FREE & OPEN-SOURCE

Prep for the Claude Certified Architect exam inside Claude Code

32 interactive lessons, 109 practice questions, and a full exam simulation — delivered by Claude as your instructor, inside the same tool the exam tests you on. No videos. No PDFs. Just your terminal.

Start the Free Course

Takes ~10 hours. Runs in your terminal. Want live coaching instead?

$ claude
Claude Code v1.2 loaded

> /start-1-1

Instructor: Welcome to Lesson 1.1: The Agentic Loop

You're a Solution Architect at NovaTech.
Your CTO wants an AI-powered support agent.

The core pattern:
receive → think → act → observe → repeat

When stop_reason == "tool_use" → continue
When stop_reason == "end_turn" → done

Instructor: Let's build this. Ready?

> _

This exam is for builders, not beginners

The CCA-F tests production architecture decisions. It's a technical certification for people who build systems with Claude.

This course is for you if

  • You build production systems using the Claude API, Claude Code, or MCP
  • You have 6+ months hands-on experience with Claude in a professional context
  • You understand agentic loops, tool design, and multi-agent orchestration
  • Your company is part of the Anthropic Partner Network (required to register for the exam)
  • You're a software engineer, solutions architect, or technical lead

This is not for you if

  • You've only used Claude through the chat interface (claude.ai)
  • You don't have programming experience
  • You're looking for a general AI literacy certification
  • Your company is not in the Anthropic Partner Network
  • You haven't worked with APIs, SDKs, or CLI tools before
!

Anthropic Partner Network requirement: To register for the CCA-F exam, your organization must be part of the Anthropic Partner Network. Current anchor partners include Accenture (~30,000 professionals), Cognizant (~350,000 associates), Deloitte, and Infosys. Check with your company's Anthropic relationship owner to confirm eligibility before beginning your study.

What the CCA-F actually tests

This is not a trivia exam. Every question is a production scenario. You're the architect — what do you recommend?

60
Scenario-based MCQs
120
Minutes (proctored)
720
Passing score (out of 1000)
Domain Topics Weight
Agentic Architecture & Agent Design Agentic loop, multi-agent patterns, subagent config, hooks, sessions 28%
Context Management & Tool Integration Tool interface design, error responses, tool_choice, MCP servers 19%
Claude Code Configuration & Deployment CLAUDE.md hierarchy, commands, plan mode, CI/CD integration 19%
Structured Output & Quality Control Explicit criteria, few-shot prompting, tool_use schemas, validation, batch 18%
Production Monitoring & Failure Recovery Context preservation, escalation, error propagation, provenance 16%
i

The #1 tested concept: Programmatic enforcement vs. prompt-based guidance. When the exam gives you a choice between telling the model to do something (prompt) and making it impossible to do otherwise (code), the code answer is almost always correct. Prompts suggest. Code enforces.

What you need

This course runs inside Claude Code. You'll need it installed and working before you begin.

💻

Claude Code (required)

Anthropic's terminal tool for Claude. One-command install on macOS and Windows — no Node.js needed.

New to this? Our step-by-step setup guide covers both platforms from scratch.

🔑

Claude Pro/Max subscription

You need a Claude Pro or Max subscription to use Claude Code. The course runs inside Claude Code and consumes usage from your subscription.

🛠️

Programming experience

You should be comfortable with APIs, JSON, CLI tools, and git. You don't need to be an expert in any specific language, but this is not a beginner course.

📚

~6 months with Claude

The exam (and this course) assumes familiarity with the Claude API, tool_use, agentic patterns, and MCP. Pure chat experience is not sufficient.

Set up in under five minutes

Install Claude Code, download the course, and start your first lesson. Claude takes over from there.

1

Install Claude Code

One command — works on macOS and Windows. No Node.js required:

# macOS
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash

# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://claude.ai/install.ps1 | iex

Full setup guide (both platforms) →

2

Download the course

Enter your email and we'll send you the download link with setup instructions:

We'll email the download link + setup guide. No spam.

3

Launch Claude Code

Check your email for the ZIP file, unzip it, then set up and launch:

cd claude-certified-architect-prep
cp progress.json.template progress.json
claude
4

Start learning

Type your first command and Claude becomes your instructor:

/start-0-1

Use /progress anytime to see where you are.

Study inside the tool the exam tests you on

This isn't a PDF or a video. Claude teaches you interactively, quizzes you, tracks your weak areas, and adapts to your pace.

🧠

32 interactive lessons

Every exam domain covered with hands-on exercises. You configure CLAUDE.md files, design tool schemas, and build multi-agent systems while learning.

🎯

Muscle memory

You practice inside Claude Code — the same tool the exam tests you on. When you've built a state machine to enforce workflow ordering, you won't pick the wrong answer.

📊

109 practice questions

Scenario-based MCQs across all 5 domains. The course tracks performance, identifies weak areas, and serves targeted review.

⚠️

7 anti-pattern drills

The exam's wrong answers aren't random — they're common architectural mistakes. We drill the 7 anti-patterns so you recognize the traps.

🤖

5 AI advisor agents

CTO Advisor, Security Reviewer, PM Advisor, SRE Advisor, and Exam Coach — all available on-demand inside the course for guidance.

📈

Full exam simulation

30-question mock exam weighted by domain percentages, scored against the 720/1000 threshold. Detailed gap analysis tells you exactly where to focus.

Ready to pass the exam?

This free course teaches the concepts. CCA-F Pro prepares you to pass — with domain study guides, exam-format practice questions with full justifications, build exercises, and an exam strategy guide.

📚
5 domain study guides

~20 hours of structured material covering every exam domain in depth

🎯
39 exam-format questions

Full justifications explaining why each distractor fails

🛠
5 build exercises

Hands-on specs with verification checklists

Get CCA-F Pro — $49

One-time purchase. No subscription. 7-day refund guarantee.

Want live coaching?

The free course gives you the knowledge. Live coaching gives you the confidence. Mock exams with real-time feedback, coached study sessions with engineers who've passed, and a study group to keep you accountable.

We'll email when live coaching launches. No spam.

You're on the list. We'll be in touch.

Also available: 580 additional practice questions including three full 60-question mock exams.