What is the CCD-F certification?
Claude Certified Developer - Foundations (CCD-F, officially CCDV-F) is delivered as a 53-question, 120-minute, closed-book exam, proctored online or at a test center through Pearson VUE. It is scored on a 1000-point scale with a 720 pass mark, stays valid for 12 months, and issues a Credly digital badge on passing. The exam questions are drawn from a flat item pool covering every domain below.
List price is $125; the checkout price reflects any discount that applies to your partner tier.
What gets tested, weighted by importance
| Code | Domain | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| CCDVF-D1 | Agents & Workflows Choosing between a workflow and an agent (and the decision criteria that drive it), constructing agents with the Claude Agent SDK, custom agent loops and harnesses, self-hosted vs. Anthropic-hosted deployment, and applying common agent design patterns - tool-use loops, sub-agents, memory, context-window management - via frameworks such as Strands, LangGraph, or PydanticAI. | 14.7% |
| CCDVF-D2 | Applications & Integration By far the heaviest domain - about a third of the exam. Translating business/functional requirements and systems-lifecycle concepts into working code, Claude API mechanics (messages, tools, streaming, vision, thinking, caching, third-party invocation, Batches API), core software-engineering practice (REST APIs, JSON, async programming, version control, code review), Claude application design across interfaces (Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai, API, SDKs), and configuration management (CLAUDE.md, settings.json, model version pinning, plugin dependencies). | 33.1% |
| CCDVF-D3 | Claude Code A narrow but hands-on domain: Claude Code's core components (Rules, Skills, Commands, Agents, Agent Memory), its interaction modes (session management, built-in and custom slash commands, headless mode, streaming mode, auto-mode), the CLAUDE.md hierarchy, repository initialization, and settings.json configuration. Note this is only 3.1% here - it is CCA-F, the Architect exam, that weights the Claude Code CLI heavily (a dedicated 20% domain). | 3.1% |
| CCDVF-D4 | Evaluation, Testing & Debugging The lightest domain on the exam: debugging and error-handling technique for Claude applications - identifying error types, selecting a recovery strategy, tracing failures to isolate whether the problem sits in the integration layer or in model output. | 2.6% |
| CCDVF-D5 | Model Selection & Optimization LLM fundamentals (tokens, context windows, sampling, non-determinism), the technical fundamentals of wrapping REST APIs and websockets, choosing between Opus, Sonnet, and Haiku on quality-latency-cost trade-offs and adaptive-thinking support, and managing tokens and cost through budgeting, caching, and cache checkpointing. | 16.8% |
| CCDVF-D6 | Prompt & Context Engineering Context and memory management (window management, preventing context drift and bloat via tool-output pruning/compaction, context isolation through subagents), prompt-engineering principles (instruction clarity, few-shot placement, iterative refinement, input sanitization), and output handling - structured-output patterns, response validation, defensive parsing, and skepticism toward confident-sounding output. | 11% |
| CCDVF-D7 | Security & Safety AI application security (prompt-injection awareness and mitigation, untrusted-input handling, data-leakage prevention, PII handling), guardrails and secure-by-design deployment (content-policy layering, least-privilege identity and access management), Claude Hooks for deterministic guardrails against destructive actions, and identity/secrets/API-key management. | 8.1% |
| CCDVF-D8 | Tools & MCPs Tool implementation practice (function calling, tool description writing, error handling, client-side vs. server-side tool patterns), MCP server development (authoring, deployment, resources, prompts, stdio vs. socket transports), and choosing among built-in tools, custom tools, Skills, and MCPs for a given use case. | 10.6% |
Prep content by domain
27 topics across this cert's 8 domains. Live pages link straight through; topics still in progress are listed so you know what is coming.
CCDVF-D1 · Agents & Workflows (14.7%)
CCDVF-D2 · Applications & Integration (33.1%)
CCDVF-D3 · Claude Code (3.1%)
Prep content for this domain is in progress.
CCDVF-D4 · Evaluation, Testing & Debugging (2.6%)
CCDVF-D5 · Model Selection & Optimization (16.8%)
CCDVF-D6 · Prompt & Context Engineering (11%)
CCDVF-D7 · Security & Safety (8.1%)
CCDVF-D8 · Tools & MCPs (10.6%)
Full practice exam live
CCD-F has a live practice loop: a free diagnostic sampled across all 8 domains, a weakest-domain warm-up, and a full-length timed 53-question mock - all drawn from the CCD-F question bank. The adaptive study plan and progress tracking are CCA-F-only for now; everything else runs the same engine as CCA-F. This hub is the overview - for the full format, registration walkthrough, and prep path, read the CCD-F exam guide.
