Table of Contents

HTTP Client Factory

ClaudeCodeHttpClientFactory creates HttpClient instances pre-configured with ClaudeCodeSessionHttpHandler. Use this when you want to bring your own Anthropic SDK integration but still benefit from automatic Claude Code credential resolution.

Availability: All TFMs including netstandard2.0.

Why use the factory directly?

UseClaudeCodeChatCompletion() covers the common Semantic Kernel path. Use the factory when:

  • You are using the Anthropic SDK directly (not via SK)
  • You need to pass an authenticated HttpClient to another library or service
  • You are on netstandard2.0 and the SK extensions are unavailable
  • You want a single authenticated client shared across multiple SDK instances

Overloads

Auto-resolve from default credential chain

var httpClient = ClaudeCodeHttpClientFactory.Create();

Explicit API key

var httpClient = ClaudeCodeHttpClientFactory.Create("sk-ant-api...");

Options delegate

var httpClient = ClaudeCodeHttpClientFactory.Create(o =>
{
    o.CredentialsPath = "/run/secrets/claude-credentials.json";
});

From a DI-resolved provider

When ClaudeCodeSessionProvider is already in your DI container (via AddClaudeCodeAuthentication), pass it directly to avoid creating a second provider instance:

var httpClient = ClaudeCodeHttpClientFactory.Create(provider);

Using the client with Anthropic.SDK directly

using Anthropic.SDK;
using JD.SemanticKernel.Connectors.ClaudeCode;

var httpClient = ClaudeCodeHttpClientFactory.Create();

// "placeholder" is stripped and replaced by ClaudeCodeSessionHttpHandler at request time
var client = new AnthropicClient("placeholder", httpClient);

var response = await client.Messages.CreateAsync(new MessageParameters
{
    Model = "claude-sonnet-4-6",
    MaxTokens = 1024,
    Messages = [new Message(RoleType.User, "Hello!")]
});

Using the client with Semantic Kernel manually

using Anthropic.SDK;
using Microsoft.Extensions.AI;
using Microsoft.SemanticKernel;
using JD.SemanticKernel.Connectors.ClaudeCode;

var httpClient = ClaudeCodeHttpClientFactory.Create();
var anthropicClient = new AnthropicClient("placeholder", httpClient);

var chatClient = new ChatClientBuilder(anthropicClient.Messages)
    .UseFunctionInvocation()
    .Build();

var kernelBuilder = Kernel.CreateBuilder();
kernelBuilder.Services.AddSingleton<IChatCompletionService>(
    chatClient.AsChatCompletionService());

var kernel = kernelBuilder.Build();

This is equivalent to what UseClaudeCodeChatCompletion() does internally — useful when you need fine-grained control over the ChatClientBuilder pipeline.

Lifecycle and disposal

Each call to ClaudeCodeHttpClientFactory.Create() returns a new HttpClient instance. Callers are responsible for disposal. For long-lived applications, prefer:

  • Registering via DI and resolving a single shared instance
  • Using IHttpClientFactory if your application already uses it for pooling

Do not dispose the HttpClient if it is shared across multiple AnthropicClient instances.

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