Cover image for the “Claude Certified Architect - Foundations” series← All series

Claude Certified Architect - Foundations

In progress

My study process for the Claude Certified Architect - Foundations exam

28 posts

  1. CCA-F Study Day 1/20: The Agentic Loop & Stop Reason Mechanics

    **Domain 1: Agentic Architecture & Orchestration (\~25-27% of exam)** *** ## 📌 Today's Focus We're starting with the foundational pattern of the entire exam: **the agentic loop**. This is how ClauMay 21, 2026

  2. CCA-F Study Day 2/20: Effort Levels, Permissions & Session Management

    # 🎯 CCA-F Study Day 2/20: Effort Levels, Permissions & Session Management ### Domain 1: Agentic Architecture & Orchestration (\~25-27% of exam) *** ## 📌 Today's Focus Yesterday you mastered the May 21, 2026

  3. CCA-F Study Day 3/20: Multi-Agent Orchestration Patterns

    ![🎯](https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/e/notoemoji/17.0/1f3af/72.png) CCA-F Study Day 3/20: Multi-Agent Orchestration Patterns ==============================================================================May 22, 2026

  4. CCA-F Study Day 4/20: The Hooks System — Deterministic Enforcement

    🎯 CCA-F Study Day 4/20: The Hooks System — Deterministic Enforcement Domain 1: Agentic Architecture & Orchestration (\~25-27% of exam) 📌 Today's Focus Today you master the Hooks System — the mechMay 22, 2026

  5. CCA-F Study Day 5/20: Task Decomposition & Exam Scenarios

    # 🎯 CCA-F Study Day 5/20: Task Decomposition & Exam Scenarios ### Domain 1: Agentic Architecture & Orchestration (~25-27% of exam) * * * ## 📌 Today's Focus Today is the **capstone day for DomainMay 22, 2026

  6. CCA-F Study Day 6/20: Tool Use Lifecycle & Description Best Practices

    # 🎯 CCA-F Study Day 6/20: Tool Use Lifecycle & Description Best Practices ### Domain 2: Tool Design & MCP Integration (~18-20% of exam) * * * ## 📌 Today's Focus Welcome to **Domain 2**! You've fMay 22, 2026

  7. CCA-F Study Day 7/20: Structured Error Responses

    # 🎯 CCA-F Study Day 7/20: Structured Error Responses ### Domain 2: Tool Design & MCP Integration (~18-20% of exam) * * * ## 📌 Today's Focus Yesterday you learned how tool descriptions drive ClauMay 22, 2026

  8. CCA-F Study Day 8/20: MCP Architecture & Protocol

    ### Domain 2: Tool Design & MCP Integration (~18-20% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Today we dive into the **Model Context Protocol (MCP)** — the open standard that Anthropic created for connectiMay 25, 2026

  9. CCA-F Study Day 9/20: Built-in Tools & Tool Distribution

    ### Domain 2: Tool Design & MCP Integration (~18-20% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Yesterday you mastered MCP architecture — the Host→Client→Server layering, the two protocol layers, and the thrMay 26, 2026

  10. CCA-F Study Day 10/20: CLAUDE.md Hierarchy

    ### Domain 3: Claude Code Configuration & Workflows (~20% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Welcome to **Domain 3** — the second-heaviest domain on the exam at 20%. Today we tackle the **CLAUDE.md cMay 27, 2026

  11. CCA-F Study Day 11/20: Custom Commands, Skills & Plan Mode

    ### Domain 3: Claude Code Configuration & Workflows (~20% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Yesterday you mastered the CLAUDE.md hierarchy — the 6-level priority system that gives Claude Code persisMay 28, 2026

  12. CCA-F Study Day 12/20: CI/CD Integration & Batch Processing

    ### Domain 3: Claude Code Configuration & Workflows (~20% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Yesterday you explored custom commands, skills, and plan mode. Today we tackle the **production deploymentMay 29, 2026

  13. CCA-F Study Day 13/20: Permissions, Settings & Hooks in Claude Code

    ### Domain 3: Claude Code Configuration & Workflows (~20% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Yesterday you mastered CI/CD integration with the `-p` flag, batch processing, and multi-pass code review.June 1, 2026

  14. CCA-F Study Day 14/20: Explicit Criteria & Few-Shot Prompting

    ### Domain 4: Prompt Engineering & Structured Output (~20% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Welcome to **Domain 4** — Prompt Engineering & Structured Output. This domain carries ~20% of the exam weJune 3, 2026

