained; Anthropic recommends migrating to claude-agent-sdk. It supports Python 3.10 through 3.13 and is distributed as a pure wheel with low install friction. While the repository remains active and has accumulated significant GitHub stars, new projects should use the successor package.

Use it for:

- Query Claude Code for code generation or analysis tasks via a simple async interface.
- Build interactive agents that maintain bidirectional conversation state with Claude Code.
- Define custom tools as Python functions and expose them to Claude via in-process MCP servers.
- Implement hooks to intercept and validate tool use (e.g., blocking unsafe bash commands before execution).
- Migrate from external MCP server processes to in-process tool definitions for simpler deployment.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Python SDK for querying Claude Code and building interactive agents with custom tools and hooks, now deprecated in favor of claude-agent-sdk.

No—the package is officially deprecated and no longer maintained. Install claude-agent-sdk instead. If you have an existing codebase using claude-code-sdk, plan a migration to the successor package rather than starting new projects with this one.

## Install

pip install claude-code-sdk
uv add claude-code-sdk
poetry add claude-code-sdk

## Installing claude-code-sdk

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-wheel distribution. Active maintenance as of the latest release, though the package is officially deprecated and no longer maintained—users should migrate to claude-agent-sdk.

License in practice: MIT license permits unrestricted use, modification, and distribution with minimal obligations, making it suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.

Quickstart:

pip install claude-code-sdk

import anyio
from claude_code_sdk import query

async def main():
    async for message in query(prompt="What is 2 + 2?"):
        print(message)

anyio.run(main())

Requires Python 3.10+, Node.js, and Claude Code installed via npm (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code).

Verify before relying:

- Whether claude-agent-sdk is a direct drop-in replacement or requires code changes.
- Current status of the Claude Code CLI and whether it remains actively maintained.

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 624.9K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

claude code python sdk, anthropic claude agent integration, async claude ai queries, mcp custom tools python, claude code hooks automation, deprecated, async-sdk, mcp-tools

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