Update Agent

post /v1/agents/{agent_id}

Update Agent

Path Parameters

• agent_id: string

Header Parameters

• "anthropic-beta": optional array of AnthropicBeta

  Optional header to specify the beta version(s) you want to use.

  • string

  • "message-batches-2024-09-24" or "prompt-caching-2024-07-31" or "computer-use-2024-10-22" or 22 more

    • "message-batches-2024-09-24"

    • "prompt-caching-2024-07-31"

    • "computer-use-2024-10-22"

    • "computer-use-2025-01-24"

    • "pdfs-2024-09-25"

    • "token-counting-2024-11-01"

    • "token-efficient-tools-2025-02-19"

    • "output-128k-2025-02-19"

    • "files-api-2025-04-14"

    • "mcp-client-2025-04-04"

    • "mcp-client-2025-11-20"

    • "dev-full-thinking-2025-05-14"

    • "interleaved-thinking-2025-05-14"

    • "code-execution-2025-05-22"

    • "extended-cache-ttl-2025-04-11"

    • "context-1m-2025-08-07"

    • "context-management-2025-06-27"

    • "model-context-window-exceeded-2025-08-26"

    • "skills-2025-10-02"

    • "fast-mode-2026-02-01"

    • "output-300k-2026-03-24"

    • "user-profiles-2026-03-24"

    • "advisor-tool-2026-03-01"

    • "managed-agents-2026-04-01"

    • "cache-diagnosis-2026-04-07"

Body Parameters

• version: number

  The agent's current version, used to prevent concurrent overwrites. Obtain this value from a create or retrieve response. The request fails if this does not match the server's current version.

• description: optional string

  Description. Up to 2048 characters. Omit to preserve; send empty string or null to clear.

• mcp_servers: optional array of BetaManagedAgentsURLMCPServerParams

  MCP servers. Full replacement. Omit to preserve; send empty array or null to clear. Names must be unique. Maximum 20.

  • name: string

    Unique name for this server, referenced by mcp_toolset configurations. 1-255 characters.

  • type: "url"

    • "url"

  • url: string

    Endpoint URL for the MCP server.

• metadata: optional map[string]

  Metadata patch. Set a key to a string to upsert it, or to null to delete it. Omit the field to preserve. The stored bag is limited to 16 keys (up to 64 chars each) with values up to 512 chars.

• model: optional BetaManagedAgentsModel or BetaManagedAgentsModelConfigParams

  Model identifier. Accepts the model string, e.g. claude-opus-4-6, or a model_config object for additional configuration control. Omit to preserve. Cannot be cleared.

  • BetaManagedAgentsModel = "claude-opus-4-7" or "claude-opus-4-6" or "claude-sonnet-4-6" or 6 more or string

    The model that will power your agent.

    See models for additional details and options.

    • "claude-opus-4-7" or "claude-opus-4-6" or "claude-sonnet-4-6" or 6 more

      The model that will power your agent.

      See models for additional details and options.

      • "claude-opus-4-7"

        Frontier intelligence for long-running agents and coding

      • "claude-opus-4-6"

        Most intelligent model for building agents and coding

      • "claude-sonnet-4-6"

        Best combination of speed and intelligence

      • "claude-haiku-4-5"

        Fastest model with near-frontier intelligence

      • "claude-haiku-4-5-20251001"

        Fastest model with near-frontier intelligence

      • "claude-opus-4-5"

        Premium model combining maximum intelligence with practical performance

      • "claude-opus-4-5-20251101"

        Premium model combining maximum intelligence with practical performance

      • "claude-sonnet-4-5"

        High-performance model for agents and coding

      • "claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"

        High-performance model for agents and coding

    • string

  • BetaManagedAgentsModelConfigParams object { id, speed }

    An object that defines additional configuration control over model use

    • id: BetaManagedAgentsModel

      The model that will power your agent.

      See models for additional details and options.

    • speed: optional "standard" or "fast"

      Inference speed mode. fast provides significantly faster output token generation at premium pricing. Not all models support fast; invalid combinations are rejected at create time.

      • "standard"

      • "fast"

• multiagent: optional BetaManagedAgentsMultiagentParams

  A coordinator topology: the session's primary thread orchestrates work by spawning session threads, each running an agent drawn from the agents roster.