  15. CCA-F Study Day 15/20: tool_use for Structured Output

    ### Domain 4: Prompt Engineering & Structured Output (~20% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Yesterday you nailed explicit criteria and few-shot prompting — the "input side" of getting Claude to proJune 3, 2026

  16. CCA-F Study Day 16/20: JSON Schema Design & Validation-Retry Loops

    ## Domain 4: Prompt Engineering & Structured Output (~20% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Yesterday you mastered `tool_use` for structured output — forcing Claude to produce schema-compliant JSON June 4, 2026

  17. CCA-F Study Day 17/20: Multi-Pass Review & Structured Data Extraction Scenario

    ### Domain 4: Prompt Engineering & Structured Output (~20% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Yesterday you nailed JSON schema design and validation-retry loops — the mechanics of getting structured June 5, 2026

  18. CCA-F Study Day 18/20: Context Management & Progressive Summarization

    ### Domain 5: Context Management & Reliability (~15% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Welcome to Domain 5 — the final domain! While it's the lightest weighted at ~15%, it's deceptively tricky becauJune 9, 2026

  19. CCA-F Study Day 19/20: Escalation Patterns & Error Propagation

    ### Domain 5: Context Management & Reliability (~15% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Yesterday you mastered progressive summarization and context management — how to deal with finite context windoJune 10, 2026

  20. CCA-F Study Day 20/20: Human Review, Information Provenance & Final Review

    ## Domain 5: Context Management & Reliability (~15% of exam) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus **Congratulations — you've reached the final day of the 20-day study plan!** 🎉 Yesterday you mastered escalatiJune 11, 2026

  21. CCA-F Study Day 21: Agent SDK — Agentic Loops & stop_reason Termination

    📚 CCA-F Study Day 21: Agent SDK Overview — Agentic Loops & stop_reason-based Termination Domain: 1. Agentic Architecture & Orchestration (~25% of exam) Week 5 · Day 1 | Phase A begins 📖 Reading/WJune 18, 2026

  22. CCA-F Study Day 22/20: Developer Productivity Scenario — MCP Integration & Tool Distribution Deep Dive

    ## Review Cycle Day 2 — MCP Integration & Tool Distribution Deep Dive **Cross-Domain Focus:** Domain 2 (Tool Design & MCP, ~20%) + Domain 3 (Claude Code, ~20%) --- ## 📌 Today's Focus Yesterday's June 18, 2026

  23. CCA-F Study Day 22/20 BONUS: Cross-Domain Scenario Blitz — The 6 Exam Scenarios

    # 🎯 CCA-F Study Day 21/20: Cross-Domain Scenario Blitz ## Review Cycle Day 1 — The 6 Exam Scenarios & Top 10 Anti-Patterns *** ## 📌 Today's Focus Congratulations — you've completed the 20-day coJune 18, 2026

  24. CCA-F Study Day 23/20: Structured Data Extraction Scenario — JSON Schemas, Forced tool_use & Validation-Retry Pipelines

    # 🎯 CCA-F Study Day 23/20: Structured Data Extraction Scenario ## Review Cycle Day 3 — JSON Schema Design, Forced tool\_use, Validation-Retry Loops & Multi-Pass Pipelines **Cross-Domain Focus:** DoJune 22, 2026

  25. CCA-F Study Day 26/20: Context Engineering & Compaction — Long-Horizon Agent Reliability

    # 📚 CCA-F Study Day 26/20: Context Engineering & Compaction ### Review Cycle Day 6 — Long-Horizon Agent Reliability & Context Management Architecture **Cross-Domain Focus:** Domain 5 (Context ManagJune 23, 2026

  26. CCA-F Study Day 27: Cross-Domain Scenario — CI/CD Multi-Agent Pipelines

    # CCA-F Study Day 27: Cross-Domain Scenario — CI/CD Multi-Agent Pipelines ## Today's Focus Welcome to Review Day 7. Today we tackle a high-value cross-domain scenario that blends **Domain 1** (multiJune 26, 2026

  27. CCA-F Study Day 28: Full Exam Simulation — Cross-Domain Scenario Blitz

    ## CCA-F Study Day 28: Full Exam Simulation — Cross-Domain Scenario Blitz ### Today's Focus You've reviewed individual domains for a week. Today we simulate the actual exam experience: **scenario-baJune 30, 2026

  28. CCA-F Study Day 29: Cross-Domain Scenario — Multi-Agent Research System

    # CCA-F Study Day 29: Cross-Domain Scenario Practice ## Multi-Agent Research System (Exam Scenario 3) **Review Day 9 of 10** | This scenario tests Domains 1, 2, and 5 simultaneously *** ## Today'sJuly 1, 2026