How to Connect Anthropic to DAVE

Summary

The steps

1. 1

   Get your Anthropic API key

   Before you configure anything in DAVE, you need an active Anthropic API key. Log in to your Anthropic account at console.anthropic.com, navigate to the API Keys section, and create a new key. Copy it immediately: Anthropic shows the full key value only once at creation time.

   Keep this key secure. You will paste it into DAVE's Providers screen in the next step. Once stored, it is encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM authenticated encryption and will never be returned in plain text through the API.

   Do this

   • Log in to console.anthropic.com.
   • Navigate to API Keys and create a new key.
   • Copy the key value and store it temporarily in a secure location such as a password manager.
   • Note which Claude models your account or organisation has access to. You will select from these when building the model catalog in DAVE.
   • Optionally, set a spend limit on your Anthropic account to cap usage during development and testing.

   Example

   A typical Anthropic API key begins with sk-ant-api03-. If your key does not start with that prefix, double-check that you are copying from the correct account and the correct key type.

   Best practice

   • Create a dedicated API key for DAVE rather than reusing a key shared with other tools or team members. This makes it straightforward to rotate or revoke DAVE's access independently.
   • Set a monthly spend limit on your Anthropic account to prevent unexpected charges during workflow development.
   • Never paste your API key into a workflow prompt, a node label, or any visible text field. Use the DAVE credential vault exclusively.
2. 2

   Navigate to Admin > API Management > Providers

   In your DAVE workspace, navigate to Admin → API Management → Providers. This screen lists every AI provider configured for your tenant and is where you create, edit, and delete provider records.

   Access to this screen is restricted to the Admin role. DAVE ships with six default tenant roles (Admin, Create, Curate, Use, Reporting, and Financial), and only Admin can view or manage providers. If you do not see the Providers option in the menu, ask your workspace Admin to grant you the appropriate role.

   The Providers page displays a card for each configured provider, showing its name, provider type badge, model count, and base URI. If this is a new workspace, the list will be empty.

   Do this

   • Sign in to your DAVE workspace.
   • Open the Admin section from the main navigation.
   • Select API Management, then Providers.
   • Review any existing providers. You can have multiple providers active simultaneously and route different workflow nodes to different providers.
   • Click Add Provider in the top-right corner to open the create form.

   Example

   If your workspace already has an OpenAI or Google AI provider configured, you will see those cards listed here. Adding Anthropic creates a separate provider entry alongside them. Each provider is independent: editing or deleting one does not affect the others.

   Best practice

   • Use a descriptive name that reflects the provider's purpose and environment, for example Anthropic Production or Anthropic Dev. This name appears in agent configuration dropdowns, so clarity here saves confusion later.
   • Providers are scoped per tenant. If you manage multiple tenants in DAVE, you will need to add an Anthropic provider separately in each tenant where you want to use it.
3. 3

   Create the Anthropic provider record

   With the create form open, fill in the required fields to register Anthropic as a provider in your tenant.

   Select Anthropic from the Provider Type dropdown. Selecting this type automatically pre-fills the Base URI field with Anthropic's default API endpoint: https://api.anthropic.com/v1. You do not need to change this value for a standard Anthropic account.

   Paste your Anthropic API key into the API Key field. The field is masked by default. Click the eye icon to toggle visibility if you need to verify the value before saving. The key is encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM authenticated encryption and is never returned in plain text through the API once saved.

   Do this

   • In the Name field, enter a descriptive label such as Anthropic Production.
   • Set Provider Type to Anthropic. The Base URI auto-fills to https://api.anthropic.com/v1.
   • Paste your Anthropic API key into the API Key field.
   • Proceed to configure the model catalog before clicking Create Provider (see Step 4).

   Example

   A completed Anthropic provider form will show: Name = Anthropic Production, Provider Type = Anthropic, Base URI = https://api.anthropic.com/v1, and a masked API key. The model catalog section below the key field will be empty until you fetch or enter models.