Is the CCD-F certification worth it?
Yes, if you build, integrate, and ship Claude-powered applications, agents, or workflows for work - the CCD-F is Anthropic's claude code certification for exactly that scope.
Its heaviest domain, Applications & Integration, is 33.1% of the exam - about a third - covering Claude API mechanics (messages, tools, streaming, vision, caching), core software-engineering practice, and application design across Claude Code, Desktop, claude.ai, API, and SDKs. That makes CCD-F distinct from CCA-F's architecture focus and CCA-P's senior-ownership focus: it is the anthropic claude code certification for engineers shipping working systems day to day. At $125 it matches CCA-F's list price and undercuts CCA-P's $175.
Who should take the CCD-F?
AI/ML engineers and senior software engineers shipping production Claude apps, agents, and workflows are the intended CCD-F audience - this is Anthropic's claude developer certification, not an architecture or non-technical credential.
There are no mandatory prerequisites or courses - the credential is awarded on exam performance alone - but Anthropic recommends 1-5 years of software-engineering experience, 6+ months hands-on with Claude or a comparable LLM system, proficiency in Python and/or TypeScript, and fluency with REST APIs and CLI tools. It is not intended for non-technical or casual Claude users, or for roles limited to prompt writing without broader application-development responsibility - those fit CCA-A instead.
How much does the CCD-F cost? Is it free?
$125 USD list price through Pearson VUE - the same as the CCA-F flagship exam. The checkout price you actually pay reflects any discount that applies to your partner tier.
The exam fee is not free, but the prep is: a free diagnostic sampled across all 8 CCD-F domains, a weakest-domain warm-up, and a full-length timed 53-question mock are all live on this site at no cost.
Take the free CCD-F diagnostic →How hard is the CCD-F? Format + pass rate
The CCD-F is a 53-question, 120-minute exam scored on a 100-1,000 scale with a 720 pass mark - a criterion-referenced bar, not a percentile against other candidates. Anthropic does not publish an official pass rate for the CCD-F, so treat any specific percentage quoted elsewhere as unverified.
At 53 items over 120 minutes, CCD-F allows about 2.3 minutes per question - the most time-per-question of any of the 4 Claude certifications - but the content leans heavily technical: Applications & Integration alone is a third of the exam, and Model Selection & Optimization (16.8%) tests LLM fundamentals like tokens, context windows, and sampling. Items mix multiple-choice and multiple-response; the exam is effectively closed-book and proctored, online or at a Pearson VUE test center.
How long should I prepare for the CCD-F?
Applications & Integration (33.1%) and Model Selection & Optimization (16.8%) together are just under half the CCD-F exam - prioritize hands-on API, tool, and caching practice over memorized definitions.
Start with the free diagnostic to find your weakest of the 8 domains, use the warm-up to close the biggest gap, then work the full 53-question, 120-minute mock before booking the real exam. Note Claude Code itself is only 3.1% here - it is CCA-F, the Architect exam, that weights the Claude Code CLI heavily. The CCD-F exam guide covers the full registration walkthrough and a domain-by-domain study plan.
CCD-F vs the other Claude certifications
CCD-F is the claude code certification anchor for hands-on builders - here is how it compares to the other 3 Claude certifications.
| Certification | Domains / items / fee | How it compares to CCD-F |
|---|---|---|
| CCA-F Claude Certified Architect - Foundations | 5 domains · 60 items · $125 | CCA-F (the flagship) tests broad agentic-architecture and design judgment; CCD-F tests hands-on shipping - API integration, tool/MCP construction, model selection, and the testing/security work of a working production system. |
| CCA-P Claude Certified Architect - Professional | 7 domains · 63 items · $175 | CCA-P tests senior architecture, governance, and stakeholder communication - owning a system's design and lifecycle. CCD-F is squarely aimed at engineers who write and ship the code: API integration, agent construction with the Claude Agent SDK, tool/MCP server development, and day-to-day debugging. |
| CCA-A Claude Certified Associate - Foundations | 7 domains · 60 items · $99 | CCA-A is Anthropic's non-technical certification and assumes no coding or API experience; CCD-F is the opposite end of the spectrum, assuming Python/TypeScript proficiency and REST API fluency as a baseline. |
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