Claude Managed Agents

Deliver Briefs through your Claude Console API key, with Anthropic's hosted sandbox running the agent and Hamster tracking the delivery.

Overview

The Claude Agents connection lets Hamster delegate Brief deliveries to Claude Managed Agents on your Claude Console account. Hamster calls it Claude Agents on Connections and in your delivery settings, and Claude in the Deliver menu under Agents.

Anthropic owns the hosted sandbox and the model run. Usage counts against the key's Claude Console organization, and Hamster sets no spend cap. Unlike Hamster Cloud, Claude Agents doesn't need a paid Hamster plan.

Hamster sends the agent the Brief, its spec and its tasks, and gives it access to the Brief's repository through the Hamster GitHub App. Hamster streams the run into the delivery thread and opens the pull request.

How It Works

  1. Connect the Claude Console API key whose organization will pay for deliveries.
  2. Connect the repository through your team's GitHub connection. Claude Agents delivers only to GitHub repositories. Use Hamster Cloud for repositories on other hosts.
  3. Open the chevron beside Deliver on the Brief and choose Claude under Agents. Hamster runs the same first-delivery and pre-flight steps as other methods, then starts the delivery with the model and pull request setting from your delivery settings. On a first delivery, Claude is a tile under Coding agents · Your API key or the team's. Follow progress in the delivery thread.
  4. Review the draft pull request that Hamster opens. On GitHub, click Ready for review, then merge it.

How to Connect

  1. Create an API key in the Claude Console on a workspace with credits that only Hamster uses. Hamster accepts Console keys that start with sk-ant-api, sk-ant-usr, or sk-ant-svc. Claude.ai and Claude Code sign-in tokens do not work.
  2. Open the key dialog from the Claude Agents card in Knowledge > Connections, from Claude under Agents in the Deliver menu, or with Connect on the Model card. The Model card is in Settings > Delivery when Claude Agents is the team's Method, or in Personal settings > Delivery when you turn on Override team defaults and choose Claude Agents as your Method. The Deliver menu and the Model card offer it only when no key, yours or the team's, is available to you. Connecting a key needs the Creator role or higher.
  3. Under Connect as, choose Yourself to keep the key private to you, or {team name} team to share it with everyone. A key you connect from Personal settings > Delivery is always saved as yours.
  4. Paste the key into API Key and click Connect Claude Agents. If you connect from Knowledge > Connections, choose the team, and a team key is already saved, the button reads Replace team key instead.

Hamster tests the key and its Managed Agents access with Anthropic before it saves it, and saves nothing if the test fails.

When you have your own key and the team also has one, your deliveries use your key.

Managing the Connection

A connected key appears as a card on Knowledge > Connections, marked Personal or Team.

To remove a key, right-click the card and choose Disconnect, then confirm Delete. Removing a key, yours or the team's, also needs the Creator role or higher.

  • Removing your own key affects only you. Your deliveries fall back to the team key if one exists.
  • Removing the team key stops teammates without their own key from delivering with Claude Agents. Deliveries still running on it fail.

Models

Owners and admins set the team's model in Settings > Delivery: choose Claude Agents as the Method, then pick a model in the Model card. To use a different model yourself, turn on Override team defaults in Personal settings > Delivery.

The Model card lists the Claude 4.5 and later models your key can see. A listed model can still be refused at launch.

Claude Opus 5.5 is the default. Deliveries use it whenever no Claude model is saved. If your key's list doesn't include it, the Model card shows Provider default instead of a model.

If Anthropic refuses the saved model at launch, the delivery fails and asks you to pick another.

Delivery and Pull Requests

Each delivery runs in its own session, which you can open in the Claude Console. The agent reads the Brief and its Plan through Hamster MCP. Task statuses update in Hamster as the agent works.