   Best practice

   • Do not change the pre-filled Base URI unless you have a specific reason to. The default https://api.anthropic.com/v1 is correct for standard Anthropic accounts.
   • If you need to connect to an OpenAI-compatible third-party endpoint that wraps Anthropic models, use the OpenAI-Compatible provider type instead, which requires you to supply the endpoint manually.
4. 4

   Build the model catalog

   Before saving, configure the model catalog: the list of Anthropic Claude models that will be available to agents in your workflows. DAVE offers two ways to populate this catalog.

   Fetch from API (recommended): Click the Fetch Models button. DAVE calls Anthropic's models endpoint using the API key you just entered and returns the list of models your account can access. Use the search box to filter by name, then check the models you want to include. Use the All or None buttons to bulk-select. A successful fetch also confirms that your API key and base URI are valid before you save the provider.

   JSON mode: If you prefer to specify models manually, click the JSON button and paste a JSON array of model objects. This is useful if you want to restrict the catalog to a specific subset of models regardless of what the API returns.

   Once your catalog is configured, click Create Provider to save the record.

   Do this

   • In the model catalog section, click Fetch Models.
   • Wait for DAVE to retrieve the model list from https://api.anthropic.com/v1.
   • Use the search box to filter models if needed.
   • Check the models you want to include in the catalog. Uncheck any you do not need.
   • Click Create Provider to save.
   • Confirm the new provider card appears in the Providers list with the correct model count.

   Example

   After fetching, you might see models such as claude-sonnet-4-20250514 in the list. Select only the models your team will actively use. A focused catalog makes model selection faster when configuring agents and reduces the chance of accidentally targeting an unintended model in a workflow.

   Best practice

   • Always use Fetch from API rather than manually entering model IDs in JSON mode. Fetching avoids typos in model identifiers and ensures you see the latest models available to your account.
   • Keep the catalog lean. Include only the models your workflows actually need. You can always edit the provider later to add more.
   • After saving, click the chevron on the provider card to expand it and verify the model list looks correct before wiring up agents.
5. 5

   Use Anthropic in a workflow node

   With the Anthropic provider saved and its model catalog populated, it is immediately available to any workflow node that calls an AI model. In DAVE's workflow runtime, nodes that invoke AI models, such as an Agent Interaction node, let you select a provider and a specific model from that provider's catalog.

   Agents are the bridge between workflow nodes and providers. When you configure an agent, you select the Anthropic provider you just created and choose a Claude model from its catalog. The agent uses the provider's stored API key and base URI at runtime. Your workflow node then references that agent. When the node executes, DAVE calls Anthropic directly using your key. No request is proxied through DAVE's infrastructure for billing purposes: the call goes from DAVE to Anthropic, and the usage appears on your Anthropic invoice.

   Every provider call made during workflow execution is recorded in DAVE's full audit log, giving you a complete trace of which provider was called, by which agent, in which workflow, and when.

   Do this

   • Navigate to the Agents section of your workspace and create or edit an agent.
   • In the agent configuration, select your new Anthropic provider from the provider dropdown.
   • Choose the Claude model appropriate for the agent's task.
   • Save the agent.
   • Open or create a workflow and add an Agent Interaction node that references this agent.
   • Run a test execution to confirm the node calls Anthropic successfully and returns the expected output.
   • Check the audit log to verify the call was recorded correctly.

   Example

   A common pattern is to use a Claude model for a reasoning-heavy or long-context step in a multi-step workflow, while routing a faster or lower-cost step to a different provider. DAVE's orchestration layer handles the routing: you configure the provider per agent, and the platform manages the rest.

   Best practice

   • Start with a simple single-node test workflow before wiring Anthropic into a complex multi-step pipeline. Confirm the connection, response format, and latency before building on top of it.
   • If an agent fails with an authentication or invalid API key error, navigate to Admin → API Management → Providers, edit the Anthropic provider, enter a fresh API key, and click Fetch Models to verify the new key works before saving.
   • If you are building workflows for multiple clients or regulated industries, review DAVE's SOC 2 and GDPR compliance modes, which govern how execution data, including AI provider responses, is handled and retained across your tenant.

What this guide covers

Before you start

What to check once it is connected

FAQ