# api_claude
[](https://github.com/emersion/stability-badges#stable)
Comprehensive Rust client for Anthropic's Claude API with enterprise reliability features.
## 🎯 Architecture: Stateless HTTP Client
**This API crate is designed as a stateless HTTP client with zero persistence requirements.** It provides:
- Direct HTTP calls to the Anthropic Claude API
- In-memory operation state only (resets on restart)
- No external storage dependencies (databases, files, caches)
- No configuration persistence beyond environment variables
This ensures lightweight, containerized deployments and eliminates operational complexity.
## 🏛️ Governing Principle: "Thin Client, Rich API"
**Expose all server-side functionality transparently while maintaining zero client-side intelligence or automatic behaviors.**
Key principles:
- **API Transparency**: One-to-one mapping with Claude API endpoints
- **Zero Automatic Behavior**: No implicit decision-making or magic thresholds
- **Explicit Control**: Developer decides when, how, and why operations occur
- **Configurable Reliability**: Enterprise features available through explicit configuration
## Scope
### In Scope
- Messages API (conversational interface)
- Server-Sent Events streaming
- Tool/function calling
- Vision support (image analysis)
- Prompt caching (~90% cost savings)
- Token counting
- System prompts and safety settings
- Enterprise reliability (retry, circuit breaker, rate limiting, failover, health checks)
- Synchronous API wrapper
- Batch operations
### Out of Scope
- Embeddings (not offered by Anthropic)
- Audio processing (not available in Claude API)
- WebSocket streaming (Claude uses SSE only)
- Model tuning/deployment (managed service only)
## Features
**Core Capabilities:**
- Messages API with full conversational support
- SSE streaming responses with tool calling integration
- Complete function/tool calling with validation
- Vision support for image analysis
- Prompt caching for cost optimization
**Enterprise Reliability:**
- Retry logic with exponential backoff and jitter
- Circuit breaker for failure threshold management
- Rate limiting with token bucket algorithm
- Multi-endpoint failover (4 strategies)
- Health checks with endpoint monitoring
**Client Enhancements:**
- Sync API wrapper for blocking operations
- CURL diagnostics for debugging
- Dynamic configuration with file watching
- Enterprise quota management
- HTTP compression support
## Installation
Add to your `Cargo.toml`:
```toml
[dependencies]
api_claude = { version = "0.1.0", features = ["full"] }
```
## Quick Start
### Basic Usage
```rust,ignore
use api_claude::{ Client, Secret, CreateMessageRequest, Message, Role, Content };
#[ tokio::main ]
async fn main() -> Result< (), Box< dyn std::error::Error > >
{
let secret = Secret::new( "sk-ant-api03-your-key-here".to_string() )?;
let client = Client::new( secret );
let request = CreateMessageRequest::builder()
.model( "claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929".to_string() )
.max_tokens( 1000 )
.messages( vec![
Message
{
role : Role::User,
content : vec![ Content::Text
{
r#type : "text".to_string(),
text : "Hello, Claude!".to_string(),
} ],
cache_control : None,
}
] )
.build();
let response = client.create_message( request ).await?;
println!( "Claude: {:?}", response.content );
Ok( () )
}
```
### Streaming Response
```rust,ignore
use api_claude::{ Client, Secret, CreateMessageRequest, Message, Role, Content };
use futures_util::StreamExt;
#[ tokio::main ]
async fn main() -> Result< (), Box< dyn std::error::Error > >
{
let client = Client::from_workspace()?;
let request = CreateMessageRequest::builder()
.model( "claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929".to_string() )
.max_tokens( 1000 )
.stream( true )
.messages( vec![ Message::user( "Tell me a story" ) ] )
.build();
let mut stream = client.create_message_stream( request ).await?;
while let Some( event ) = stream.next().await
{
let event = event?;
if let Some( text ) = event.delta_text()
{
print!( "{}", text );
}
}
Ok( () )
}
```
## Authentication
### Option 1: Workspace Secret (Recommended)
Create `secret/-secrets.sh` in your workspace root:
```bash
#!/bin/bash
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-api03-your-key-here"
```
```rust,ignore
use api_claude::Client;
let client = Client::from_workspace()?;
```
### Option 2: Environment Variable
```bash
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-api03-your-key-here"
```
```rust,ignore
use api_claude::Client;
let client = Client::from_env()?;
```
### Option 3: Direct Configuration
```rust,ignore
use api_claude::{ Client, Secret };
let secret = Secret::new( "sk-ant-api03-your-key-here".to_string() )?;
let client = Client::new( secret );
```
See [Secret Loading Guide](docs/secret_loading.md) for complete authentication options.
## Feature Flags
### Core Features
- `enabled` - Master switch for core functionality
- `streaming` - SSE streaming support
- `tools` - Function calling and tools
- `vision` - Image understanding capabilities
### Enterprise Reliability
- `retry-logic` - Exponential backoff retry
- `circuit-breaker` - Circuit breaker pattern
- `rate-limiting` - Token bucket rate limiting
- `failover` - Multi-endpoint failover
- `health-checks` - Health monitoring
### Client Enhancements
- `sync-api` - Synchronous wrappers
- `curl-diagnostics` - Debug utilities
- `compression` - HTTP compression
- `enterprise-quota` - Usage tracking
- `dynamic-config` - Runtime configuration
### Presets
- `full` - All features enabled
## Testing
### Test Coverage
- 435 tests passing (100%)
- Real API integration tests
- No-mockup policy: all integration tests use real API calls
## Supported Models
| claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929 | 200k tokens | Full capabilities |
| claude-3-5-sonnet-latest | 200k tokens | Fast, cost-effective |
| claude-3-opus-latest | 200k tokens | Highest capability |
| claude-3-haiku-latest | 200k tokens | Fastest |
## Documentation
- **[API Reference](https://docs.rs/api_claude)** - Complete API documentation
- **[Examples](https://github.com/Wandalen/api_llm/tree/master/api/claude/examples)** - Real-world usage examples
- **[Secret Loading](docs/secret_loading.md)** - Authentication and secret management
- **[Testing Guide](tests/readme.md)** - Testing organization and NO MOCKING policy
- **[Specification](spec.md)** - Detailed project specification
## Dependencies
- **reqwest**: HTTP client with async support
- **tokio**: Async runtime
- **serde**: Serialization/deserialization
- **workspace_tools**: Secret management
- **error_tools**: Unified error handling
- **secrecy**: Secure credential handling
All dependencies workspace-managed for consistency.
## Contributing
1. Follow established patterns in existing code
2. Use 2-space indentation consistently
3. Add tests for new functionality
4. Update documentation for public APIs
5. Ensure zero clippy warnings: `cargo clippy -- -D warnings`
6. Follow zero-tolerance mock policy (real API integration only)
7. Follow the "Thin Client, Rich API" principle
## License
MIT
## Links
- **[Anthropic Console](https://console.anthropic.com/)** - Get your API key
- **[Claude API Documentation](https://docs.anthropic.com/claude/reference)** - Official API docs
- **[Examples](https://github.com/Wandalen/api_llm/tree/master/api/claude/examples)** - Comprehensive usage examples
- **[Specification](spec.md)** - Technical specification