The agent pushes its work to a branch that starts with hamster/. When the run finishes, the delivery thread shows two cards. Pushing branch turns into Branch pushed: once the branch is on GitHub. Then Creating pull request turns into Draft pull request opened:, with a link to the draft pull request Hamster opened as the Hamster GitHub App and linked to the Brief. The pull request targets the delivery's base branch, or the repository's default branch when none is set. If a pull request is already open for the branch, Hamster reuses it. To push only the branch, turn off Pull request in your delivery settings. The thread then stops at Branch pushed:.

Use Reviewing Briefs to review the pull request in Hamster.

A Claude Agents delivery doesn't change the Brief's status, and merging its pull request moves the Brief to Delivered only if it's already in Shipping, so move the Brief yourself. See Brief Status.

The agent's commits are unsigned. If the base branch's protection rule requires signed commits, GitHub blocks merging the pull request until the commits are signed.

Steering and Stopping

While the delivery runs, the chevron beside Deliver is replaced by an icon whose tooltip reads Open in Claude. It opens the session in the Claude Console.

Type in the delivery thread while the run is live to steer it. The composer reads Steer the agent... while the agent is running. Hamster queues your messages above the composer as Waiting for next prompt, with each message's place in line. Click Cancel on a queued message to drop it.

Hamster sends the next waiting message when the agent finishes its current turn. The run keeps the same branch, and Hamster opens the pull request after the last follow-up finishes. Hamster drops any messages still queued when the run ends, fails, or is stopped. If Hamster can't send a follow-up, the message shows Steering failed. Once the run ends, the composer says that the delivery ended and the agent is no longer running.

Hover the spinning Deliver button on the Brief, click the stop icon (Stop delivery), then click Accept in the Stop delivery? dialog. Hamster interrupts the session and confirms with Stopped. The session keeps its history in the Claude Console. Tasks the agent changed go back to the status they had when the delivery started. No pull request opens. The delivery thread has no Stop button for Claude Agents runs.

If Hamster shows Couldn't stop it., try again. Already done. means the run had already finished.

Limits

  • Only GitHub repositories. Use Hamster Cloud for repositories on other hosts.
  • The key's Claude Console workspace is the security boundary. Delivery sessions live in that workspace, and any API key with access to the workspace can reach its resources.
  • Claude Managed Agents is not eligible for zero data retention (ZDR) or HIPAA.
  • A repository that tracks .hamster/ files can't use Claude Agents, because Hamster writes its own files there during delivery.

If a Delivery Fails

Hamster names the cause whether the delivery fails before or during the run. If a delivery fails to start, hover Deliver on the Brief to read it. When Hamster gives up on a stuck or timed-out run, the error ends with Check the session in the Claude Console. When a delivery fails or you stop it, tasks the agent changed go back to the status they had when it started.

Before the Run

  • Claude is greyed out in the Deliver menu: Another delivery on this Brief is still running, a Hamster Cloud delivery on it is stopped or waiting for review, or the Brief is archived. A Brief can have one active delivery at a time. On an archived Brief the chevron beside Deliver is disabled too.
  • Claude Agents is not connected for this user. Connect a key as shown in How to Connect.
  • You do not have permission to use Claude Agents delivery: Delivering needs the Creator role or higher. Ask an owner or admin to change your role.
  • Claude Agents deliver GitHub repositories; other repositories deliver through the standard cloud delivery. The Brief's repository isn't on GitHub. Deliver it with Hamster Cloud, or deliver a GitHub repository.
  • Hamster's GitHub App cannot push to this repository. Check the app's repository access in GitHub. Give the Hamster GitHub App access to the repository on the GitHub connection.
  • This repository tracks .hamster/ files. Agent brief delivery cannot use it. Use Hamster Cloud delivery, or stop tracking .hamster/. Remove .hamster/ from the repository, or deliver with Hamster Cloud.
  • Hamster couldn't find this base branch in the repository. Agent brief delivery needs an existing branch as the base, not a tag or a commit. The delivery's base is a tag, a commit, or a branch that doesn't exist.
  • Hamster could not read the tree of this repository to check it for .hamster/ files. Agent brief delivery cannot use it. If the repository is very large, use Hamster Cloud delivery. Hamster couldn't list the repository's files. Deliver it with Hamster Cloud.
  • A message that starts with This plan is already delivered: No task in the Plan is Todo or In Progress, so Hamster does not start the run. Move a task back to Todo to deliver it again.

