---
type: source
title: "Claude Code's Real Purpose (It's Bigger Than You Think)"
description: "Claude Code is really a lightweight, powerful wrapper on top of Claude, and via the Claude Agent SDK you can embed that same agent harness into your own code, applications, and workflows to build any custom agent, not just a coding assistant."
youtube_id: j2tI3YGVEz0
url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2tI3YGVEz0
slug: claude-codes-real-purpose-its-bigger-than-you-think
published: 2025-10-15
duration: "0:21:31"
recency_rank: 62
raw: "../raw/claude-codes-real-purpose-its-bigger-than-you-think.md"
tags: [claude-code, agent-sdk, harness, second-brain]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

Cole reframes Claude Code as more than a coding tool: it is an agent harness, a simple-yet-powerful wrapper on top of Claude that Anthropic itself uses for deep research, video creation, and note-taking. Anthropic renamed the Claude Code SDK to the Claude Agent SDK precisely because it is an engine that can power any AI agent you want to build. He demonstrates by wiring Claude Code into Telegram (usable from his phone) and into Obsidian (via the co-pilot community plugin) so it manages his second-brain notes and YouTube scripting.

He then walks through the SDK basics in Python: define an options object (system prompt, current working directory, allowed tools and permissions, MCP servers), call the query function, and loop over the message blocks the agent returns (text blocks and tool-use blocks, mirroring the Claude Code CLI, ending with a final result message). Authentication defaults to the Anthropic API key but falls back to your Claude subscription (his Max plan), so no API credits are needed. He builds a custom CLI, then the Obsidian integration exposed as an OpenAI-compatible endpoint the co-pilot plugin hooks into, complete with an attached sequential-thinking MCP server.

The most powerful use case, he argues, is building your own custom coding assistants and monitoring them. He shows a Telegram bot (built in one shot with Claude Code) that dispatches remote Claude Code tasks, with a Sentry integration that traces every interaction: tokens used, tool calls, decisions made, durations. He closes by having the agent improve itself from his phone, editing its own bot file to add the sequential-thinking MCP server and permissions, then validating the run in Sentry. His takeaway: the future of AI coding is using this lightweight wrapper to programmatically define custom agents built into your own codebases and workflows.

## Concepts covered

- [AI Coding Harness](../concepts/ai-coding-harness.md)
- [Agentic Coding](../concepts/agentic-coding.md)
- [Second Brain](../concepts/second-brain.md)
- [Provider Independence](../concepts/provider-independence.md)
- [Agent Observability](../concepts/agent-observability.md)
- [System Evolution](../concepts/system-evolution.md)
- [Model Context Protocol (MCP)](../concepts/mcp.md)

## Entities

- [Claude Code](../entities/tools/claude-code.md)
- [Claude Agent SDK](../entities/tools/claude-agent-sdk.md)
- [Anthropic](../entities/organizations/anthropic.md)
- [Obsidian](../entities/tools/obsidian.md)
- [MCP (Model Context Protocol)](../entities/tools/mcp.md)
- [Sentry](../entities/tools/sentry.md)
- [Telegram](../entities/tools/telegram.md)
- [Codex](../entities/tools/codex.md)
- [Cole Medin](../entities/people/cole-medin.md)

## Key moments

- **[0:00:18]** Demo: Claude Code integrated into Telegram, editing his Obsidian second brain from his phone
- **[0:01:25]** Second demo: Claude Code integrated into Obsidian via the co-pilot community plugin
- **[0:02:00]** Core reframe: Claude Code is a simple wrapper on top of Claude; the SDK is the agent harness that powers it
- **[0:02:19]** Anthropic renamed the Claude Code SDK to the Claude Agent SDK because it can power any agent
- **[0:04:08]** SDK quick start: a few lines of Python to define options (system prompt, MCP, permissions) and query
- **[0:05:10]** Explains message blocks: agent returns text/tool blocks like the CLI, not streamed tokens
- **[0:06:15]** Authentication: defaults to Anthropic API key, falls back to Claude subscription (Max plan, no API credits)
- **[0:11:04]** Obsidian API server uses OpenAI-compatible endpoint plus attaches the sequential-thinking MCP server
- **[0:14:38]** Telegram bot dispatches remote Claude Code tasks; could be Slack, GitHub, email
- **[0:15:25]** Sentry integration: traces every interaction, tool calls, tokens, decisions for validation
- **[0:18:07]** Self-improvement: from his phone, the agent edits its own bot file to add the sequential-thinking MCP server
- **[0:20:54]** Thesis restated: the future of AI coding is programmatically defining custom agents built into your workflows

## Transcript

[Raw transcript](../raw/claude-codes-real-purpose-its-bigger-than-you-think.md)
