# Claude Managed Agents Claude Managed Agents is a fully managed [[AI Agent Harness]] from [[Anthropic]]. You send Claude a task; it figures out what needs to happen and runs the work inside isolated cloud containers that Anthropic hosts for you. The built-in tool loop, prompt caching, compaction, and server-sent event streaming are all handled. Write your agent once, start a session, and Claude plans, calls tools, and keeps going until the session goes idle. Launched in public beta in April 2026. It sits at the opposite end from the [[Claude API|Messages API]]. The Messages API hands you raw model access and you build the loop yourself; Managed Agents hands you the whole harness (agent loop, tool execution, sandboxed runtime, session history) as a service. Think of it as [[Claude Code]] reshaped into an API product with multi-tenant infrastructure. ## When to reach for it Managed Agents fit long-running jobs: work that runs for minutes or hours and burns through many tool calls. They shine for asynchronous, background agent work where you don't want to host a runtime yourself. You get secure sandboxed containers with pre-installed packages and network access out of the box. And because sessions are stateful, the filesystem and conversation history persist across interactions. Skip it when you need fine-grained control over the model loop. Use the [[Claude API|Messages API]] directly for that. ## Four core concepts | Concept | What it is | |---|---| | **Agent** | Reusable, versioned config: model + system prompt + tools + MCP servers + skills | | **Environment** | Container template: pre-installed packages, networking rules, mounted files | | **Session** | A running agent instance in an environment; where the work actually happens | | **Events** | Typed messages flowing between your app and the agent (user turns, tool results, status updates) | Create agents and environments once, reference them by ID. Each session gets its own isolated container instance. ## How a run works 1. Create an agent (model, system prompt, tools, MCP servers, skills) 2. Create an environment (cloud container config, networking, packages) 3. Start a session referencing both (and optionally vaults for MCP auth) 4. Send a `user.message` event; open the SSE stream 5. Claude plans, calls tools (bash, file ops, web, MCP), streams events back 6. Session emits `session.status_idle` when done You can steer a run mid-flight with more user events, or stop it with `user.interrupt`. Full flow: [[Claude Managed Agents Sessions]] and [[Claude Managed Agents Events]]. ## Self-hosted sandboxes By default, tool execution happens in Anthropic-managed containers. Self-hosted sandboxes (public beta) change that. The orchestration loop stays on Anthropic's infrastructure, but the actual tool execution moves into your own environment. Your sensitive files, packages, and internal services never leave your infrastructure, and you control the compute: resource sizing and the runtime image. Supported providers: - **Cloudflare** — MicroVMs with zero-trust secrets and customizable proxies - **Daytona** — full stateful computers built for long-running work - **Modal** — sub-second startup, GPU or CPU on demand - **Vercel** — VM-level security, millisecond startup, VPC peering This matters when you have compliance requirements, data you can't hand to a third-party cloud, or you simply want to own the compute layer. ## MCP tunnels A research-preview feature for reaching internal services (databases, APIs, knowledge bases, ticketing systems) without exposing them publicly. A lightweight gateway opens outbound, end-to-end encrypted connections, so there are no public endpoints to secure. The agent gets a path to your internal tooling; the open internet doesn't. Request access via the research-preview form (see References). ## Access and beta status - Public beta since April 2026; enabled by default on all API accounts - Every request needs the `anthropic-beta: managed-agents-2026-04-01` header (SDKs add it automatically) - [[Claude Managed Agents Memory Stores|Memory stores]] graduated to public beta on 2026-04-28; same `managed-agents-2026-04-01` header, no form request needed - Self-hosted sandboxes are in public beta; MCP tunnels are research preview. Both work with existing Managed Agents primitives and are reachable through the [[Claude Console]] and the Platform APIs - Research-preview features still gated: [[Claude