  • agents: array of BetaManagedAgentsMultiagentRosterEntryParams

    Agents the coordinator may spawn as session threads. 1–20 entries. Each entry is an agent ID string, a versioned {"type":"agent","id","version"} reference, or {"type":"self"} to allow recursive self-invocation. Entries must reference distinct agents (after resolving self and string forms); at most one self. Referenced agents must exist, must not be archived, and must not themselves have multiagent set (depth limit 1).

    • string

    • BetaManagedAgentsAgentParams object { id, type, version }

      Specification for an Agent. Provide a specific version or use the short-form agent="agent_id" for the most recent version

      • id: string

        The agent ID.

      • type: "agent"

        • "agent"

      • version: optional number

        The specific agent version to use. Omit to use the latest version. Must be at least 1 if specified.

    • BetaManagedAgentsMultiagentSelfParams object { type }

      Sentinel roster entry meaning "the agent that owns this configuration". Resolved server-side to a concrete agent reference.

      • type: "self"

        • "self"

  • type: "coordinator"

    • "coordinator"

• name: optional string

  Human-readable name. 1-256 characters. Omit to preserve. Cannot be cleared.

• skills: optional array of BetaManagedAgentsSkillParams

  Skills. Full replacement. Omit to preserve; send empty array or null to clear. Maximum 20.

  • BetaManagedAgentsAnthropicSkillParams object { skill_id, type, version }

    An Anthropic-managed skill.

    • skill_id: string

      Identifier of the Anthropic skill (e.g., "xlsx").

    • type: "anthropic"

      • "anthropic"

    • version: optional string

      Version to pin. Defaults to latest if omitted.

  • BetaManagedAgentsCustomSkillParams object { skill_id, type, version }

    A user-created custom skill.

    • skill_id: string

      Tagged ID of the custom skill (e.g., "skill_01XJ5...").

    • type: "custom"

      • "custom"

    • version: optional string

      Version to pin. Defaults to latest if omitted.

• system: optional string

  System prompt. Up to 100,000 characters. Omit to preserve; send empty string or null to clear.

• tools: optional array of BetaManagedAgentsAgentToolset20260401Params or BetaManagedAgentsMCPToolsetParams or BetaManagedAgentsCustomToolParams

  Tool configurations available to the agent. Full replacement. Omit to preserve; send empty array or null to clear. Maximum of 128 tools across all toolsets allowed.

  • BetaManagedAgentsAgentToolset20260401Params object { type, configs, default_config }

    Configuration for built-in agent tools. Use this to enable or disable groups of tools available to the agent.

    • type: "agent_toolset_20260401"

      • "agent_toolset_20260401"

    • configs: optional array of BetaManagedAgentsAgentToolConfigParams

      Per-tool configuration overrides.

      • name: "bash" or "edit" or "read" or 5 more

        Built-in agent tool identifier.

        • "bash"

        • "edit"

        • "read"

        • "write"

        • "glob"

        • "grep"

        • "web_fetch"

        • "web_search"

      • enabled: optional boolean

        Whether this tool is enabled and available to Claude. Overrides the default_config setting.

      • permission_policy: optional BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy or BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy

        Permission policy for tool execution.

        • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy object { type }

          Tool calls are automatically approved without user confirmation.

          • type: "always_allow"

            • "always_allow"

        • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy object { type }

          Tool calls require user confirmation before execution.

          • type: "always_ask"

            • "always_ask"

    • default_config: optional BetaManagedAgentsAgentToolsetDefaultConfigParams

      Default configuration for all tools in a toolset.

      • enabled: optional boolean

        Whether tools are enabled and available to Claude by default. Defaults to true if not specified.

      • permission_policy: optional BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy or BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy

        Permission policy for tool execution.

        • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy object { type }

          Tool calls are automatically approved without user confirmation.

        • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy object { type }

          Tool calls require user confirmation before execution.

  • BetaManagedAgentsMCPToolsetParams object { mcp_server_name, type, configs, default_config }

    Configuration for tools from an MCP server defined in mcp_servers.

    • mcp_server_name: string

      Name of the MCP server. Must match a server name from the mcp_servers array. 1-255 characters.

    • type: "mcp_toolset"

      • "mcp_toolset"

    • configs: optional array of BetaManagedAgentsMCPToolConfigParams

      Per-tool configuration overrides.

      • name: string

        Name of the MCP tool to configure. 1-128 characters.

      • enabled: optional boolean

        Whether this tool is enabled. Overrides the default_config setting.

      • permission_policy: optional BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy or BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy

        Permission policy for tool execution.

        • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy object { type }

          Tool calls are automatically approved without user confirmation.

        • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy object { type }

          Tool calls require user confirmation before execution.

    • default_config: optional BetaManagedAgentsMCPToolsetDefaultConfigParams

      Default configuration for all tools from an MCP server.

      • enabled: optional boolean

        Whether tools are enabled by default. Defaults to true if not specified.

      • permission_policy: optional BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy or BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy

        Permission policy for tool execution.

        • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy object { type }

          Tool calls are automatically approved without user confirmation.

        • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy object { type }

          Tool calls require user confirmation before execution.

  • BetaManagedAgentsCustomToolParams object { description, input_schema, name, type }

    A custom tool that is executed by the API client rather than the agent. When the agent calls this tool, an agent.custom_tool_use event is emitted and the session goes idle, waiting for the client to provide the result via a user.custom_tool_result event.

    • description: string

      Description of what the tool does, shown to the agent to help it decide when to use the tool. 1-1024 characters.

    • input_schema: BetaManagedAgentsCustomToolInputSchema

      JSON Schema for custom tool input parameters.

      • properties: optional map[unknown]

        JSON Schema properties defining the tool's input parameters.

      • required: optional array of string

        List of required property names.

      • type: optional "object"

        Must be 'object' for tool input schemas.

        • "object"

    • name: string

      Unique name for the tool. 1-128 characters; letters, digits, underscores, and hyphens.

    • type: "custom"

      • "custom"

Returns

• BetaManagedAgentsAgent object { id, archived_at, created_at, 12 more }

  A Managed Agents agent.

  • id: string

  • archived_at: string

    A timestamp in RFC 3339 format

  • created_at: string

    A timestamp in RFC 3339 format

  • description: string

  • mcp_servers: array of BetaManagedAgentsMCPServerURLDefinition

    • name: string

    • type: "url"

      • "url"

    • url: string

  • metadata: map[string]

  • model: BetaManagedAgentsModelConfig

    Model identifier and configuration.

    • id: BetaManagedAgentsModel

      The model that will power your agent.

      See models for additional details and options.

      • "claude-opus-4-7" or "claude-opus-4-6" or "claude-sonnet-4-6" or 6 more

        The model that will power your agent.

        See models for additional details and options.

        • "claude-opus-4-7"

          Frontier intelligence for long-running agents and coding

        • "claude-opus-4-6"

          Most intelligent model for building agents and coding

        • "claude-sonnet-4-6"

          Best combination of speed and intelligence

        • "claude-haiku-4-5"

          Fastest model with near-frontier intelligence

        • "claude-haiku-4-5-20251001"

          Fastest model with near-frontier intelligence

        • "claude-opus-4-5"

          Premium model combining maximum intelligence with practical performance

        • "claude-opus-4-5-20251101"

          Premium model combining maximum intelligence with practical performance

        • "claude-sonnet-4-5"

          High-performance model for agents and coding

        • "claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929"

          High-performance model for agents and coding

      • string

    • speed: optional "standard" or "fast"

      Inference speed mode. fast provides significantly faster output token generation at premium pricing. Not all models support fast; invalid combinations are rejected at create time.

      • "standard"

      • "fast"

  • multiagent: BetaManagedAgentsMultiagent

    Resolved coordinator topology with a concrete agent roster.

    • agents: array of BetaManagedAgentsAgentReference

      Agents the coordinator may spawn as session threads, each resolved to a specific version.

      • id: string

      • type: "agent"

        • "agent"

      • version: number

    • type: "coordinator"

      • "coordinator"

  • name: string

  • skills: array of BetaManagedAgentsAnthropicSkill or BetaManagedAgentsCustomSkill

    • BetaManagedAgentsAnthropicSkill object { skill_id, type, version }

      A resolved Anthropic-managed skill.

      • skill_id: string

      • type: "anthropic"

        • "anthropic"

      • version: string

    • BetaManagedAgentsCustomSkill object { skill_id, type, version }

      A resolved user-created custom skill.

      • skill_id: string

      • type: "custom"

        • "custom"

      • version: string

  • system: string

  • tools: array of BetaManagedAgentsAgentToolset20260401 or BetaManagedAgentsMCPToolset or BetaManagedAgentsCustomTool

    • BetaManagedAgentsAgentToolset20260401 object { configs, default_config, type }

      • configs: array of BetaManagedAgentsAgentToolConfig

        • enabled: boolean

        • name: "bash" or "edit" or "read" or 5 more

          Built-in agent tool identifier.

