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Claude Certified Architect – Foundations (CCAR-F / CCA-F) exam: facts, domains and how to prepare

The Claude Certified Architect certification (CCAR-F, often called CCA-F) is the Foundations-level Claude architect certification from Anthropic. It tests whether you can design production systems with Claude: agents, tools and MCP, Claude Code, prompts with structured output, and context management. It is aimed at solution architects and engineers who already build with Claude. Registration is only open to people at Claude Partner Network companies.

By Craig Li, Ph.D

Claude Certified Architect – ProfessionalUpdated

CCAR-F
Architect – Foundations
Questions
60
Time
120 min
To pass
720 / 1,000
Anthropic fee
$125 per attempt
Valid for
12 months

No sign-up to start

CCAR-F exam at a glance

  • Questions are multiple-choice or multiple-response. A multiple-response question tells you how many answers to pick.
  • The exam is proctored and closed book, through Pearson VUE online (OnVUE) or at a Pearson VUE test centre: no notes, translation tools or AI assistants. It is offered in English and Japanese.
  • Plan on about 135 minutes in the seat: 120 minutes of exam plus check-in, instructions and a short survey.
  • Scoring runs from 100 to 1,000 against a fixed standard, not a curve. Your score report also shows your percentage correct in each domain; only the overall score decides the result.

You will see the exam called CCA-F, CCAF, the Claude architect cert or the Claude AI architect certification on courses and forums. Anthropic's and Pearson VUE's exam pages use CCAR-F: it is the same exam.

Who can take the Claude Certified Architect certification

You need a partner email on a recognised company domain, from a company in the Claude Partner Network, and you must be 18 or older. A personal email will not work. Who can take a Claude certification exam.

There is no prerequisite exam or required course. Anthropic recommends, but does not require, six months or more of hands-on work with the Claude API, the Agent SDK, Claude Code and MCP. A pass counts toward your company's Claude Partner Network tier.

CCAR-F exam domains and weights (the syllabus)

Anthropic publishes a weight for each domain, the approximate share of scored items it supplies. It does not publish question counts per domain, and the mix can vary between sittings, since each one draws 4 of the 6 scenarios at random.

D1. Agentic architecture and orchestration

27%

Agentic loops, coordinator and subagent orchestration, passing context to subagents, multi-step workflows with handoffs, Agent SDK hooks, task decomposition, and resuming or forking a session. Its task statements cover when a rule can stay in the prompt and when it must be enforced in code, and fixed against adaptive task plans.

D2. Tool design and MCP integration

18%

Tool descriptions Claude can tell apart, structured error responses from MCP tools, giving each agent the right tools, connecting MCP servers to Claude Code and agents, and the built-in tools (Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Grep, Glob). Its task statements cover why an agent picks the wrong tool or mishandles a failure, and which description, tool list or error response fixes it.

D3. Claude Code configuration and workflows

20%

CLAUDE.md hierarchy and scope, custom slash commands and skills, path-specific rules, plan mode against direct execution, iterative refinement, and Claude Code in CI/CD pipelines. Its task statements cover where an instruction should live so only the right people and files get it, and when Claude should plan before editing.

D4. Prompt engineering and structured output

20%

Prompts with explicit criteria, few-shot examples, structured output through tool use and JSON schemas, validation and retry loops, batch processing, and multi-pass review. Its task statements cover swapping vague cautions for stated criteria, shaping a schema that doesn't invite invented values, and telling when a retry will help.

D5. Context management and reliability

15%

Keeping critical facts in context, escalation and ambiguity, passing errors between agents, exploring large codebases, human review with confidence calibration, and keeping track of where information came from. Its task statements cover when to carry on, ask a clarifying question or hand off, and what to report when results are partial or sources conflict.

The CCAR-F exam scenarios

Every question sits inside a scenario: a realistic production setup that frames a group of questions. Each sitting draws 4 scenarios at random from a published bank of 6, so study all six:

1Customer support resolution agent
2Code generation with Claude Code
3Multi-agent research system
4Developer productivity with Claude
5Claude Code for continuous integration
6Structured data extraction

Claude Certified Architect exam cost

The CCAR-F exam costs $125 per attempt at list price, and a retake costs the full fee again. Select and Preferred partners get 50% off at checkout, and Global Premier partners 100% off until 31 December 2026. Renewing on time is free. All four Claude certification fees and partner discounts.

How to register for CCAR-F

You sign in to the Anthropic Partner Academy with your company's partner email, pay there, and then book a Pearson VUE slot, online with a proctor or at a test centre. You need to be 18 or older with a government-issued ID, and online testing isn't open to every country's ID. After a fail you wait 14, 30 and 90 days before a retake (after the first, second and third fail), and you get at most 4 attempts per exam in a rolling 12 months. How to register, step by step.

