Claude Agent SDK source verification

Reconcile evidence through in-process SerpApi MCP tools.

What you’ll build

A Claude Agent SDK workflow that turns a broad public-policy claim into a source-verification memo. SerpApi tools are exposed as an in-process SDK MCP server, so the agent can search without running a separate service.

Default brief: Test whether right-to-repair rules are rapidly converging across the United States. Separate confirmed facts, overstatements, and jurisdictional differences.

How the agent works

  1. Mount the tools. The recipe registers typed web and news searches on a local serpapi MCP server.
  2. Split the evidence. Web search finds primary or durable sources; news search checks recent developments.
  3. Reconcile the claim. Claude exposes conflicts and jurisdictional gaps before returning a final memo within sixteen turns.

Core agent setup

This excerpt shows how the SerpApi tools become an in-process SDK MCP server. The complete script also validates credentials, collects the final SDK result, and writes the memo.

serpapi_server = create_sdk_mcp_server(
    name="serpapi",
    version="1.0.0",
    tools=[
        web_search(provider="claude-agent-sdk"),
        news_search(provider="claude-agent-sdk"),
    ],
)
options = ClaudeAgentOptions(
    model=MODEL,
    system_prompt="Search before concluding and expose conflicting evidence.",
    mcp_servers={"serpapi": serpapi_server},
    allowed_tools=["mcp__serpapi__web_search", "mcp__serpapi__news_search"],
    max_turns=16,
)

async for message in query(prompt=PROMPT, options=options):
    ...

View the complete main.py →

Run the recipe

Set SERPAPI_API_KEY and ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in the repository-root .env, then run:

uv run --isolated --no-project --with 'serpapi-search-tools[claude-agent-sdk]' --with python-dotenv cookbook/claude-agent-sdk/main.py

Optional controls: ANTHROPIC_MODEL, COOKBOOK_PROMPT, and COOKBOOK_OUTPUT_DIR.

No separate MCP process: The SDK creates the MCP server in-process and allows only the two SerpApi tools declared by the recipe.

Inspect the result

The recipe writes cookbook-output/claude-source-verification.md. Expect confirmed facts, overstatements, jurisdiction differences, conflicting evidence, and direct source URLs.

The recipe saves the final result emitted by the SDK and also prints it to the terminal.

SerpApi tools used

web_search finds primary and durable policy sources, while news_search tracks recent right-to-repair developments. Both tools are exposed through the in-process MCP server, helping the agent compare established rules with current reporting before it classifies the claim.

Framework pattern: The in-process MCP setup follows Anthropic’s custom-tools example and provides SerpApi web and news tools to the agent.