Claude Agent SDK [Full Workshop] — Thariq Shihipar, Anthropic
Jan 5, 2026 · 1:52:25
Thariq Shihipar of Anthropic presents the Claude Agent SDK, arguing that Bash and file-system-based agents outperform traditional tool-only approaches for autonomous tasks. He defines agents as systems that build their own context and trajectory, contrasting with structured workflows. The SDK, built on Claude Code, emphasizes the Bash tool as the most powerful primitive for composability and code generation, enabling non-coding tasks like data analysis. He demonstrates live-coding a Pokémon team advisor that dynamically fetches API data via scripts, and explains security through a 'Swiss cheese defense' of model alignment, AST parsing, and sandboxing. Shihipar also covers skills for progressive context disclosure, sub-agents for parallel work, and hooks for deterministic verification, stressing that agent building is an art of reading transcripts and iterating on context engineering.