Managed Agents Outcomes|outcomes]] and [[Claude Managed Agents Multi-Agent|multi-agent]] need the extra `managed-agents-2026-04-01-research-preview` header and a form request - [[Claude Managed Agents Dreams|Dreams]] are also research preview: form request plus an extra `dreaming-2026-04-21` header on top of the base one ## Supported models All Claude 4.5 and later. Set via `model: "claude-sonnet-4-6"`, or pass an object to pick fast mode: `{"id": "claude-opus-4-6", "speed": "fast"}`. ## Rate limits Per organization: - 60 req/min on create endpoints (agents, sessions, environments, memory stores) - 600 req/min on read/stream endpoints - Standard spend and tier rate limits still apply on top ## Pricing - $0.08 per session hour (container runtime), plus standard Claude token pricing for the underlying model - Session hours count while the container is alive, not just while Claude is thinking ## SDKs and tooling - Official SDKs: Python, TypeScript, Java, Go, C#, Ruby, PHP (`anthropic` package, beta namespace) - The [[Anthropic CLI (ant)|ant CLI]] (`brew install anthropics/tap/ant`) wraps the beta endpoints; handy for scripting and quick tests - Any HTTP client works via `https://api.anthropic.com/v1/{agents,environments,sessions,memory_stores,...}` - Everything is managed from the [[Claude Console]], part of the broader [[Claude Platform]] ## Subtopics - [[Claude Managed Agents Sessions]] — session lifecycle, statuses, pinning agent versions - [[Claude Managed Agents Environments]] — containers, networking modes, package managers, runtimes - [[Claude Managed Agents Tools]] — `agent_toolset_20260401`, custom tools, MCP toolsets, skills - [[Claude Managed Agents Events]] — event types, SSE stream, steering, interrupts, tool confirmation - [[Claude Managed Agents Memory Stores]] — cross-session persistent memory; filesystem-backed, exportable, audit-logged (public beta) - [[Claude Managed Agents Dreams]] — Claude reflects on past sessions to clean up and reorganise a memory store; produces a new store, never mutates the input (research preview) - [[Claude Managed Agents Multi-Agent]] — callable agents and threads (research preview) - [[Claude Managed Agents Outcomes]] — rubric-based self-grading loops (research preview) ## Memory at a glance Memory stores let agents learn across sessions instead of starting cold every run. The implementation choice that matters: memory is **mounted as a filesystem inside the agent's container**, so Claude reads and writes it through the same bash and code-execution tools it already uses. No special API surface for the agent to learn. Memories are plain files, fully exportable, fully owned by you. What you get out of the box: - Scoped permissions (org-wide read-only stores; per-user read/write stores) - Audit log of every change, with version history, content rollback, and per-version redaction - Concurrent-safe writes via path preconditions - Shared memory across multiple agents, with different access levels per session Why it matters in practice (vendor-cited results from the announcement): - **Rakuten** — 97% fewer first-pass errors, 27% lower cost, 34% lower latency on long-running task agents - **Wisedocs** — 30% faster document verification by remembering recurring issues across sessions - **Netflix** — agents carry context across sessions without manual prompt updates - **Ando** — captures organizational interaction patterns without building custom memory infrastructure Detail and API: [[Claude Managed Agents Memory Stores]]. ## Branding Partners embedding Managed Agents can use "Claude Agent" or "{YourAgentName} Powered by Claude". Anthropic forbids calling the product "Claude Code" or "Claude Cowork", and forbids mimicking their ASCII art; those names are reserved. ## References - Overview: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/managed-agents/overview - Quickstart: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/managed-agents/quickstart - API reference: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/api/beta/sessions - Request research preview access: https://claude.com/form/claude-managed-agents ## Related - [[Claude]] - [[Claude Code]] - [[Claude Platform]] - [[Claude Console]] - [[Claude API]] - [[Anthropic]] - [[Anthropic SDK]] - [[Anthropic CLI (ant)]] - [[AI Agents]] - [[AI Agent Harness]] - [[AI Agent Skills]] - [[AI SDKs]] - [[Model Context Protocol (MCP)]] - [[Large Language Models (LLMs)]]