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Exam guide · aligned to official guide v1.0 · Effective July 2026

Claude Architect (CCAR-F, commonly "CCA-F")

Claude Certified Architect, Foundations

Solution architects designing and shipping enterprise-grade Claude applications to production. Prerequisites: Solution architecture experience recommended.

Exam facts · verified 2026-08-01

  • • $125 per attempt · 60 questions · 120 minutes
  • • Pass: 720 scaled (100–1000) · per-domain % on the report
  • • Pearson VUE (OnVUE online proctored or test center) · credential valid 12 months (free on-time renewal)
  • • Launched 2026-03-12

Exam domains & weightings

Agentic Architecture and Orchestration27%
Claude Code Configuration and Workflows20%
Prompt Engineering and Structured Output20%
Tool Design and MCP Integration18%
Context Management and Reliability15%

Free study path

  1. 1
    Agentic Architecture and Orchestration

    ~80 min study module + practice quiz

    Quiz →
  2. 2
    Claude Code Configuration and Workflows

    ~70 min study module + practice quiz

    Quiz →
  3. 3
    Prompt Engineering and Structured Output

    ~75 min study module + practice quiz

    Quiz →
  4. 4
    Tool Design and MCP Integration

    ~65 min study module + practice quiz

    Quiz →
  5. 5
    Context Management and Reliability

    ~60 min study module + practice quiz

    Quiz →

Then: the full mock exam

60 questions, 120 minutes, blueprint-weighted, scored on the real scale against the 720 cut — with the domain report and readiness verdict at the end.

Take the free mock →

What it's actually like

First-hand reports: the hardest of the four — memorization-heavy (CLI arguments, parameter values, JSON schemas, file locations), 'you either know it or you don't'. Questions arrive as 4 scenario-framed sets; ~90 minutes typical.

First-hand account ↗

The exam's published scenarios

This exam is scenario-based, and the official exam guide publishes the full scenario set: 4 of these 6 published scenarios are presented at random per sitting; each scenario frames a set of questions. Study against these — every question you'll face is framed by one of them:

  1. Customer Support Resolution Agent (Agent SDK + MCP tools, escalation)
  2. Code Generation with Claude Code (slash commands, CLAUDE.md, plan mode vs direct)
  3. Multi-Agent Research System (coordinator + specialized subagents, cited reports)
  4. Developer Productivity with Claude (Agent SDK, built-in tools, MCP)
  5. Claude Code for Continuous Integration (automated review, actionable feedback, false positives)
  6. Structured Data Extraction (JSON schema validation, edge cases)

Frequently asked

How much does the Claude Architect certification cost?

$125 USD per attempt, delivered via Pearson VUE (OnVUE online proctored or test center). The credential is valid 12 months and on-time renewal is free and non-proctored.

How many questions is the CCAR-F exam?

60 questions in 120 minutes — multiple choice and multiple response, where multi-select items state how many answers to pick.

What score do you need to pass CCAR-F?

720 on a scaled range of 100–1000. The score report shows percent-correct per domain.

Who is the Claude Architect exam for?

Solution architects designing and shipping enterprise-grade Claude applications to production Prerequisites: Solution architecture experience recommended.

Want this done in one weekend, with humans?

Everything you need to pass is free on this site. If you want speed, accountability, live coaching, and a 500+ question bank, theCRUX runs weekend cert-prep cohorts.

See the weekend cohort →