claude-quickstarts

name	Claude Quickstarts
description	Claude Quickstarts is the official Anthropic repository of deployable reference applications built on the Claude API. Each project is a self-contained, runnable implementation demonstrating a...
license	MIT
metadata	{"topic":"claude-quickstarts","category":"developer-tools","source_url":"https://github.com/anthropics/claude-quickstarts","github":"anthropics/claude-quickstarts","version":"No releases; tracked via main branch commits","verified":"2026-02-19","next_review":"2026-08-19"}

Overview

Claude Quickstarts is the official Anthropic repository of deployable reference applications built on the Claude API. Each project is a self-contained, runnable implementation demonstrating a distinct Claude capability: computer use (desktop control via Docker), browser automation (Playwright integration), autonomous multi-session coding (Claude Agent SDK two-agent pattern), a customer support agent (Next.js + TypeScript UI), a financial data analyst (interactive Recharts visualization), and a minimal agent loop reference implementation (<300 lines of Python). All projects include setup instructions, tests, and CLAUDE.md development guides aimed at getting developers from zero to running application without reading API documentation first.

---

Problem Addressed

Problem	Solution
Claude API onboarding requires reading extensive docs	Self-contained runnable projects with step-by-step setup instructions
Computer use beta is complex to configure safely	Docker container with VNC + Streamlit pre-configured; security cautions documented inline
Autonomous multi-session agent patterns are non-obvious	Two-agent pattern (initializer + coding agent) with git-persisted progress across sessions
Building production UIs on Claude requires front-end setup	Next.js + TypeScript + shadcn/ui starter projects for customer support and financial analyst demos
Agent loop fundamentals are obscured by SDK abstractions	<300-line agents/ reference showing raw tool loop with MCP server integration
Browser automation with Claude has no canonical example	Full Playwright + Claude Browser Tools API demo with Docker and pytest suite

---

Key Statistics

Metric	Value	Date Gathered
GitHub Stars	14,681	2026-02-19
GitHub Forks	2,446	2026-02-19
Open Issues	143	2026-02-19
Contributors	~28 (via Link header)	2026-02-19
Primary Language	Python (368KB), TypeScript (174KB)	2026-02-19
Repository Age	Since 2024-08-29	2026-02-19
Latest Release	None (no versioned releases)	2026-02-19
Supported Models	Claude Opus 4.5, Sonnet 4.5, Sonnet 4, Opus 4, Haiku 4.5, Sonnet 3.7, Sonnet 3.5	2026-02-19

---

Key Features

Included Quickstart Projects

Computer Use Demo (computer-use-demo/)

• Docker container with full Linux desktop (VNC + noVNC + Streamlit interface)
• Exposes ports 5900 (VNC), 8501 (Streamlit), 6080 (noVNC), 8080 (web)
• Supports Anthropic API, AWS Bedrock, and Google Vertex backends
• Uses computer_use_20251124 tool version with zoom actions
• Uses str_replace_based_edit_tool (replaces deprecated str_replace_editor)
• Supports Claude 4 models (Opus 4.5, Sonnet 4.5, Sonnet 4, Opus 4, Haiku 4.5)
• Pre-built Docker image: ghcr.io/anthropics/anthropic-quickstarts:computer-use-demo-latest

Browser Tools API Demo (browser-use-demo/)

• Playwright integration for web navigation, DOM inspection, form manipulation
• Docker + docker-compose deployment
• pytest suite with browser_use_demo/ package structure
• CHANGELOG.md and NOTICE file indicating third-party attribution requirements

Autonomous Coding Agent (autonomous-coding/)

• Two-agent pattern: initializer agent (session 1) + coding agent (sessions 2+)
• Requires Claude Code CLI (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code) and claude-code-sdk Python package
• Progress persisted via feature_list.json (200 test cases) and git commits across sessions
• Defense-in-depth security: OS sandbox + filesystem restriction to project dir + bash command allowlist
• Allowed commands: ls, cat, head, tail, wc, grep, npm, node, git, ps, lsof, sleep, pkill
• Configurable via --project-dir, --max-iterations, --model CLI flags