          • "bash"

          • "edit"

          • "read"

          • "write"

          • "glob"

          • "grep"

          • "web_fetch"

          • "web_search"

        • permission_policy: BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy or BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy

          Permission policy for tool execution.

          • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy object { type }

            Tool calls are automatically approved without user confirmation.

            • type: "always_allow"

              • "always_allow"

          • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy object { type }

            Tool calls require user confirmation before execution.

            • type: "always_ask"

              • "always_ask"

      • default_config: BetaManagedAgentsAgentToolsetDefaultConfig

        Resolved default configuration for agent tools.

        • enabled: boolean

        • permission_policy: BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy or BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy

          Permission policy for tool execution.

          • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy object { type }

            Tool calls are automatically approved without user confirmation.

          • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy object { type }

            Tool calls require user confirmation before execution.

      • type: "agent_toolset_20260401"

        • "agent_toolset_20260401"

    • BetaManagedAgentsMCPToolset object { configs, default_config, mcp_server_name, type }

      • configs: array of BetaManagedAgentsMCPToolConfig

        • enabled: boolean

        • name: string

        • permission_policy: BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy or BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy

          Permission policy for tool execution.

          • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy object { type }

            Tool calls are automatically approved without user confirmation.

          • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy object { type }

            Tool calls require user confirmation before execution.

      • default_config: BetaManagedAgentsMCPToolsetDefaultConfig

        Resolved default configuration for all tools from an MCP server.

        • enabled: boolean

        • permission_policy: BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy or BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy

          Permission policy for tool execution.

          • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAllowPolicy object { type }

            Tool calls are automatically approved without user confirmation.

          • BetaManagedAgentsAlwaysAskPolicy object { type }

            Tool calls require user confirmation before execution.

      • mcp_server_name: string

      • type: "mcp_toolset"

        • "mcp_toolset"

    • BetaManagedAgentsCustomTool object { description, input_schema, name, type }

      A custom tool as returned in API responses.

      • description: string

      • input_schema: BetaManagedAgentsCustomToolInputSchema

        JSON Schema for custom tool input parameters.

        • properties: optional map[unknown]

          JSON Schema properties defining the tool's input parameters.

        • required: optional array of string

          List of required property names.

        • type: optional "object"

          Must be 'object' for tool input schemas.

          • "object"

      • name: string

      • type: "custom"

        • "custom"

  • type: "agent"

    • "agent"

  • updated_at: string

    A timestamp in RFC 3339 format

  • version: number

    The agent's current version. Starts at 1 and increments when the agent is modified.

Example

curl https://api.anthropic.com/v1/agents/$AGENT_ID \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -H 'anthropic-version: 2023-06-01' \
    -H 'anthropic-beta: managed-agents-2026-04-01' \
    -H "X-Api-Key: $ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" \
    -d "{
          \"version\": 1,
          \"system\": \"You are a general-purpose agent that can research, write code, run commands, and use connected tools to complete the user's task end to end.\"
        }"

Response

{
  "id": "agent_011CZkYpogX7uDKUyvBTophP",
  "archived_at": null,
  "created_at": "2026-03-15T10:00:00Z",
  "description": "A general-purpose starter agent.",
  "mcp_servers": [
    {
      "name": "example-mcp",
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://example-server.modelcontextprotocol.io/sse"
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "foo": "bar"
  },
  "model": {
    "id": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "speed": "standard"
  },
  "multiagent": {
    "agents": [
      {
        "id": "agent_011CZkYqphY8vELVzwCUpqiQ",
        "type": "agent",
        "version": 1
      }
    ],
    "type": "coordinator"
  },
  "name": "My First Agent",
  "skills": [
    {
      "skill_id": "xlsx",
      "type": "anthropic",
      "version": "1"
    },
    {
      "skill_id": "skill_011CZkZFNu9hAbo3jZPRgTlx",
      "type": "custom",
      "version": "2"
    }
  ],
  "system": "You are a general-purpose agent that can research, write code, run commands, and use connected tools to complete the user's task end to end.",
  "tools": [
    {
      "configs": [
        {
          "enabled": true,
          "name": "bash",
          "permission_policy": {
            "type": "always_allow"
          }
        }
      ],
      "default_config": {
        "enabled": true,
        "permission_policy": {
          "type": "always_ask"
        }
      },
      "type": "agent_toolset_20260401"
    }
  ],
  "type": "agent",
  "updated_at": "2026-03-15T10:00:00Z",
  "version": 1
}