How hard is CCAR-F?

It depends on how much you already build with Claude. Anthropic publishes no pass rate, so here is the honest version by background.

Already building agents with the API and Claude Code

Most of the exam will feel familiar. Where you lose marks is the fine print you may never have needed: when to use --resume, when plan mode is worth it, how many tools one agent should hold. When two answers would both work, pick the one Anthropic's own docs recommend.

New to Claude, strong elsewhere

If you have built with Codex or another agent tool, most of this will feel the same. The Claude-specific part is small: CLAUDE.md and the Agent SDK. Claude Code configuration is 20% of the exam, so build something with it before you book.

New to building software

This is the wrong first exam. Look at the Claude Certified Associate exam, which needs no coding.

CCA-F study guide: how to prepare

Our suggested steps: Anthropic publishes no study plan. How long this takes depends on what you already build. If you work with the Claude API and Claude Code every day, it can take as little as a few days; if they are new to you, give it longer.

  1. Step 1Read the official exam guide in full, including all six scenarios and the preparation exercises. If any of it is new, work through the free Claude Academy courses: Building with the Claude API, Claude Code in Action and Introduction to Model Context Protocol (the free Claude courses).
  2. Step 2Practise by domain, starting with Agentic Architecture and Orchestration at 27%. Read the explanation for every option you got wrong, not only the right answer.
  3. Step 3Take timed 60-question mock exams. Treat 120 minutes as the limit and practise moving on from a question you are stuck on.
  4. Step 4Go back over your weakest domain, then book once your mock scores are comfortably above the pass mark.

After you pass CCAR-F

You get a Credly badge and the credential is valid for 12 months. Renewal is free: you review what changed and take an open-book, unproctored assessment on the Anthropic Partner Academy, which you can retake as often as you need (Anthropic's certification policies). After a substantial exam update, Anthropic can require the full exam instead. If it lapses, you sit the full exam again at the full fee.

The next step up is the Claude Certified Architect – Professional exam (CCAR-P); our CCAR-P exam guide compares the two side by side. You don't need Foundations to take it.

Practise for the CCAR-F

Exam-style questions for every CCAR-F domain, each with an explanation for every option, and timed 60-question mock exams. 20 free questions, the first 5 without signing up. Anthropic has no official practice exam: the old one was retired in the move to Pearson VUE, so the sample questions in the exam guide are its only official practice.

Start with 20 free questions

Prefer paper? Download free CCAR-F practice questions as a PDF, each with the answer and why every other option is wrong.

Policies are in Anthropic's certification FAQ.

Other Claude exams

Claude Certified Architect – Professional (CCAR-P)

For mid- to senior-level solution architects, AI and ML engineers, technical leads and senior software engineers who take Claude systems from discovery to production.

Anthropic recommends:
3 years or more in systems architecture or platform engineering, and 6 months or more running Claude or a similar LLM system in production.

CCAR-F FAQ

Is CCA-F the same as CCAR-F?

Usually, yes. People search for "CCA-F" and many courses use it, while Anthropic’s and Pearson VUE’s exam pages use CCAR-F, the official code for the Claude Certified Architect – Foundations exam.

Can I take CCAR-F if my company isn’t a Claude partner?

No. Registration is restricted to people at Claude Partner Network companies, using a partner email on a recognised company domain. A personal email will not work.

What happens if I fail CCAR-F?

You can sit it again after a wait: 14 days after a first fail, 30 after a second and 90 after a third, with at most 4 attempts in a rolling 12 months. Each attempt costs the full fee, and your partner discount still applies.

How long should I study for CCAR-F?

Anthropic publishes no study time. If you already build with the Claude API, the Agent SDK and Claude Code, it can take as little as a few days. If you are newer to them, give yourself longer and start with the free Academy courses. Book once timed mocks come back comfortably above the line.

How do I become a Claude Certified Architect?

Work at a Claude Partner Network company, register with your partner email on the Anthropic Partner Academy, and pass the CCAR-F exam: 60 questions in 120 minutes, scored from 100 to 1,000 with 720 to pass. Passing earns a Credly badge, valid for 12 months. See how to register for a Claude certification exam.

Exam facts from the official CCAR-F exam guide and exam page, and Anthropic's certification FAQ and certification policies, checked October 2026.

Cert Made Easy is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic, PBC. Our practice questions are exam-style questions we write against the official exam guides; they are not questions from the real exam.