| name | build-with-claude-api-reference-guide |
| description | Template for presenting language-specific reference documentation with quick task navigation |
| metadata | {"originalName":"Skill: Build with Claude API (reference guide)","ccVersion":"2.1.182","sourceUrl":"https://github.com/Piebald-AI/claude-code-system-prompts/blob/main/system-prompts/skill-build-with-claude-api-reference-guide.md","source":{"owner":"Piebald-AI","repo":"claude-code-system-prompts","ref":"main","path":"system-prompts/skill-build-with-claude-api-reference-guide.md"}} |
Reference Documentation
The relevant documentation for your detected language is included below in <doc> tags. Each tag has a path attribute showing its original file path. Use this to find the right section:
Quick Task Reference
All SDK languages use the same per-language claude-api/ directory layout (cURL: curl/examples.md). Not every language has every file — if a file is absent, that feature's example is not yet documented for that language; fall back to the cURL shape or WebFetch the SDK repo.
Single text classification/summarization/extraction/Q&A:
→ Refer to {lang}/claude-api/README.md
Chat UI or real-time response display:
→ Refer to {lang}/claude-api/README.md + {lang}/claude-api/streaming.md
Long-running conversations (may exceed context window):
→ Refer to {lang}/claude-api/README.md — see Compaction section
Migrating to a newer model or replacing a retired model:
→ Refer to shared/model-migration.md
Prompt caching / optimize caching / "why is my cache hit rate low":
→ Refer to shared/prompt-caching.md + {lang}/claude-api/README.md (Prompt Caching section)
Count tokens in a file / prompt / diff ("how many tokens is X"):
→ Refer to shared/token-counting.md — use messages.count_tokens, never tiktoken
Function calling / tool use / agents:
→ Refer to {lang}/claude-api/README.md + shared/tool-use-concepts.md + {lang}/claude-api/tool-use.md
Batch processing (non-latency-sensitive):
→ Refer to {lang}/claude-api/README.md + {lang}/claude-api/batches.md
File uploads across multiple requests:
→ Refer to {lang}/claude-api/README.md + {lang}/claude-api/files-api.md
Agent design (tool surface, context management, caching strategy):
→ Refer to shared/agent-design.md
Anthropic CLI (ant) — terminal access, version-controlled agent/environment YAML, scripting:
→ Refer to shared/anthropic-cli.md
Managed Agents (server-managed stateful agents):
→ Refer to shared/managed-agents-overview.md and the rest of the shared/managed-agents-*.md files. For Python, TypeScript, Go, Ruby, PHP, and Java, read the managed-agents/README.md in the language folder for code examples. For cURL, read curl/managed-agents.md. C# has beta Managed Agents support — use curl/managed-agents.md as the wire-level reference (the C# SDK mirrors it via client.Beta.Agents; see csharp/claude-api/README.md).
Error handling:
→ Refer to shared/error-codes.md
Latest docs via WebFetch:
→ Refer to shared/live-sources.md for URLs
