Claude Managed Agents overview
Pre-built, configurable agent harness that runs in managed infrastructure. Best for long-running tasks and asynchronous work.
Anthropic offers two ways to build with Claude, each suited to different use cases:
| Messages API | Claude Managed Agents | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Direct model prompting access | Pre-built, configurable agent harness that runs in managed infrastructure |
| Best for | Custom agent loops and fine-grained control | Long-running tasks and asynchronous work |
| Learn more | Messages API docs | Claude Managed Agents docs |
Claude Managed Agents provides the harness and infrastructure for running Claude as an autonomous agent. Instead of building your own agent loop, tool execution, and runtime, you get a fully managed environment where Claude can read files, run commands, browse the web, and execute code securely. The harness supports built-in prompt caching, compaction, and other performance optimizations for high-quality, efficient agent outputs.
Claude Managed Agents is also available on Claude Platform on AWS, with some differences in feature availability and session behavior. See Claude Managed Agents in the Claude Platform on AWS guide.
Core concepts
Claude Managed Agents is built around four concepts:
| Concept | Description |
|---|---|
| Agent | The model, system prompt, tools, MCP servers, and skills |
| Environment | Configuration for where sessions run: an Anthropic-managed cloud container, or a self-hosted sandbox on your own infrastructure |
| Session | A running agent instance within an environment, performing a specific task and generating outputs |
| Events | Messages exchanged between your application and the agent (user turns, tool results, status updates) |
How it works
Create an agent
Define the model, system prompt, tools, MCP servers, and skills. Create the agent once and reference it by ID across sessions.
Create an environment
Configure where the agent runs: a cloud container, or a self-hosted sandbox on your own infrastructure.
Start a session
Launch a session that references your agent and environment configuration.
Send events and stream responses
Send user messages as events. Claude autonomously executes tools and streams back results via server-sent events (SSE). Event history is persisted server-side and can be fetched in full.
Steer or interrupt
Send additional user events to guide the agent mid-execution, or interrupt it to change direction.
When to use Claude Managed Agents
Claude Managed Agents is best for workloads that need:
- Long-running execution: Tasks that run for minutes or hours with multiple tool calls
- Cloud infrastructure: Secure containers with pre-installed packages and network access
- Self-hosted execution: Sandboxes on infrastructure you control for compliance or data-residency requirements
- Minimal infrastructure: No need to build your own agent loop, sandbox, or tool execution layer
- Stateful sessions: Persistent filesystems and conversation history across multiple interactions
Supported tools
Claude Managed Agents gives Claude access to a set of built-in tools:
- Bash: Run shell commands in the container
- File operations: Read, write, edit, glob, and grep files in the container
- Web search and fetch: Search the web and retrieve content from URLs
- MCP servers: Connect to external tool providers
See Tools for the full list and configuration options.
Beta access
Claude Managed Agents is currently in beta. All Managed Agents endpoints require the managed-agents-2026-04-01 beta header. The SDK sets the beta header automatically. Behaviors may be refined between releases to improve outputs.
To get started, you need:
- A Claude API key
- The
managed-agents-2026-04-01beta header on all requests - Access to Claude Managed Agents (enabled by default for all API accounts)
Certain features (MCP tunnels and dreaming) are in research preview. Request access to try them.
Claude Managed Agents is stateful by design: sessions are long-running, resume cleanly after pauses, and store conversation history, container state, and outputs server-side. Because of this, Managed Agents is not currently eligible for Zero Data Retention or HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (BAA) coverage. You retain control over this data: you can delete sessions, and separately delete any files you uploaded, at any time through the API. For eligibility across all features, see API and data retention.
Rate limits
Managed Agents endpoints are rate-limited per organization:
| Operation | Limit |
|---|---|
| Create endpoints (agents, sessions, environments, etc.) | 300 requests per minute |
| Read endpoints (retrieve, list, stream, etc.) | 600 requests per minute |
Organization-level spend limits and tier-based rate limits also apply.
Branding guidelines
For partners integrating Claude Managed Agents, use of Claude branding is optional. When referencing Claude in your product:
Allowed:
- "Claude Agent" (preferred for dropdown menus)
- "Claude" (when within a menu already labeled "Agents")
- "{YourAgentName} Powered by Claude" (if you have an existing agent name)
Not permitted:
- "Claude Code" or "Claude Code Agent"
- "Claude Cowork" or "Claude Cowork Agent"
- Claude Code-branded ASCII art or visual elements that mimic Claude Code
Your product should maintain its own branding and not appear to be Claude Code, Claude Cowork, or any other Anthropic product. For questions about branding compliance, contact the Anthropic sales team.