Key and Workspace

  • Invalid Claude API key format. Expected a Claude Console API key (sk-ant-api…, sk-ant-usr…, or sk-ant-svc…). The connect dialog got something other than a Console key, or a partly copied key. Copy the full key from the Claude Console and paste it again.
  • Claude.ai and Claude Code sign-in tokens are not accepted. Create an API key in the Claude Console. You pasted a sign-in token instead of an API key.
  • Anthropic rejected this API key. The key is wrong or was revoked. Create a new key and connect it again.
  • The key's Claude Console organization has no credit balance. Add credits in the Claude Console. Add credits, then connect the key or deliver again.
  • Claude Agents is not enabled for this key's workspace. The key's workspace can't reach Managed Agents. Connect a key from a workspace that has access.
  • Anthropic is temporarily unavailable. Try again. The key test couldn't reach Anthropic. Wait a moment, then connect the key again.
  • Anthropic could not validate this key. The key test failed for another reason. Check the key in the Claude Console and try again.

Model Errors

If the key's workspace has no model Claude Agents can run, the Model card's list is empty and there's no model to pick. Check the workspace's model access in the Claude Console.

  • Claude Agents is rate limiting model lookups. Reload this page in a minute. Deliveries use the provider default until then. Anthropic is limiting how often Hamster can list your models. Reload Settings > Delivery after a short pause.
  • You do not have permission to view Claude Agents models. Ask an admin or creator on this account. Ask an owner or admin to change your role.
  • The model list isn't available. Deliveries use the provider default until it loads. Hamster couldn't load the list on the Model card.
  • Claude Agents cannot run the selected model with this key. Pick another model. The saved model isn't available to the key. Pick another model in Settings > Delivery, or in Personal settings > Delivery if you override the team defaults.

Outages

  • Claude Agents is temporarily unavailable. Try again in a few minutes. Anthropic's service is having trouble. Nothing on your side needs to change.
  • GitHub could not issue a push credential. Try again in a few minutes. A temporary GitHub problem. Wait a few minutes, then deliver again.
  • Hamster's GitHub App identity could not be resolved. Try again in a moment. A temporary GitHub problem. Wait a moment, then deliver again.

During the Run

  • Branch not found on GitHub: Shows on the Pushing branch card. The agent didn't push its branch, so Hamster opened no pull request. Read the delivery thread to see what stopped it.
  • A message that starts with The delivery committed and names .hamster/: The agent committed .hamster/ files, so Hamster refused the delivery and opened no pull request.
  • Agent ended without producing durable work: no PR/branch and no plan tasks were completed. The agent finished without pushing a branch or completing a task. Read the delivery thread, then deliver again.
  • Agent never opened an authenticated MCP session within 300s, so it could not mark tasks done; failing the delivery. The agent didn't reach Hamster MCP, so it couldn't update tasks. Deliver again.
  • Timed out after 6h. A run still going 6 hours after it started fails. A reason follows, such as Provider credentials unavailable. after the team key was removed. Check the session in the Claude Console, then deliver again.
  • Cloud Agents — Hamster's own cloud agents are separate from Claude Managed Agents.
  • Cursor — The same delivery shape on your Cursor account.
  • OpenAI Agents — The same delivery shape on your OpenAI Platform account.
  • GitHub — Connect the repositories Claude Agents delivers to.
  • Delivering Briefs — Choose a provider when a Brief is ready.
  • Reviewing Briefs — Review the draft pull request the delivery opens.