# Claude Agent SDK vs Docker Agent (slim)

> Docker Agent scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Claude Agent SDK's 72.1 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Claude Agent SDK leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do agent frameworks. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-docker-agent.md (~2,250 tokens) · this version ~630 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-docker-agent.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-docker-agent
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-08

Docker Agent scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Claude Agent SDK's 72.1 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Claude Agent SDK leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do agent frameworks.

- Claude Agent SDK: BB 72.1, rank #91 of 629 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/claude-agent-sdk.min.md
- Docker Agent: BB 76.5, rank #30 of 629 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/docker-agent.min.md
- Claude Agent SDK, good for Agents that work on files, code and shells and want Claude Code's tool set and permission model without building them. Ahead on Agent ergonomics, 94 against 81; Security & auth, 83 against 70.
- Docker Agent, good for Teams already on Docker who want agents defined in a file, shared through an OCI registry and run the same way in a terminal, in CI or behind an HTTP, MCP or A2A server. Ahead on Reliability, 88 against 70; Payments & pricing, 60 against 40; Maintenance & community, 96 against 87. Also No key needed to call it; Free to start without a card; Open source.

| Category | Claude Agent SDK | Docker Agent |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 70 | 88 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 89 | 90 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 94 | 81 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 83 | 70 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 40 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 87 | 96 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 83 | 80 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Claude Agent SDK | Docker Agent |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Anthropic | Docker |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Licence | MIT (Python wrapper), proprietary (TypeScript package and the bundled Claude Code binary) | Apache-2.0 |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-08-26 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-08-26 |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 8.2k stars, 10.1M npm/wk, 6.1M PyPI/wk | 4k stars |