Claude Certified Architect - Foundations Exam September 2026

The Claude Certified Architect – Foundations certification validates that practitioners can make informed decisions about tradeoffs when implementing real-world solutions with Claude. It tests foundational knowledge across Claude Code, the Claude Agent SDK, the Claude API, and Model Context Protocol, the core technologies used to build production-grade applications with Claude.

Exam code  - Exam code

Questions - 60 multiple-choice and multiple-response items

Structure - 4 scenarios drawn at random from a published bank of 6

Passing score - 720 on a scaled range of 100 to 1,000

Time limit - 120 minutes, with about 135 minutes of total seat time

Validity - 12 months from the award date

Delivery - Pearson VUE, online proctored or at a test center

Fee - 125 USD

Prerequisites - None. No course is required

Language - English

Registration requires a partner company email address recognized in the Claude Partner Network. This certification counts toward Claude Partner Network tier eligibility.

The ideal candidate is a solution architect who designs and implements production applications with Claude, typically with six or more months of practical experience across the Claude API, Agent SDK, Claude Code, and MCP. The guide expects hands-on experience with multi-agent orchestration, Claude Code team configuration, MCP interface design, structured output engineering, context management, CI/CD integration, and escalation and reliability decisions.