Claude certification: the four Anthropic exams and who can register
Claude certification means four proctored Anthropic exams, open only to people at Claude Partner Network firms.
The four Claude certifications
Anthropic introduced the first exam, Claude Certified Architect: Foundations, on March 12, 2026, with the launch of the Claude Partner Network. The network is Anthropic’s program for firms that help companies adopt Claude. On July 23, 2026, Anthropic added three role-based certifications.
Every exam is proctored, which means taken under supervision, and every candidate verifies their identity first. Pearson VUE delivers the exams online or at a test centre, and a pass earns a digital badge through Credly.
| Certification | Who the exam is for | Exam format |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Certified Associate: Foundations | Consultants, sellers, and delivery leads who guide customers toward the right uses of Claude | 60 items in 120 minutes |
| Claude Certified Developer: Foundations | Engineers who build with the Claude API, Claude Code, and the Model Context Protocol | 53 items in 120 minutes |
| Claude Certified Architect: Foundations | Solution architects who design and build agent systems with Claude | 60 items in 120 minutes |
| Claude Certified Architect: Professional | Experienced architects who design, integrate, and govern Claude systems for large companies | 63 items in 120 minutes |
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for connecting AI assistants to the systems where data lives, such as business tools. All four exams use multiple-choice and multiple-response items, and all four pass at a scaled score of 720 on a scale of 100 to 1,000. The exams are closed book, according to the certification FAQ.
Who can take a Claude certification exam
Anthropic’s eligibility page answers in one line: the exams are open to people who work at organizations in the Claude Partner Network. Registration needs a company email on a domain that is listed in the firm’s partner record, and a personal email does not work. Candidates must be 18 or older and show a government-issued photo ID.
If your organization is not in the network, you cannot register for an exam. Anthropic points people outside the network to Claude Academy, the public course site. An Anthropic account team can also record a company’s interest in certification.
A firm that delivers Claude for clients can apply to the network at claude.com/partners. Anthropic says that any organization bringing Claude to market can join, and that membership is free of charge.
What each exam covers
Each exam guide lists the content domains and the share of the exam that each domain takes. The table shows the three largest domains of each exam, from the July 2026 guides.
| Certification | Largest domains, with share of the exam |
|---|---|
| Associate: Foundations | Output evaluation and validation (21%), workflow integration and solution design (16%), governance, risk, and responsible use (15%) |
| Developer: Foundations | Applications and integration (33.1%), model selection and optimization (16.8%), agents and workflows (14.7%) |
| Architect: Foundations | Agentic architecture and orchestration (27%), Claude Code configuration and workflows (20%), prompt engineering and structured output (20%) |
| Architect: Professional | Integration (19%), solution design and architecture (17%), evaluation, testing, and optimization (16%) |
The Associate guide says that candidates need no software or API experience. The exam tests whether someone can spot a wrong answer and decide when a person must review the work.
The Architect: Foundations exam is built on scenarios from customer projects, such as a customer support agent and a system that extracts data from documents. Four scenarios are drawn at random from a set of six.
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Start a conversationHow the exam is paid for and taken
Each exam is bought on Anthropic Partner Academy, the partner learning site, where the certifications page lists the fee for each exam. You pay by credit card at checkout, and the fee shown reflects any discount from your firm’s tier in the network. Anthropic then emails a link to Pearson VUE, where you book a slot online with a proctor or at a test centre.
- The fee applies to each attempt, including a retake, and a missed appointment forfeits the fee.
- After a failed attempt, the wait before a retake grows: 14 days, then 30 days, then 90 days. You can sit the same exam up to four times in a rolling 12 months.
- Your score appears on screen at the end of the exam, and a pass triggers an email from Credly to claim the badge.
- A certification is valid for 12 months. On-time renewal is a non-proctored assessment on Anthropic Partner Academy, with no fee, and a lapsed certification means sitting the full exam again.
The exams and the prep content are available in English and Japanese.
How to prepare for a Claude certification
Start with the exam guide for your certification. Anthropic calls the guide the authoritative source for what the exam covers, and the guide includes sample questions. The practice exam on the previous platform was retired when the program moved to Pearson.
Anthropic Partner Academy has prep courses for each certification, and the certifications page describes the prep courses as free. For the Architect: Foundations exam, the guide recommends hands-on builds.
- Build an agent with the Claude Agent SDK, including tool calls and error handling.
- Set up Claude Code for a real project, with a CLAUDE.md file and at least one MCP server.
- Build a pipeline that extracts structured data from documents and checks the output against a schema.
- Design human review into a workflow, and decide when an agent hands a case to a person.
The guide says the typical candidate has six months or more of practical experience building with Claude. For the Associate exam, the guide recommends regular use of Claude at work.
Claude Academy badges and certifications
Claude Academy is Anthropic’s public course site, and anyone with a free Claude account can take the courses. Passing a course’s quizzes earns a completion badge, which does not expire. Unlike a certification, a completion badge needs no proctored exam.
Anthropic’s eligibility page notes that people mix up the two names. If a résumé lists a Claude certification, ask whether the credential came from a proctored exam or from a course.
For an owner, Claude 101 on Claude Academy is the course Anthropic describes as the starting point. For the steps that come after the course, see how to use Claude at work.
What a Claude certification is worth to a business
For a firm that delivers Claude to clients, the Developer and Architect certifications count toward the firm’s standing in the Claude Partner Network. The Associate certification does not count. The top tier, Global Premier, requires 1,000 certified practitioners. Anthropic reported more than 36,000 certified consultants across more than 1,300 organizations by July 23, 2026.
For a manufacturer or a distributor, the exams are closed unless the company is a partner. The certification still helps when you hire a firm to build with Claude. Ask which people on the project hold the Developer or Architect certification, and check each badge on Credly.
A certification shows that one person passed an exam on using or building with Claude. Leaders who want to do their own work with AI need practice on that work, such as the board update or the pricing review. For sessions built that way, see AI training for executives and AI training for your team.
How ThriveAI helps
ThriveAI teaches executives and owners to use AI on their own work. Training runs as working sessions on the attendee’s own tasks and documents, on site at the plant or office, in French or English.
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