Agents Reference Implementation (agents/)

• <300 lines of Python demonstrating agent loop fundamentals
• agent.py handles Claude API interactions and tool execution loop
• Supports both local tool classes and MCP server connections (stdio and other transports)
• tools/ directory with ThinkTool and MCP tool wrappers; utils/ for message history + MCP connections
• Includes Jupyter notebook agent_demo.ipynb for interactive exploration
• Explicitly not a production SDK — educational reference only

Customer Support Agent (customer-support-agent/)

• Next.js application with TypeScript strict mode
• shadcn/ui component library; Tailwind CSS
• Three layout variants: left sidebar, right sidebar, chat-only (via npm run dev:left/right/chat)
• AWS Amplify deployment config (amplify.yml)

Financial Data Analyst (financial-data-analyst/)

• Next.js + TypeScript with Recharts visualization
• Interactive financial data analysis via chat interface
• React hooks for state management

Development Infrastructure

• Monorepo with pyproject.toml and .pre-commit-config.yaml at root
• Python projects: ruff (lint + format) + pyright type checking + pytest
• TypeScript projects: ESLint Next.js configuration
• CLAUDE.md at repo root documents all build commands for Claude Code context

---

Technical Architecture

Repository Structure

claude-quickstarts/ ├── CLAUDE.md # Claude Code dev guide (build cmds, code style per project) ├── pyproject.toml # Root Python config ├── .pre-commit-config.yaml # Repo-wide pre-commit hooks ├── agents/ # Minimal agent loop reference (<300 lines Python) │ ├── agent.py # Core API + tool loop │ ├── tools/ # ThinkTool + MCP tool wrappers │ └── utils/ # Message history, MCP connections ├── autonomous-coding/ # Multi-session coding agent (Claude Agent SDK) │ ├── autonomous_agent_demo.py # CLI entry point │ ├── agent.py # Session logic │ ├── client.py # SDK client config │ ├── security.py # Bash allowlist + OS sandbox │ ├── prompts/ # initializer_prompt.md, coding_prompt.md, app_spec.txt │ └── progress.py # Session tracking ├── browser-use-demo/ # Playwright + Claude Browser Tools API (Docker) ├── computer-use-demo/ # Desktop control (Docker + VNC + Streamlit) │ ├── computer_use_demo/ # Python agent loop │ └── Dockerfile # Full Linux desktop image ├── customer-support-agent/ # Next.js + shadcn/ui + Amplify └── financial-data-analyst/ # Next.js + Recharts

Agent Loop Pattern (from agents/agent.py)

User message → Claude API call (with tools + MCP tool list) → Response: text block OR tool_use block → If tool_use: execute locally or via MCP server → Append tool_result to message history → Loop until no more tool_use blocks → Return final text response

Autonomous Coding Two-Agent Pattern

Session 1 (Initializer): app_spec.txt → generate feature_list.json (200 test cases) → git init → project scaffold

Sessions 2+ (Coding Agent): Read feature_list.json → pick next incomplete feature → implement → run tests → mark passing → git commit (Each session: fresh context window; progress via feature_list.json + git history)

Computer Use Tool Version

Beta tool: computer_use_20251124 Actions: screenshot, click, type, scroll, key, zoom (new in 20251124) Editor: str_replace_based_edit_tool (replaces str_replace_editor) Ports: 5900/VNC, 8501/Streamlit, 6080/noVNC, 8080/web

---

Installation and Usage

Computer Use Demo (quickest start)

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_api_key
docker run \
    -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY \
    -v $HOME/.anthropic:/home/computeruse/.anthropic \
    -p 5900:5900 -p 8501:8501 -p 6080:6080 -p 8080:8080 \
    -it ghcr.io/anthropics/anthropic-quickstarts:computer-use-demo-latest
# Then open http://localhost:8080

Agents Reference (Python)

git clone https://github.com/anthropics/claude-quickstarts.git
cd claude-quickstarts
pip install anthropic mcp
python -c "
from agents.agent import Agent
from agents.tools.think import ThinkTool
agent = Agent(name='demo', system='You are helpful.', tools=[ThinkTool()])
print(agent.run('What are 3 key benefits of async I/O?'))
"

Autonomous Coding Agent

cd autonomous-coding
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
pip install -r requirements.txt
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_key
python autonomous_agent_demo.py --project-dir ./my_project --max-iterations 5

Customer Support Agent (Next.js)

cd customer-support-agent
npm install
npm run dev           # full UI at localhost:3000
npm run dev:chat      # chat-only variant

---

Relevance to Claude Code Development

Direct Applications

1. CLAUDE.md Pattern: The repo-root CLAUDE.md documents build commands and code style conventions for each sub-project — a direct reference for how Anthropic structures CLAUDE.md for multi-language monorepos. The format is per-project headings with Setup, Testing, and Code Style subsections.

2. Agent SDK Integration: The autonomous-coding/ project demonstrates the claude-code-sdk Python package integration pattern — specifically how to spawn Claude Code sessions programmatically, manage context windows across sessions, and persist state via file + git. Directly applicable to Claude Code skill orchestration patterns.

3. Two-Agent Orchestration: The initializer + coding agent split (session 1 generates plan; sessions 2+ execute) is a concrete multi-session orchestration pattern applicable to claude_skills multi-agent workflows.

4. Security Hook Pattern: security.py shows how to implement a bash command allowlist as a pre-execution hook — directly analogous to Claude Code PreToolUse hooks for constraining tool execution scope.

5. MCP Integration Reference: agents/ shows how to connect both local tools and MCP servers in a single agent loop — relevant to the mcp-ecosystem research category and claude_skills MCP plugin development.

6. Computer Use Tool Version: Documents the computer_use_20251124 tool API with zoom support and str_replace_based_edit_tool — authoritative reference for current beta computer use tool versions.

Patterns Worth Examining

1. Feature list as session handoff: feature_list.json as the durable cross-session progress tracker (rather than a database or external state store) is a simple, git-trackable pattern for long-running agent workflows.

2. Per-project CLAUDE.md in monorepo: Project-level build command docs in a single shared CLAUDE.md at monorepo root — provides all tool context without per-directory CLAUDE.md proliferation.

3. Layout variants via npm scripts: npm run dev:left/right/chat for shipping multiple UI configurations from one codebase — relevant when building multi-surface Claude Code skill UIs.

4. Docker as isolation boundary for computer use: Using Docker to scope filesystem access and network exposure for computer use agents — a security pattern for any Claude Code plugin that invokes desktop tools.

---

References

Source	URL	Accessed
GitHub Repository	https://github.com/anthropics/claude-quickstarts	2026-02-19
README.md	https://github.com/anthropics/claude-quickstarts/blob/main/README.md	2026-02-19
CLAUDE.md	https://github.com/anthropics/claude-quickstarts/blob/main/CLAUDE.md	2026-02-19
agents/README.md	https://github.com/anthropics/claude-quickstarts/blob/main/agents/README.md	2026-02-19
autonomous-coding/README.md	https://github.com/anthropics/claude-quickstarts/blob/main/autonomous-coding/README.md	2026-02-19
computer-use-demo/README.md	https://github.com/anthropics/claude-quickstarts/blob/main/computer-use-demo/README.md	2026-02-19
GitHub API (repo meta)	gh api repos/anthropics/claude-quickstarts	2026-02-19
GitHub API (languages)	gh api repos/anthropics/claude-quickstarts/languages	2026-02-19
GitHub API (contributors)	gh api repos/anthropics/claude-quickstarts/contributors?per_page=1&anon=true	2026-02-19

Research Method: GitHub API for repository metadata, language breakdown, and contributor count (Link header pagination). README and sub-project READMEs decoded from base64 GitHub contents API. CLAUDE.md read for development patterns.